personal and present

Author Eckhart Tolle has described God as an “invisible energy field” that animates us and every other thing. For singer-songwriter Annie Lennox, God is “a word to describe the life force that has created all,” and for controversial bishop John Shelby Spong, God is the impersonal force behind life, love, and existence.

For some authors, artists, and philosophers, God is a “life-force” God. While I like the idea of divine energy surging through my veins, some questions persist: If God is an impersonal energy, from where do humans get their individual personalities? If God is an impersonal power, why do humans desire relationship? If God is an impersonal force, where does love come from? Humans display all these qualities and more, so either humans are greater than the being that created them or God is much bigger than some popularly imagine.

When God revealed Himself to Moses, He presented Himself as “I Am”—Yahweh (the Lord)—the personal One who is present to save us (Exodus 3:14). This is a God who saw the oppression of His people in slavery, heard their cries, was concerned for them, and did something for them (vv.7-8). And saints and sinners throughout history have found this God to be anything but impersonal. He feels happiness (Hebrews 13:16), grief (Genesis 6:6), anger (Exodus 32:10), and compassion (Deuteronomy 32:36). He planned our existence and has a plan for each nation (Psalm 139:14-16; Amos 9:7). He watches every sparrow (Matthew 10:29-30), counts every hair (Luke 21:8), hears every cry, and wipes away every tear (Revelation 21:4). This is the God who desires a people He can love (Exodus 6:7) and whose invitation has always been for us to seek and discover Him (Jeremiah 29:11-14).

Moses met God in the desert that day. Not a force, but a Person. Not an electrical current, but the Spirit of the living God.

by sheridan voysey
PRAISE GOD
BLESSED BE THE ONE WHO COMES IN THE NAME OF THE LORD