#117: A Relationship with a Mechanical God

Is your definition of God limiting your experience?

“Dear God, thank you for another day. I pray for mom and dad. I also pray for my sister. Please help her. I pray for Joanne, Mike, Sally, and Bob. Please heal them. Please bless me and help me. Thank you, God. Amen.”

Prayer time is done; the requests have been made and now you can reap the blessings!

Does this prayer sound familiar? As you read this prayer does it strike you as strange that this is how we will talk to God? To a great degree, prayers to God are said in a way that you would never talk to anyone else. You might read off a list and run down some names, ask for blessings and wisdom in a robotic fashion. A prayer said in this manner is assuming God is some sort of mechanical being like an ATM where you deposit a prayer and expect blessings in return.

Since God is so magnificent and complex, it is possible for him to be viewed as robotic and mechanical, like some sort of heavenly mega computer or ATM that systematically, without bias, delivers blessings and trials based on some sort of logarithm. However, God is not mechanical, he is feeling and personal.

Have you ever experienced a real conversation with God where you are involved in a mutual exchange of thoughts? If you haven’t had this experience, this could be due to a skewed concept of God. Your perception of God will frame your actions and frame how you talk and respond to him. Does he seem very distant, unfeeling, and cold? It could be that your definition has limited your experience. If you will think of him as loving, caring and dynamic, then you will see him in a much different light and experience him on a whole new level. The children of Israel had a similar transformation. They were serving a distant God and the lack of relationship opened the door for them to stray.

Judges 10:15 And the children of Israel said unto the LORD, We have sinned: do thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto thee; deliver us only, we pray thee, this day.

Judges 10:16 And they put away the strange gods from among them, and served the LORD: and his soul was grieved for the misery of Israel.

The Israelites had decided to come back to the God that cherished them. Their separation had caused them much misery and this grieved the God that loved them. God is not beyond emotion. The Bible reveals that God is real and he has the capacity to be “grieved” over you. Did you realize that God experiences pain and hurt when you do? He grieves when you make a poor decision? He is in fact touched emotionally by your decisions. He responds and reacts to what you do. He is not mechanical and cold, nor is he some undefined orb of light that has no emotion. When his people hurt, it affects him. His soul is grieved for your misery.

Not only is the Lord capable of experiencing emotion, but he is also intimately involved in your life. You just have to have the eyes to see his hand. If you are serving a mechanical God, you will never credit circumstances and trials in your life to the loving rebuke of the Lord.

Proverbs 27:5 Open rebuke is better than secret love.

The Lord is open with his rebuke as well as his guidance and love. When you make poor decisions he will lovingly rebuke you. He will accept your apology and apply forgiveness. He will smile at you when you return to him and rejoin the relationship. Can a mechanical, programmed being do that? No. He is not hidden and programmed to operate in a certain way. His response to you is personal; not programmed. He is real and responds and reacts to your life.

Why would you approach this wonderful, magnificent, loving, and responding God with a list that you robotically read? Why would you not come to him with a conversation? Come to him with a real desire to connect and enjoy the friendship. Make your requests, but talk to him; converse with him. He is there to comfort and guide you and give you the tools to help others in his name.

2 Corinthians 1:4-5 Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. For as the sufferings of Christ abound in us, so our consolation also aboundeth by Christ.

Your view of God is critical to a healthy relationship with him. Your perception will motivate and form your actions. Would you obey your local ATM if it told you to go comfort your neighbor? No. You would think that it was just spitting out random commands as programmed. You will respond to your Lord equal to how you perceive him. If you do not see him as the real, dynamic, magnificent creator that loves you personally you will not be drawn to worship him, celebrate him, or even obey him.

Psalm 100:4 Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.

You are missing an amazing experience if you approach your God in a mechanical way. Experience the true God by relating to him in vibrant ways. He knows your name. He smiles at you and he grieves with you. He corrects and moves you in the right direction. He is real and living God that you get to have an exciting relationship with.

Psalm 100:5 For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.

Have a Conversation with Your Lord

Lord, when I pray to you do I recite a list of words or do I have a conversation with you?

Lord, do I treat you like you are mechanical or do I treat you like you are real?

Lord, do I look for ways you are leading and guiding me personally?

Lord, I know you are real. I want to have vibrant conversations with you and see how you are intimately involved in my life. I don’t want to serve a mechanical God. I want to have a close and personal walk with you…