Personal God Series

We read in Psalm 91:2, “I will say to the LORD, "You are my refuge and my fortress, my God in whom I trust." (GW)

If we observe the above mentioned verse, the Psalmist refers to God in a most personal way when He says of God, ‘My refuge’, ‘My fortress’ and ‘My God’. God is not a supernatural power who is far away, who cannot empathize with us, but a personal God who desires to speak to us and have fellowship with us. Progressively mankind has been neglecting God, and the majority turn to Him only when challenged with hardships or difficulties.

We will study in depth to understand how God desires to have this personal relationship with us.

· Job had a personal experience with God

We read in Job 42:5, “In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.” (GNB)

Job faced unimaginable trials in his life and lost everything that was dear to him. However, we read at the end of Job’s life that God everything restored to him in full measure. That was when Job testified, that though he had formerly heard about God from others, his eyes had now beheld and experienced God’s mighty wonders first hand. God had become a personal God to Job and was no longer a hearsay.

God longs for each one of us to have a personal relationship with Him. This should not be based on the faith of our grand-parents, our parents or our pastor, but should be founded our own personal experience with God. If this is not so, we will not be able to face or escape the calamities that will come upon us. The Lord has permitted this pandemic I believe, to get the attention of everyone in the world as He wishes to convey something important to us. The people of the world have been hustling along in pursuit of money and possessions, forgetting that there is something fundamental that man is in need of, which is God and His Kingdom. The word of God reminds us that if we seek after God and His Kingdom, everything else will be added to us as well.

Ruth made Naomi’s God her personal God

We read in Ruth 1:11“"You must go back, my daughters," Naomi answered."Why do you want to come with me?”(GNB)

Naomi had come to Moab, but when she became a widow and also lost both her sons, she decided to get back to the land of Judah. Naomi had two daughters in law both of whom were from Moab. Naomi encouraged both of her daughters in law, Ruth and Orpah, to get back to their own homes. While Orpah left to go back to her family, Ruth refused to do so.

This was her reply in Ruth 1:16, “But Ruth answered, "Don't ask me to leave you! Let me go with you. Wherever you go, I will go; wherever you live, I will live. Your people will be my people, and your God will be my God.”(GNB)

Ruth made a decision to go with her mother-in-law Naomi, resolving to make Naomi’s people her people, and Naomi’s God her God. Naomi knew the Lord, but Ruth was a Moabites, but she still was determined to follow her mother in law, and make Naomi’s God her personal God too. When Naomi and Ruth got back to Naomi’s home town, this is what happened.

We read in Ruth 2:3, “So Ruth went out to the fields and walked behind the workers, picking up the heads of grain which they left. It so happened that she was in a field that belonged to Boaz.” (GNB)

As Ruth went to pick up the heads of grains that were left over from the fields, little did she realize that these fields belonged to Boaz, who was a relative of Naomi. There were many fields in the land of Judah in those days, but the Lord in His divine plan led Ruth to the fields of Boaz. The outcome of her going to the fields of Boaz is recorded in Ruth 4:13, “So Boaz took Ruth home as his wife.” (GNB) Though Ruth was an outside from Moab, God blessed her with a new lease of life, simply because she made Naomi’s God her personal God.

Each one of us must have this experience of having a personal relationship with God. The moment we acknowledge that God is our God, His immediate response to us is that ‘We are His children.’ When we trust God fully and walk in obedience to Him, He becomes our faithful Father who is not only willing, but able to meet all of our needs.

The Samaritan Woman accepted the Messiah

It is recorded in John 4:25, “The woman said to him, "I know that the Messiah will come, and when he comes, he will tell us everything."”(GNB)