Does God REALLY Understand People?
Does
the great God who sits at the controls of the whole glittering universe
really understand human FRAILTY and WEAKNESS? Does He KNOW what it is
like to be HUMAN? Is God unreasonable in His dealings with humanity as
some claim? Does He expect TOO MUCH of us? Does He really care?
IN
AN increasingly cynical and disillusioned world it seems some have
concluded that the Creator expects far too much of His creation! Some
have claimed God to be unfair and unjust in imposing allegedly
impossible standards on mankind! His laws are too difficult to keep and
His way requires more than mere men are capable of giving, they assert.
"How can God understand?" they reason. "He doesn't have to worry about
sinning and being punished for it! He can do anything He wants! He
doesn't have all the pulls and drives of human nature. He isn't subject
to temptation. How can God know what it is like to fight against the
pulls of a morally decadent society and resist the temptations of an
angry devil?"
Perhaps some have felt that if God could come down
here and just be human for a while, He'd understand and not be "so
hard" on humanity. So the reasoning goes!
Of course, such
reasoning is humanly understandable, but it is also incorrect and not
based on fact. It is mere emotion and self-pity!
Let's understand!
Did
Henry Ford understand Ford automobiles? Certainly! Did Strauss
understand waltzes? Of course! Did Stradivarius understand violins?
Undoubtedly! Then why should anyone suppose the Creator would not
understand His human creations made in His very image? (Gen. 1:26).
After all, human beings are a whole lot more like God than Stradivarius
was like a violin!
Of course God understands people. He made
them and formed them in His very own likeness! And as Henry Ford surely
knew what kind of care and maintenance was best for Ford cars, so God
more certainly knows what is best for mankind!
Manufacturer's Operating Manual
Formerly,
auto manufacturers distributed operator's manuals along with the
purchase of their product. Some still do. The instructions contained in
them provided for the most efficient possible operation of the auto, if
followed. In like manner, the Creator of the human machine has also
provided an instruction manual to accompany His creation !
Now
any instruction manual must be written with a thorough understanding of
the product it accompanies! God's Instruction Book is the Bible. In .
it, God reveals over and over the depth of His understanding of the
human mind and capacity!
Let's look into it! "He KNOWETH our frame; he remembereth that we are DUST."
These are David's inspired words in Psalm 103:14.
God
realizes there is nothing immortal or eternally powerful about man. He
is a mere creation of dust! Man is frail, transient in existence and
inconsistent in conduct. The Creator understands this! He does not
demand more then we can give. In fact, God has not dealt with us
according to our sins or given us what we really deserve (verse 10) —or
we would all have long ago ceased living!
All human beings have
sinned, and the wages of sin is death! (Rom. 3:23; 6:23.) God has
endured human hypocrisy, lying and
just plain disobedience for centuries and
millennia and could justifiably have obliterated all humanity long ago.
But He hasn't! "But he, being full of compassion, forgave their
iniquity, and destroyed them not: yea, many a time turned he his anger
away, and did not stir up all his wrath. For
he remembered that
THEY
WERE BUT FLESH . .
." (Psalm 78:38-39). God is totally fair and just in
His dealings with mankind. Those who suggest otherwise simply do not
know God!
It is not the Creator who is unjust. It is man who is
inequitable! Any who point the accusing finger at God have several more
pointing back at themselves ! Notice the inspired words of the Prophet
Ezekiel! "...You say: The Lord isn't being fair! Listen to Me ... Am I
the One who is unfair, or is it you?" (Ezek. 18:25, Living Psalms
version.)
Human Rights
Today's
world is filled with injustice (read Isaiah 59:8-15). It seems
everywhere you turn, people from one group or another are demanding
their rights — and in many cases their demands are justified. But only
because incompetent, ignorant and bigoted human beings are generally in
charge of government.
When people transfer their demands from
complaining against human government and begin demanding their rights
before God, they are making the same mistake Job made! (Job 35:2-3.)
Strange as it may sound, you and I do not want justice from God! We
have all sinned (Romans 3:23) and are justly condemned to death!
(Romans 6:23.) Exercising perfect justice, God could execute us all!
No!
You do NOT want justice from God — you want mercy, forgiveness, grace!
