"That's Not The God I Know"

I remember stating this line a few times in life as I wrestled with new, and apparently contradictory, theological truisms that I just could not believe. For example, does God really create some people just to send them to hell? Surely, "That's not the God I know. My God would never do that."

I remember even hearing a friend say this about an aspect of the character of God that I believed, but she could not imagine. At the time, it struck me as odd that she would use "my line". And I didn't really have a response.

But today, I thought of a response, both for myself and my friend, end even others who might reject a difficult truth about God: Yes, it may well be true that this is not the God you know, which simply could indicate that it could be the God you don't know! And this is the weightier prospect! There are things about a spouse we learn after 10, 15, 20 years of marriage. Sure they may be small things, or things they even think insignificant, but you realize was the missing link that connects a bunch of other dots. This is true for friends and pastors and famous people we think we really know. How much more is it true of an infinite God. In fact, we will spend all eternity getting to know God and never plumb the depths of who he is completely because we are finite, although eternal.

So the next time a preacher or a friend declares something about the nature of God that seems to contradict what you know of God, and you're tempted to declare "That's not the God I know." It may be that this experience or particular issue in life has come up in order to introduce you further to a God you don't know -- which is really just a more complex picture of a bigger God than you had before.

Or, it could be heresy. But don't be so quick to reject it until you have wrestled with it a bit. You might just learn something about God that you never knew before.