Personal

God is a personal God. He is not an impersonal force. This is just a sample of scriptures that demonstrate the personality of God:

  1. God is an emotional being. “And it repented the LORD that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him at his heart” (Genesis 6:6). He felt great sadness when the creation that He had declared “very good” (Genesis 1:31) rebelled against Him and never sought Him again.
  2. God is a rational being. “Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18). God is a rational, reasonable Being. He reasons with His people to turn from their wicked ways so that they can live in the land in peace.
  3. God is a volitional being. God’s character never changes (repent, 1 Samuel 15:29). However, God does change the way He operates in different situations (repent, 1 Samuel 15:35). The bible says that “the LORD repented that he had made Saul king over Israel” (1 Samuel 15:35). God once anointed Saul over Israel as a king, but later turned the kingdom over to David, choosing him to begin a long dynasty of Judean kings.
  4. God loves people. “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). God loves other people, which is more than emotion, but also service and sacrifice.
  5. God can hate people. “The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth” (Psalms 11:5). Like God’s love, He also hates those who are violent. This is also more than emotion.
  6. God has a sense of humor. “He that sitteth in the heavens shall laugh: the Lord shall have them in derision” (Psalms 2:4). When the world’s leaders band together to fight the Lord, we see that God sees the irony of the weak, finite, people He created attempting to fight against the infinite, omnipotent Creator.
  7. God is loyal to His people. “There shall not any man be able to stand before thee all the days of thy life: as I was with Moses, so I will be with thee: I will not fail thee, nor forsake thee” (Joshua 1:5, cf. Hebrews 13:5). God was loyal to Joshua all the days of his life during the conquest of Canaan. The antiphonal Psalm 136 reiterates “for his mercy endureth for ever” for each time the psalmist remembers God’s loyalty and protection of His people throughout history.
  8. God answers prayer. “And Israel vowed a vow unto the LORD, and said, If thou wilt indeed deliver this people into my hand, then I will utterly destroy their cities. And the LORD hearkened to the voice of Israel, and delivered up the Canaanites; and they utterly destroyed them and their cities: and he called the name of the place Hormah” (Numbers 21:2-3). God’s people prayed and vowed, and God answered their prayers by a great deliverance.
  9. God communicates with His people. “But these are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name” (John 20:31). God has given to us His word, so that we may know how to be saved, and how to properly serve Him in this life.

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