Who is God? (3) God interacting ...

Thursday, June 4, 2009. We are on a tour to explore who God might be. We have talked about the greatness of God, his range from the smallest parts of this creation to the largest part. We have talked about his power to interact with a tremendous number of individual beings. But God is not only a large God in physical terms, when we measure him on the scale of power and range. God is a God of communication, a God of community, a God of history. He is a God who wants companionship, who wants to be among his people. God is a God who has interacted with history in a very strong way.

The Old Testament records important lines of God's interaction with human history. It starts from the beginning of the creation, but then quickly moves to the history of mankind. Particular individual people are picked out, those who had a strong faith. God chose to commit to them and to be a part of their life. He talked to them, he went with them, led them and interacted with them. The Old Testament can be called the story of God's interaction with some people during the history of human civilization. Important people are Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. God walked with Moses, with David, with Salomon. These stories reach back into the time around 1500-1000 before Christ.

But the Old Testament continues with various other books, called books of wisdom and books of the prophets. There are three large prophets, Isaiah, Jeremiah and Ezekiel. They lived between the 8th century BC to the 5th century BC. Then there are twelve smaller prophets Hosea, Joel, Amos, Obadiah, Jonah, Micah, Nahum, Habakkuk, Zephaniah, Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi. They all record words of the Lord, the God of Israel and the God of the world. God is speaking, God is interacting, God is trying to teach the people what wisdom, truth, love and trust is about. It is a big story about the freedom of man, about greed, power, fear and dangers, about justice and injustice, about fights and wars and about peace both in military terms and the peace of the human mind and soul.

God is a God of communication, a God who wants to be in community. God is a God who speaks, who teaches, who wants to listen and who wants to answer. If we search for God and want to talk to God then we are on a good way and we have the great option to find such a God. It is God's main character to be community by himself - the community of the father and the son and the holy spirit. And God wants to expand his community to all humans. He wants to be one with his church, with the people of trust and faith. God is a God interacting with all levels of human existence. [R.W.E.P., jesusnetwork.eu]

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