And that is exactly what the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob offers you
and me so abundantly, liberally, lovingly!
God's understanding
is vast and unsearchable (Isaiah 40:28). He deals with mankind only
with the greatest compassion and restraint. Every human life is
important in God's estimation, and it is not His will that any should
ultimately perish! (Matt. 10:29-31; II Peter 3:9.) The Eternal God is
daily working out a great purpose here below.
Whatever God
allows us to experience in this life will work for Our good in the
final analysis, even though it may be difficult to comprehend this now!
(Rom. 8:28.) Once God has begun a purpose in an individual human life,
we can be sure He will see it through to completion — even if it takes
until the return of Christ to do so! (Philippians 1:6.) We can be
confident of this!
Once God has begun to work with you, He will
not allow you to be tested beyond your capacity! He will only allow you
to undergo those trials and tests you could pass if you really wanted
to! "There hath no temptation [to put to proof by experience or
adversity] taken you but such as is common to man: but God is faithful,
who will not suffer [allow] you to be tempted [tested] above that ye
are able .. ." (I Cor. 10:13).
Power to Spare
All
the great men and women of the Bible underwent severe and intense
periods of testing! Abraham was even asked to sacrifice his only son
when he was over 100 years old! But he was not required to go through
such a severe and emotionally turbulent test until he was fully ready
for it! And he was ready! He passed the test with flying colors! Read
about it for yourself in Genesis 22!
Even though, humanly, we
may feel totally inadequate to be tested in an intense way, we must
realize that God can also provide us with the necessary strength to go
through with it! But we must actively seek such power by fervent,
prevailing prayer! If we do so, earnestly and expectantly, we will
receive additional strength and power. Notice God's promise in Isaiah
40:29, 31 {Living Psalms) : "He gives power to the tired and worn out,
and strength to the weak. . . . They that wait on the Lord shall renew
their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall
run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint." That is
a promise of God! Will you claim it?
It
ought to be evident then, that God is eminently fair and understanding
in His dealings with mankind! He understands human frailty and
weakness. He only allows us to be tested within the limits of our
capacity. And if we are lacking in the strength to undergo periods of
trial or testing, God is willing to provide us with the necessary power
to handle it! There could be no greater justice and equity!
But
how is God able to be so understanding? How is He able to comprehend
the depth of human frailty and feebleness in the face of trials, tests
and the ravages of evil human nature ? How does He know what it is like
to be human, with all the limitations that imposes ?
Personal Experience
God
is a family of spirit beings. At present, that family is composed of
two separate beings: God the Father and God the Son. The Holy Spirit is
the power, the life, and the mind of God. It is not a "person." (For
the truth about the Holy Spirit, be sure to write for our free
articles, "How You Can Be Imbued With the Power of God" and "Is Jesus
God?") The family name is "God." Both members of the God Family jointly
planned the creation of the human race. The Father was the overall
Director. But the One who later became known as Jesus Christ executed
the actual creation of the material universe and man. He was then
called the "Word of God," meaning the Spokesman of the Divine Family
(John 1:1-3; Genesis 15:1; Ephesians 3:9). He was the "Rock" that led
and followed the children of Israel in the wilderness (I Cor. 10:4).
This
One actually worked personally with all the great men of the Old
Testament whom God was training for positions of leadership in
tomorrow's world! He actually walked and talked with men like Adam and
Enoch (Gen. 3:8; 5:22). He dealt personally with Abraham, who was known
as the "friend of God" (Gen. 17:1; James 2:23). Abraham is destined to
become the heir of the whole world under Jesus Christ! (Rom. 4:13.)
Notice how close God was to Moses: "And the Lord spake unto Moses face
to face, as a man speaketh unto his friend. . ." (Ex. 33:11). God
appeared to Joshua and was with him in the same way He had been with
Joshua's predecessor, Moses (Joshua 1:5,15-18). The Spokesman spoke to
Job and taught him about the Creation and the workings of the universe
under His direction (Job 38 and 39). Jacob actually wrestled and
mingled his perspiration with the One who later became the Messiah!
(Gen. 32:24-30.)
Countless others were known personally by this
second member of the God Family. He observed them, taught them, fought
for them, worked miracles for them, forgave and comforted them over a
period of almost four thousand years!
