The Same God

 

I was watching the amazing Prince of Egypt tonight with my church family and I was once again moved to tears seeing this dramatization of God's saving power to deliver his people from bondage.

I thought of how these things happened thousands of years ago in a distant part of the world I have never been, to people I had never met, in a culture that I would struggle to fully understand.

And I realized something amazing to me. While all of that is true, one thing remains the same: I know the same God.

The same God who created the Heavens and the Earth and all their fullness.

The same God who walked with Adam and Eve in the cool of the day, and the same God who tearfully had to expel them from Paradise, but not without a Promise.

The same God who deluged the Earth to cleanse it of wicked humanity, but who also saved humanity through Noah and his family.

The same God who called Abraham, Issac, and Jacob - to whom He gave the Promises.

The same God who delivered Joseph and then through Him saved His people and the world of that time from famine.

The same God who later delivered His people from slavery with mighty wonders and an outstretched hand.

The same God who spoke from the mountain of fire and with His own finger wrote the Ten Commandments upon the stones.

The same God who led His people in the wilderness and was forced to allow those same people to fall in the wilderness due to their stubborn disobedience.

The same God who led their children into the Promised Land under Joshua and who delivered the Promised Land into their hands from the Canaanites.

The same God who had to take back that Promised Land when His people turned from Him to wickedness, and the same God who returned it when they repented.

The same God who raised up mighty King David and promised him the lineage of the Messiah.

The same God who sent mighty prophets to warn Israel to repent and who through them did mighty wonders.

The same God who condescended to become human like us in order to fulfill the Law and die for our sins to save us.

The same God who rose from the dead to gain victory over sin and death forever and to secure eternal life for those who believe and trust in Him.

The same God who appeared to many as Jesus and commissioned His Church and Bride to be His body in this world and to spread His good news to all the Earth.

The same God who would guide and protect His Church through her many victories and disobedience, always preserving a remnant to continue the work of salvation through the many centuries.

The same God who made sure a poor farming family in the late 1800s had a nickle for the ferry - enough to send their daughter to a Christian meeting where she would hear about His love and be saved.

The same God who worked in her to build a family of believers who would pass their faith down to the next generation, and the next, and the next.

The same God who knitted me in my mother's womb and who breathed life into me, willing me to become a living being.

The same God who called out my name at the age of 12 and said to me, "I know you and have called you by name. You are mine."

The same God who has walked with me ever since. Who has held my hand through disappointment, hardship, illness, injury, and the sorrow of divorce. The same God who willed me to walk again after I became paralyzed. The same God who has saved my life countless times. The same God who gave me two wonderful children and saw to their salvation as well.

The same God who lives today, tomorrow, and forever. The same God who helps me even now to see I have so much to be grateful for, and so much to look forward to in his Divine will.

The same God has cared for me since I was born. Yes, He carried me before I was born. He will be my God throughout my lifetime— until my hair is white with age. He made me, and He will care for me. He will carry me along and save me. (Isaiah 46:3-4)

The same God.