Topic: What Is God Really Like?
“For the Lord is always good. He is always loving and kind, and his faithfulness goes on and on to each succeeding generation” (Psalm 100:5 TLB).
Rick Warren Daily Hope Devotional 24 July 2020
If knowing who God is shapes the way we pray, then what is God really like?
Well, God has many characteristics. He is all-knowing (omniscient), he is all-powerful (omnipotent), and he can be everywhere at the same time (omnipresent). The Bible tells us God is holy, just, kind, loving, and faithful.
And God is good. In fact, trust in his goodness is the basis for all prayer. If God is not a good God, then why would we expect him to answer our prayers? Why would we be motivated to pray to him at all.
The only reason there’s any good in the world is because God is the Creator of the world, and he is a good God. His goodness is in the universe. You can’t spell “good” without “God.” If there’s no God, then there is no right and wrong or good and bad.
People often ask, “Why is there evil in the world?” It’s simple: God doesn’t force us to do good. Evil exists because God gave us a free choice and we choose not to do good a lot of the time. Evil is really easy to explain. The hard thing to explain is why there is is any good in the world. In a world of brutal competition and so-called tough luck, the only reason there is good is because God is a good God.
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Richard Duane Warren is an American Baptist evangelical Christian pastor and author. He is the founder and senior pastor of Saddleback Church, an evangelical megachurch affiliated with the Southern Baptist Convention in Lake Forest, California, that is the sixth-largest megachurch in the United States.