What a character

If someone came to you and offered you a cheque for £10 million.   How you felt about that would depend on the character of the person giving you the cheque.  

 If they were constantly in debt, your first thought might be "Is the cheque going to bounce?"  

 If the person was a con-artist, you might think it was a scam. 

 If the person was a bit loopy, you might think it was kind , but was a bit unrealistic.

 If they were truthful, honest and generous you might begin to be quietly optimistic.

 If they were all that and affluent and you knew they had the money, you would get excited and thankful, even before the cheque had cleared. 

 One of the reasons Christian don't get excited about the promises of God (healing, provision, acceptance, deliverance, protection etc) is because we don't really KNOW the character of God!  

 In Hebrews 11 (17-19 NLT) is says "It was by faith that Abraham offered Isaac as a sacrifice when God was testing him. Abraham, who had received God’s promises, was ready to sacrifice his only son, Isaac, even though God had told him, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted.” Abraham reasoned that if Isaac died, God was able to bring him back to life again."

 Abraham and Sarah both had seen that God's character was able to do what he said he could.  

 The word tells us in Psalms 100:5 that the Lord is good and his unfailing love continues forever and his faithfulness goes on and on to each generation.   This is God's nature but if we don't know it, when he says he will heal us, we will wrestle with that in our hearts. 

 There's no shortcut to knowing God. Just as in human relationships, we need to spend time with him.  

 Then we he says something, we will be able to KNOW whether he is able to come through for us!

 I know how my husband will respond in situations, because I know what upsets him or what makes him happy, I know what excites him, or what discourages him.  I know him, because I have spent time with him, talked to him, listened to him, cultivated intimacy with him, watched him and lived with him.

 If we're not sure how God will respond, we don't him.  The great news is, that it's never too late to get to know him.  He's accessible and it is his desire for us to know him. 

 Have a great weekend.


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