Question: What does God's work in our lives teach us about who he is?
I recently listened to a message by a pastor in the USA in which he made the following point. He said that “signs always point us to something deeper”. He then linked this to the signs God performs in each of our lives and explained that “everything God does for you is to point you to who he wants to be to you”.
This statement seems quite simple but as I digested it I realised just how profound it is. And then I began to ask myself a serious question - who has God shown himself to be to me?
Reflection and Gratitude
At the end of every year my husband and I compile a gratitude list - a list of key things God has done for us throughout the year which we want to specifically reflect on and thank him for as we transition into the new year. This is something we have done for many years and it really helps us to put into perspective the magnitude of God’s working in our lives year by year.
However following this revelation I looked back on my 2018 list with fresh eyes and for every item on the list I asked myself - what does this thing that God did FOR me reveal to me about who God is TO me? What I learned has moved me in ways I was not prepared for. Let me share my top two with you:
1. God The Promise Keeper
"Let us hold tightly without wavering to the hope we affirm, for God can be trusted to keep his promise". - Hebrews 10:23
Last year I successfully passed my last two major professional exams. It was a huge challenge to prepare as I was working full time as a doctor, raising my toddler son, running a business as well as taking care of my responsibilities as a wife and homemaker.
What God did FOR me is give me patience, focus and confidence outside of myself. He provided the time and resources for me to study, attend courses and obtain the help I needed. He opened my mind to be able to take in the necessary information and he calmed my nerves so that I could reproduce the knowledge I had acquired on the days of the exams.
Who God is TO me is a promise keeper.
Before signing up to the exams I had heard clearly from God that this is something he would take me through if I’d only take the step of faith. Despite circumstances being beyond challenging, he kept his word because ‘he who promised is faithful’ (Hebrews 10:23).
2. God The Way-Maker
"For I am about to do something new. See, I have already begun! Do you not see it? I will make a pathway through the wilderness. I will create rivers in the dry wasteland". - Isaiah 43:19
Last summer our son was in hospital for two and a half months with encephalitis. God sustained us as a family through that extremely challenging time and fully healed our son.
What God did FOR me was provide the hospital, doctors, nurses and other professionals, the tests and the medicines that were needed to support and treat my son. He provided accommodation to allow me to stay with my son throughout his admission. And he provided people to pray for us, cook for us and be a blessing in so many ways throughout that time.
Who God is TO me is a way-maker, and a loving Father.
The scriptures say he makes “a pathway through the wilderness” and creates “rivers in the dry wasteland” - Isiah 43:19. It also tells us that he is a “merciful Father and the source of all comfort” - 2 Corinthians 1:3.
God took an impossible situation and turned it into an opportunity to showcase his unfailing grace and tender care. He showed me that even at my point of deepest need and despair, his love was enough. He showed me that every detail - where I’d sleep, how I’d wash my clothes, what I would eat - were important to him and he provided for every need before it had even arisen. He demonstrated that no challenge was too hard and no issue was too small to matter.
The Who of God
Understanding and reflecting on the WHO of God rather than just the WHAT takes the testimonies of our lives and turns them into anchors on which we can firmly dock every challenge and need that will come our way. When we learn to depend more on the Promiser than the promise, more on the Provider rather than the provision, we can rest our confidence and expectation, not just on the memory of what God has done in the past, but on the certainty of WHO HE IS, now and forever.
Amen.