Who is God, really?
“The question then becomes: Can you pray knowing God is good, that he loves you, and that he may have something more important than your happiness or standard for success in mind? Can you trust God, knowing his ultimate goal for you is to be conformed to the image of Jesus and not necessarily your own goals of an ideal life or marriage?” I asked.
“I’m not sure,” she said. “I guess I have been praying to a God I thought I knew. The more he reveals himself like you’re describing, I guess I need to figure out whether I can trust God for who he really is.”
And that, my friend, is why we need good theology.
And I share this conversation with you not to exploit my friend in any way, and not to judge her for her struggle—God only knows how I might respond given similar circumstances—but to highlight a too-frequent problem among believers.
Idolatry.
Calvin said our hearts are idol-making factories. He was right. Idolatry doesn’t require a graven image. Idolatry is simply fashioning God out of our own imagination.
Theology confronts idolatry. It helps us speak truthfully of God.
Unless we know who God is as he revealed himself to us, and not who he is in our best estimation, we cannot rightly worship God. We cannot rightly praise God. We cannot confess or testify accurately of God.
And, we cannot confidently pray to God in times of pain and adversity!
As much as people complain about learning doctrine via good theology, it’s necessary and beneficial.
