Is God a meany? A punisher? Or is God something more?

Our image of God determines our approach to life.

The spiritual writer C. S. Lewis grew up believing “God was an old meany looking around to see if someone was having a good time, to put a stop to it.” You would only pray to this type of God during a severe crisis like a life threatening disease or a hurricane.

Parents often threaten their mischievous children by saying, “If you don’t behave, God’s going to punish you.” You can imagine what effect this might have on one’s image of God. Some people have a difficult relationship with their fathers. This can also affect their image of God as “Father” or the way they address God in prayer.

Dr. William Barclay, the Scottish New Testament scholar, experienced God’s sustaining strength when his 21-year-old daughter drowned in a yachting accident. A listener in Northern Ireland, angry over something Barclay had said in his radio Bible study, wrote an anonymous letter. It read, “Dear Dr. Barclay, I know now why God killed your daughter: It was to save her from being corrupted by your heresies.”

Barclay knew that God was all loving and would not go around drowning people’s daughters to punish them. Had he known the writer’s address, he said that he would have replied in love – not anger – “Your God is my devil.”

We all have to outgrow our childish images of God. If we grew up with any “witch messages” about God, we have to set them aside. St. Paul tells us in his letter to the Corinthians, “When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.” (1 Cor. 13:11)

When we change our ideas about God, God does change; our image of God changes.

Many people’s favorite psalm is number 23, the Lord is my shepherd. It gives us the image a caring God who is attentive to our needs. “He makes me lie down in green pastures; he leads me beside still waters; he restores my soul.” God also helps us stay on the right road, “He leads me in right paths for his name’s sake.”

We all face difficulties in our lives – loss of love ones, health, our job, possessions, etc. In the midst of our difficulties, we know that, “Although I walk through the darkest valley, I fear no evil; for you are with me.” Or as St. Paul put it so well, “If God is for us, who is against us?” (Rom. 8:31)

Psalm 23 continues, “You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows.” Anointing is a way of strengthening and consecrating someone. The Lord gives us the strength and confidence we need to overcome any adversity.

Jesus gave us a very positive image of God. In the story of the Prodigal Son God is a loving Father who even goes out and looks for his wayward son and rejoices when he returns. God wants a relationship with us. God is always ready to forgive and have us start over.

In his book “Breakfast at the Victory,” James Carse writes, “The highest achievement of the spiritual life is with the full embrace of the ordinary. Our appetite for the big experience – sudden insight, dazzling visions, heart-stopping ecstasy – is what hides the true way from us.” If we believe that God goes with us, we will look for God in every aspect of life.

The Buddhists have a saying, “Chop wood; carry water. After the enlightenment, chop wood; carry water.” This means we can find God in the everyday aspects of life. We just have to look.