God, What Are We to Make of Him?

By the Rev. John Dreyer

Knowing the true God is very essential to Christianity because it means life. It is a life that is given to us by God and not the other way around. Our Lord says, "This is eternal life, that they know You the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent." For us to know the true God means life; not to know the true God means death.

However, we can easily fall into the habit of understanding our Christian life from below. Today we begin to speak in terms as if our activity defines our life and who God is. One may hear Christians centering their attention upon their prayer, their faith, their spiritual life, their evangelism, and their worship. These elements are important and an essential part of our Christian life, but we must never forget that these activities in life are meaningless unless understood and shaped by the true God who comes to us as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Scriptures assume that the events in our life do not give meaning, value, or purpose to life, only God does. King Solomon and Job and other portions of Scripture refer to this centricity upon God. Psalms are a fine example of this.

In Psalm 73, Aseph was wrestling with the very fact that the pagans were receiving these great "rewards" in this life and Aseph, who seeks to be faithful to God, seems to be getting the short end of the stick in life. He soon concluded that life was not understood from below but from above as he says, "Until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end." Life has its meaning not simply by the events from below as if we give meaning to life but from above, namely, from God who comes to us through His Son to give us life and salvation.

How about Psalm 46 as it speaks those familiar words, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in every trouble, therefore we will not fear." He is our comfort and strength is not merely an emotional comfort but as God bids us to "be still and know that I am God." Knowing God is to know His promises and the life He gives to us through thick and thin.

God, not us, is the defining point in our prayer life. Prayer is a confession of the life God has first given us through His Son Jesus Christ. Therefore the character of prayer is reflective of the true God in whom we confess unto salvation (Romans 10:9-10). If the question is asked, "Do all religions pray to the same God?" we conclude that this is the wrong question. The question does not remain with "prayer" but who is this God that shapes our prayers. We confess the true God through prayer, praise, and giving thanks, knowing the life we have received from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. This summarizes the first three commandments of having the true God, the right confession, and thus the right worship of this true God.

Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but to Thy Name be glory, because of Thy mercy, because of Thy truth (Psalm 115:1).

The Rev. John Dreyer is an Admission Counselor at Concordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana.