the God who… Who?

“I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Exodus 3:6

How are you, friends? Here at LifeChange Camp, we have wrapped up the youth camps that we hire counselors and staff to program ourselves. Now we are switching modes: The next few weeks, camp will be full of kids that churches bring… they will provide the counselors and programming. We provide the facility, support, and food, food, food. The summer is going to be very full. Please pray for the adults who are running the camps, that God will guide them and provide what they need to minister to the kids they bring. And please pray for the youth, that their hearts will be open to God and that they will understand and respond to the truth that is presented!

Do you have any friends who are not Christians? How about friends who are of a different faith?

When I was in high school, my best friend was Hindu and I was (and am) a Christian. I talked about God. If I don’t intentionally tell about my faith, I drool it… it leaks out one way or another. She also talked about her faith. I went to her dance recitals, which were important in her culture as the dances told the stories of their gods. I listened while her family shared their mythology–the Hindus are pantheistic–that is, they have many gods. So, when my friend told me she believes in my God, it is true… people of other religions often believe in the existence of YHWH, right alongside their gods, but they don’t KNOW Him. I learned that when someone told me they would pray for me, it does not mean they are praying to my God.

It is a sad phenomena happening around us. Perhaps we have grown accustomed to people who do not worship YHWH, but what else has found its way onto the altars of Americans?? The Marvel Comic characters that have been turned into heroes on the silver screen are some of the same “little g” gods that the Greeks worshiped when Paul visited Athens and saw the people were so religious that they had an altar for an unknown god. Paul used the opportunity to reveal God to them, meanwhile, there are Americans who worship them once again. Odinism has become a religion. Even Wicca is pantheistic. I recently discovered that New Orleans Voodoo is a mix of pantheistic Voodoo and Catholicism. They believe in God, but they serve gods.

As I am learning, I am becoming sensitive to the worship songs and phrases that call YHWH “the God” who saves, who hears, who sees, who _______ —you fill in the blank. I think that we have adopted this from Hagar, the servant of Sarah who gave birth to Abraham’s first son. Sarah treated her badly because she was jealous, and Hagar ran away. The angel of the Lord went to Hagar in the wilderness, prophesied to her about her son, and sent her back to Sarah. “And she called the name of the LORD (Jehovah) that spake unto her, Thou God (god, god-like-one, mighty one [whether god, a man, an angel, or God]) seest me: for she said, Have I also here looked after him that seeth me?”

Hagar was Egyptian, and her people also worshiped many gods. The Bible does not tell us if she understood that He was God alone. The Hebrew does not seem to indicate it. To her, He was a God who saw her. He comforted her, and we know that He kept His promise to her.

When God met Moses in the burning bush (Exodus 3), He introduced Himself by saying, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Remember, Moses had grown up in the house of Pharaoh, who had many gods. The Israelites were the only nation set apart as God’s people. All the other nations worshiped idols, but when God led Israel out of Egypt, they took notice. No other god did that. No other god brought down city walls like Jericho. (Joshua 6:20) No other god rained huge hail from heaven on their enemies. (Joshua 10:11) No other god rained fire from heaven. (1 Kings 18:38)

The other interesting thing about what God said to Moses, Jesus explained (Matt. 22:32), was that in saying He was the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, He was God of the resurrection. Though they were dead, God spoke of being their God in the present tense, indicating that they still lived (with Him). No other god did this.

To say that our God, YHWH–Jehovah, is the God who saves, who heals, who sees us is true. But the language, “the God” is as the pagans who worship other gods would say… “the god,” which is just one god– a god, rather than the ONE God. Paul wrote to the Ephesians, “There is one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is over all, in all, and living through all,” because when Holy Spirit gave them a variety of spiritual gifts, their pantheistic background made it easy for them to think that each gift was a manifestation of a different god. Paul wanted to make sure they understood that the many gifts were the manifestation of the grace of only one God, and all of them were equally important in the building of His kingdom.

I don’t know if we need different language, but I’m feeling that we need to understand that when we talk about God, not everyone we speak with recognizes YHWH. We need to be sensitive to what others do believe so that we can be discerning about what we speak. We don’t want to communicate that He is “a god.” We need to communicate unequivocally who God is and that there is no other God. He alone made us. He alone sees us and knows our hearts. He alone judges the thoughts and intentions of men. He alone heals us. He alone is able to forgive us, change us, fill us. Believing He exists among other gods does not bring salvation, nor does worshiping Him alongside other gods.

“You shall have no other gods before me,” reads, “You shall not have any other gods (rulers, judges, angels, god-like ones, etc…) before Me (beside, in addition to, together with, beyond, above, over, by, on to, towards, to, against…)”

It is an absolute prohibition.

I found this song while writing this post. It is an older one, but a good one. I have never paid so much attention to what it says, but the writers understood what I am saying. Let us be asking God how He wants us to think and speak, so that we leave no room for interpretation… a God who… Who??

He is God Alone.