This puzzled people of
Jesus' day just as it does today. One day the Pharisees were attacking
Him and He remarked, "Your father Abraham rejoiced to see my day: and
he saw it, and was glad." By the retort the Jews came back with it is
easy to tell Jesus was talking about personal acquaintance with
Abraham: "Then said the Jews unto him, Thou art not yet fifty years
old, and hast thou seen Abraham?" Jesus put the record straight once
and for all with a classic statement full of the ring of eternal
authority: "I say unto you, before Abraham was, I am!" (Above quotes
from John 8:56-58.)
And as far as compassion, and its expression
for every generation, nothing can beat Jesus' poignant statement so
full of personal concern: "O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest
the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how often
would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth
her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!" (Matt. 23:37.)
The
One who became Jesus Christ of the New Testament watched many great
civilizations come and go. He set up kings and put them down. He
answered the prayers of the faithful and punished the wicked. The
teeming hordes of humanity passed before His eyes as He inspired His
prophets to predict the course of human events.
"For God So Loved the World"
That
same member of the Divine Family who had worked with so many of the
patriarchs of old and led the children of Israel for forty years
actually became human! For a period of thirty-three and one-half years
He actually walked this earth in human form. Yet He was very God in the
flesh! (Psalm 45:6-7; Phil. 2:6; Titus 2:10, 13.) During His human
lifetime He successfully resisted the tempting of Satan the devil
(Matt. 4:1-11). Jesus was tempted in all the points we can be tempted
in today, yet He never once yielded to the pulls of the flesh! ". . .
Jesus the Son of God . . . was in all points tempted like as we are,
yet without sin" (Heb. 4:14, 15). He does understand what it is like to
be tempted by an angry devil and to resist all the pulls of human
nature and the pressures of a sin-filled world! He has experienced all
those things! Christ even knows what it is like to be sick, although He
never broke the physical laws that normally cause human sickness.
Instead He bore in His own body all our sicknesses and infirmities. He
was beaten, whipped and punched into a bloody pulp before His cruel
crucifixion! He was a chiropractor's nightmare, having many major bones
disjointed! The flesh was literally torn from His bones so that they
were visible to the eye! His face was marred beyond recognition. (Read
it for yourself in Isaiah 53:3-5,7; Psalm 22:1,14,17; Matthew 26:67;
27:30-31 and Isaiah 52:14.)
Make no mistake about it! When Jesus
walked the dusty streets of Palestine almost 2000 years ago, He
experienced a real taste of what it is like to be human ! And Jesus IS
God!
Today Jesus Christ sits at the right hand of the Father in
heaven. He acts as the one and only mediator between God and man. He
functions in the office of high priest — an understanding AND A
COMPASSIONATE HIGH priest ! "... We have a great high priest. . . Jesus
the Son of God . .. ours is no high
priest who cannot have sympathy
with our weaknesses, but one who has been tempted in every respect like
ourselves . .." (Heb. 4:14-15, Moffatt translation).
God understands
human frailty and weakness all right! It was Jesus Himself who said, ".
. . The flesh is weak" ! (Matt. 26:41.) He does not expect us to do
more than we are able. Whatever God asks of us is within the realm of
possibility. God will provide the help we need to endure rigorous
trials and testing of this human existence.
God is all for us!
He wants each individual He calls to succeed! Those that overcome their
human pulls and the influence of an evil, selfish society and the
temptings of Satan the devil will be granted positions of rulership in
tomorrow's world! (Rev. 2:26; 3:21.)
God has provided man
with a great goal and the means to achieve it! In spite of fleshly
feebleness and human frailty it is possible to attain the Kingdom of
God! What shall we say to these things? "If God be for us [and He is!],
who can be against us?" (Rom. 8:31.)
Don't be too proud to ask
for the help God will give you — if you ask Him. "God is always against
the proud, but he is always ready to give grace to the humble. So,
humble yourselves under God's strong hand, and in his own good time he
will lift you up. You can throw the whole weight of your anxieties upon
him, for you are his personal concern"! (I Peter 5:5-7, J. B. Phillips
translation.)
God understands you — loves you — wants you to become a member of His Family!
by David Jon Hill and Brian Knowles TOMORROWS WORLD February 1971
