Pictures of the God of Peace

A few weeks ago we agreed to try to help some folks in need. After getting to know them better I was deeply impressed that one of their greatest needs was to get a true picture of God. As I have been sharing I have also been greatly increasing my own collection of updated pictures of God.

One of my favorite Psalms ( I learned to sing it years ago) is Psalm 103. That is like a whole album of snapshots of the real character of God, particularly in relation to human beings. Here are just a few of them I enjoy 'looking at'.

The real God forgives (gives us His love for - in place of - our unloving attitudes and spirit).

The genuine God heals us.

This God rescues us from the consequences of our wrong choices and bad actions.

The God of Peace encircles us, surrounds us, with His love, His kindness, His tenderness and doesn't give us what we really deserve.

The Creator God puts His words into my mouth (and remember, His word is power since He is the Creator of all). That kind of power in my 'mouth', means that now I have His power in me. With His power flowing through me I am 'renewed - given new life and new freedom in Him - which enables me to live life the way the God of love and Peace intended me to live.


In some of my 'quiet' time with God I have also been looking at Psalm 50 with the intent of learning more about what God is really like. [Some time ago I began taking a portion of scripture and 'unpacking it' - looking for the meanings both of the context and in words themselves.] (See side link 'Paraphrases' for more on that topic.) As I have been doing this in Psalm 50 I am again being impressed with the 'hidden' (at times anyway) intensity of quite a few of the words. The King James Version of the Bible is fine, but over and over again I sense that the translators 'toned down' the original intensity intended by the writer. For much of my life I think I have missed how intensely the Creator God loves me. I have heard some intensity when topics of 'retribution', 'punishment' or other 'negative' topics have been presented. But when God's love, mercy (not giving what is deserved), compassion (coming alongside someone else with loving passion) grace (giving and sharing what is not deserved) and many other positive characteristics of God were presented I did not usually sense the same intensity in the presentation.
I'm not finished with the whole Psalm yet but here are a few more 'snapshots' of our wonderful Lord that I invite you to take with you into your memory's gallery.

The Creator God of the Universe wants to talk to me. He has a group of people (I believe He delights to call us His 'family'). In Psalm 50 He begins by talking to us, His family.

He starts out by reminding us - His family - that He is not in a relationship with us to 'benefit' Him. Since He is already the 'owner' of everything in the first place, anything we might 'give' to Him came from Him to begin with.

What God is really longing to receive from us, though, is an attitude of gratitude. When we tell God 'thank you', it not only gives us satisfaction but it brings JOY to God.

God then goes on to remind us that He is intensely interested in every part of our lives. He invites us to tell Him not only how we feel and how we perceive what is going on in our lives but reviews that fact that He will take care of us.

One often quoted promise from Psalm 50 (15) is an special invitation from God. "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you and you will give me the glory (credit).

There is a lot more in Psalm 50 and hopefully I will be able to share more soon. For now may I encourage you to go looking for pictures of the 'real God' in His written word. The more accurately I see God, the more He is able to use me to show others what He is really like also.

Until we meet again, may God's Peace be with you.

Bringer of Peace