This is how Aslam the lion is described by C S Lewis, and
is the allegorical description of Jesus.
Along with, hopefully, all other born-again believers, I
want to experience a closer relationship with this God whom I worship, but do I
know what that means? Really?
In human terms, "a closer relationship" brings
to mind a pleasant experience of love, affection, a sharing of hopes and
desires, maybe a physical closeness depending on the type of relationship. But
who is this God we seek to approach? In asking the question I don't claim to
have all the answers, but having recently read through the first few books of
the Old Testament I feel the need for caution.
In the New Testament we find Jesus who is God and who is
approachable. We read passages about love, affection, peace, joy, healing,
provision, freedom from worry, salvation for all without cost - all very
attractive reasons for choosing this god over others who demand more. To our
western thinking where the individual is key, where prosperity and ease are the
goals, we can distort the true nature of God by concentrating only on the
"nice bits"
If this is where we're at we face the danger of coming
unstuck big-time when things get tough. People ask "where is god
now?", "How could a good god let this happen?", "Where are
my blessings?", "Where is the healing and prosperity?"
Maybe our vision of God needs to expand to include what
he shows of himself before he revealed the plan for salvation through Jesus.
Adam and Eve met the God who banished them from paradise
for eating the wrong fruit. Noah met the God who wiped out the worlds
population to start again with a faithful family. Moses met the God who spoke
out of burning bushes, delivered plagues to Egypt, shielded Moses in the cleft
of a rock so that he wouldn't fry Moses as he passes by, the god who caused the
earth to open and swallow thousands of Israelites, the God who commanded
rituals, blood sacrifices, glorious tabernacles, who gave detailed laws on who
could approach and how it was to be done ........ I could go on but this God
doesn't seem very cuddly!
We must learn about and try to understand this side of
the nature of God before we can appreciate the enormity of what Jesus has done
for us. Unless we grasp the eternal gulf that is between sinful man and the
perfect, holy God we will never really appreciate that from which we are saved.
Unless we take on board the fact that we are entering His eternal kingdom and
not that He is simply bowing down to ours we will get stuck in some sort of
distorted prosperity gospel.
God is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, self-control. He is good, perfect, holy. This is his nature, not
a lifestyle choice. We can truly approach him only on his terms. Yes he longs
for fellowship with us as his beloved creation, but we need to understand the
cost. We need to understand why Jesus alone was the only one who could bridge
the gap.
Let us be careful to approach Him as He has revealed
Himself, and not invent our own God from the best bits as we see them.
Let us be careful to discover more about this God who
loves us with passion we could hardly even imagine, this God who we will one
day meet as either judge or saviour, this God who is good but not safe.
