Who Is THIS God?
By Marion Clark Ingram
Have
you ever reached an impasse in the spirit concerning your knowledge about who
God is according to your experiences with Him?
Is
He worth pursuing when you can’t discern what He is doing?
Is
He worth trusting when you can’t trace him?
Well,
if you answer in the affirmative to either question, be assured that you are
not alone because at some point in our walk with Him He no longer fits into our
familiar and pre-conceived little boxes.
Recently,
I heard a Christian statesman declare that the God that he knows now is not the
God that He knew twenty years ago. Of
course, we know as this gentleman knows that it is a life-quest for us to
follow on to know Him as He invites us to do throughout His Word. Even the descriptive attributes such as
Infinite, Eternal, Sovereign and Holy cause us to acknowledge the Majestic
state of our God.
When
we came into His care as children of God He wooed us into a trusting
relationship with Him through many personal and direct considerations. It seemed that we had favor in nearly every
situation. When we prayed He
answered. When we spoke His Word it
manifested. Even when the enemy rose up
against us we felt confident and secure in Father’s love and care of us. Surely, we felt as if we were one with
Father.
When
these easy accesses began to elude us we felt neglected or as if we had
breached some divine ordinance or that we had grossly offended God. We had to be made aware that God was simply
trying to stretch us. Yes, sometimes He
hides Himself from us that we may search or seek for Him. In the beginning He woos us, but the time
comes when He wants us to woo Him by drawing close to Him so that He can draw
even closer to us per our invitation.
At
intervals when Divine Presence and Knowledge seem to evade us, Proverbs 25:2
NKJV reassures us that “It is the glory of God to conceal a matter, But the
glory of kings is to search out a matter.”
So, is this the same God who beckoned to us with such comforting words
from Jesus as “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will
give you rest. 29.Take My yoke upon you
and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest
for your souls. 30. For My yoke is easy
and My burden is light”? (Matthew 11:28-30)
Is
this the same God who instructs us to fast and pray and to come aside on
extended Sabbaticals with Him when He already announced that “It is
finished”? Yes, because not only are we
partakers of His grace, but He is also fashioning us to be conduits of His
grace. It is in our emptying that we
become full of Him.
For
years, I had been experiencing a gracious and very privileged walk with the
Lord when suddenly in the late 90’s I noticed that I was not hearing from the
Lord daily about spiritual, civic, social or private matters as I had
before. I began to attempt to seek Him
on another level. I repented for any
possible offenses toward Him or others.
I was checking everything that I could when I received a call from a
Prophet that I had met just briefly in another state. She said that the Lord gave her a word for me
which was that I was experiencing something that I didn’t like at all. He said that I had always enjoyed the
privilege of constant fellowship with Him, but that He was now trusting me
with a time of silence. He said that I
was to know that He was there and for me to just continue to fellowship with
Him through His Word. Well, what could I do?!?
Was the God who had held me so close pushing me away from His hovering
over me?
I
was about to approach a great transition in my life and ministry; so God
instructed me to do a study on the Kenosis of Jesus. It was now time for me to be exercised in the
faith of God, not just faith in God. He
watched to see if I would manifest more readily in the power that He told me I
possessed. He watched to see if I would
become more bold, strong and courageous at that time. He watched to see if I would continue to
speak to the storms and mountains without getting a “thumbs up” from Him. He watched to see if I would still command
the dead to get up and the sick to be healed.
He watched me cast aside fear in the mist of every threat. He watched to see if I truly trusted Him when
all of my resources and support systems came to a screeching halt. He watched to see if I would honor the mantle
that He had placed upon me and operate in that authority without any prompting
from Him.
THIS
God has continued to reveal Himself to me through the many ages and stages of
my journey as He does for everyone who submits to the process.
Our
Heavenly Father, our Chief, our Lord of Hosts, our Creator…is far from being
one-dimensional! Therefore, we must
follow Him close enough at every turn as He reveals Himself, and yet He is the
SAME God.
