In my little time here on earth, I have come to know with certainty that God is good. His goodness is not normal to man and because of that, the natural man (and even Christians) do not understand the extent of His goodness. It is almost “too good to be true” as humans say.  We, the redeemed, know that with God, it is too good not to be true. 

Let us look at how He dealt with Abraham (Abram at the time)

Genesis 17:1-2 (NLT) When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, “I am El-Shaddai— ‘God Almighty.’ Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life.  I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants.”

Abraham was ninety years old when God showed up and announced Himself as El-Shaddai. This was four years after Ishmael was born, a result of unbelief even after God had promised them a son. There is no account of what happened within those four years, all we have is what the bible says in Genesis 17:1 when God announces Himself to Abraham saying He is El Shaddai – The One who doesn’t need our help; He who supplies and nourishes the need of His people, The many-breasted One! 

The truth of the matter is that the reality of El Shaddai has not sunk into many minds, which is not strange. When you think of it, how does one begin to fathom the extent of that greatness? This, though, is not the issue. The issue is, since we can’t fathom the greatness of our God, we behave and respond to Him in a way that shows that we do not believe what He has said about Himself. Our minds, instead of His Spirit in us, dictate our behavior. 

As God’s greatness is revealed to us progressively as we walk with Him day by day, we must remember that this is a walk of faith. We will either take Him at His word or not. One of my favorite preachers qualifies our brains as “peanuts” (Southern American preachers have the most interesting descriptions). The point he tries to make is that we dare not fit God into our limited understanding. It is an insult! 

That is exactly what Sarah and Abraham did when they decided to “help” Him. He clearly needed help in their own eyes. He wasn’t as “Almighty” as He claimed to be. Now this is where His goodness is demonstrated. He didn’t give up on them. He came and reassured them of who He was and what He still planned to do, with many blessings that we as Christians are connected to till this day.

Sad to say, many of us have moved on from God even when Heis still trying to convince us of His greatness, providence, andAlmightiness. He gives us signs all around to show that He is who He claims to be. Yet, because of our unbelief, we seek more signs and also have an idea of what the signs should be. For those who continue to seek signs, Jesus says  

Luke 11: 29 – 32 (NLT) As the crowd pressed in on Jesus, he said, “This evil generation keeps asking me to show them a miraculous sign. But the only sign I will give them is the sign of Jonah. 30 What happened to him was a sign to the people of Nineveh that God had sent him. What happens to the Son of Man will be a sign to these people that he was sent by God.

31 “The queen of Sheba will stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for she came from a distant land to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Now someone greater than Solomon is here—but you refuse to listen. 32 The people of Nineveh will also stand up against this generation on judgment day and condemn it, for they repented of their sins at the preaching of Jonah. Now someone greater than Jonah is here—but you refuse to repent.

The people of Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah, not because He performed miracles or spoke fancifully nor was it because fire fell on their enemies; they simply responded to the Word of God. These people did not have what we have today. Jesus hadn’t died and risen. 

When we compromise, we are saying to God that He is not who He says He is. When we pull people down so that we can ascend, we are offering Him a lift with which to lift us up. When we disobey Him, we are telling Him that we do not trust Him.

It starts with a decision, regardless of what our minds can fathom; a decision to trust and obey. Remember, it is a walk of faith.

 – Ifiok Ezenwa