Elsewhere in this bulletin is a sermon outline entitled “The God I Know...”; a study of some false concepts of God conceived in the human heart. This article is a supplement to that study.

The 50^th Psalm depicts God as the mighty Lord and righteous Judge of both His people and of the wicked. There, God first implores His people to “call upon Me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me” (Psa. 50:15). In contrast, in the face of the sins of the wicked who “hate instruction and cast My words behind you”, God admits that He “kept silent” for a time (Psa. 50:21). Mostly likely, the wicked complacently concluded that since God did not immediately speak or act, He does not care what they did (Zeph. 1:12). God’s longsuffering did not mean that at all, and God corrects their false view of Him: “You thought that I was altogether like you; but I will rebuke you, and set them (their sins, jrp) in order before your eyes” (Psa. 50:21). God remembered every one of their sins and would hold each one of them accountable for every sin committed. The Psalm ends with a warning not to forget God. To do so brings one into sure judgment. On the other hand, God’s salvation is assured to those who faithfully praise and follow Him (Psa. 50:22-23).

Every man and woman should learn and remember that:

God does not think like us. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts” (Isa. 55:8-9). We are not the standard of right and wrong. This is why we cannot rely on our thoughts and feelings to guide us in matters of truth and morality: Our own thoughts and emotions often deceive us (Prov. 14:12; Jer. 17:9).  You see, God does not think like you think!

God is not limited in knowledge like us. “Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out!” (Rom. 11:33) Those who love this world and the things in it are tempted to forget that God sees and knows their prideful conduct: “They set their mouth against the heavens, and their tongue walks through the earth...and they say, ‘How does God know? And is there knowledge in the Most High?” (Psa. 73:9, 11)

Oh yes, there is “knowledge in the Most High”. We must hear and follow the counsel of God rather than the counsel of men. “The foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men” (1 Cor. 1:25). He knows us far better than we know ourselves: “O Lord, You have searched me and known me, You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, and are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, but behold, O Lord, You know it altogether. You have hedged me behind and before, and laid Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high, I cannot attain it” (Psa. 139:1-6). You see, God knows more than you know!

God is not limited by time like us. A most important warning is uttered by God through His prophet Isaiah to the idolatrous transgressors: “Remember this, and show yourselves men; Recall to mind, O you transgressors. Remember the former things of old, for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like Me, declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times things that are not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will do all My pleasure’” (Isa. 46:8-10). “Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever You had formed the earth and the world, even from everlasting to everlasting, You are God” (Psa. 90:2). The true God is timeless and eternal, and that bears upon the enduring justice and truthfulness of His word. His word is as true today as when it was first uttered and penned by His prophets; God’s word lives forever (1 Pet. 1:23-25). You see, God has lived longer than you and His word is more enduring than yours!

God is not limited in power like us. The truth Job acknowledged must be on our hearts and tongues: “Then Job answered the Lord and said: ‘I know that You can do everything, and that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You’” (Job 42:1-2). We cannot resist God’s power and purposes; we must yield to them in faithful obedience (Acts 5:39; Jas. 4:7-10). You see, God has more power than you have!

God does not sin like us. All of us have sinned (Rom. 3:23). God has not sinned, He will not sin and He does not condone sin. “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor the son of man, that He should repent” (Num. 23:19). Many people believe that on the Judgment Day God will overlook their sins, redefine their sins or by some means (not yet revealed) mercifully forgive their unrepented sins. No, God’s redemptive plan exists now and will not change. The Judgment Day will be a day of accounting (giving answer for our lives on earth) and of reward according to our deeds. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good or bad” (2 Cor. 5:10). God will not reward sinners with heaven, nor will He punish those who have been faithful to Him (Matt. 7:21-23). You see, God will judge your sins and punish you unless you repent and obey the gospel of His Son!

Which God do you serve? Do you serve the god designed by the will and wisdom of men? Do you serve the god you have created in your own mind? Or, do you serve the true and living God, the God of the Bible?