1 John 4:8
God is LOVE
8 Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.
Acts 17:26-27
God is Not Far from Us
26 From one man he made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth; and he determined the times set for them and the exact places where they should live. 27 God did this so that men would seek him and perhaps reach out for him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us.
Matthew 1:23
God is With Us
23 "The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him Immanuel"—which means, "God with us."
Philippians 4:5
God is Gentle and Near
5 Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near.
James 4:8
God is Near
8 Come near to God and he will come near to you.
Matthew 11:25-30
The Father is Revealed in the Son
25 At that time Jesus said, “I praise you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because you have hidden these things from the wise and learned, and revealed them to little children. 26 Yes, Father, for this is what you were pleased to do.
27 “All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.
28 “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Matthew 28:19-20
Jesus Will Be With Us Till the End of the Ages
19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Romans 8:28
God Works for the Good in All Things
28 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.
Luke 7:36-50
Jesus Forgives a Sinful Woman
36 When one of the Pharisees invited Jesus to have dinner with him, he went to the Pharisee’s house and reclined at the table. 37 A woman in that town who lived a sinful life learned that Jesus was eating at the Pharisee’s house, so she came there with an alabaster jar of perfume. 38 As she stood behind him at his feet weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears. Then she wiped them with her hair, kissed them and poured perfume on them.
39 When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know who is touching him and what kind of woman she is—that she is a sinner.”
40 Jesus answered him, “Simon, I have something to tell you.”
“Tell me, teacher,” he said.
41 “Two people owed money to a certain moneylender. One owed him five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. 42 Neither of them had the money to pay him back, so he forgave the debts of both. Now which of them will love him more?”
43 Simon replied, “I suppose the one who had the bigger debt forgiven.”
“You have judged correctly,” Jesus said.
44 Then he turned toward the woman and said to Simon, “Do you see this woman? I came into your house. You did not give me any water for my feet, but she wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. 45 You did not give me a kiss, but this woman, from the time I entered, has not stopped kissing my feet. 46 You did not put oil on my head, but she has poured perfume on my feet. 47 Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven—as her great love has shown. But whoever has been forgiven little loves little.”
48 Then Jesus said to her, “Your sins are forgiven.”
49 The other guests began to say among themselves, “Who is this who even forgives sins?”
50 Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
John 14:6-7
Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life
6 Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you really know me, you will know my Father as well. From now on, you do know him and have seen him.”
John 16:13
The Holy Spirit Will Guide Us
13 But when he, the Spirit of truth, comes, he will guide you into all the truth. He will not speak on his own; he will speak only what he hears, and he will tell you what is yet to come.
John 17:3
Now This is Eternal Life
3 Now this is eternal life: that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent.
Matthew 23:12
God is Humble
12 For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.
It would be very easy for God to overwhelm us with His Presence...And it is a mystery why God does not show Himself more and more often and let us know about Him each and everyday...Sometimes, I think, I wish He would show Himself more (but do I really want to see Him daily and very regularly)...If He came out in a low key, humble, unassuming way, that man could understand, then everyone would know Him and believe in Him...But that is not His way or the way He does things...He is mostly a quiet God, in terms of the number of days people have seem Him or felt His Presence as we read about Him in the Bible...It is not like Him to be seen often as we read the entire Bible...If we take and count the number of days that we have not seen Him or felt His Presence it seems very small in number...Yet, there is something about seeing and believing in Him that is of the utmost most importance to most people...
As I think about this and seeing God, the actual love I have for my spouse, cannot be seen...And her love for me is an intangible act and emotion which is not visible to the eye...And how do I actually see her love?...So when I think about love and how it is not really seen, this makes God's Presence an even more interesting topic for me...After all God is LOVE...Yet, it is important for us and many to want to see God...And yet the ability to see love in two people is very hard to notice and detect...
God's subtleness gives us great mystery, it puzzles us, is sometimes frustrating, and for others just downright leads to disbelief (in terms of Him not showing His Presence more)...Maybe this is because of His Overwhelming Complexities...He is Incomprehensible...Could we handle His Overwhelming Infiniteness?...Maybe we could be so overwhelmed that we would be confused, irrational, and unknowing -if we were constantly in His Very Presence...Maybe we would never be able to figure out the Whys of His Complexities of His Infiniteness and this awe may give us a different thought process (and change us) or a constant situation that we would be always trying to figure Him out and never really living out our lives in the present moment...Man cannot mentally figure out the Infinity or Eternal...And thus we can only see a Slice of Infinity or a Glimpse of the Eternal...
So maybe He does things subtly for us and for our abilities...To reveal Himself only in part and parcel, maybe is how it must be done...So He has revealed Himself only in small slices and glimpses and has mostly kept His Presence hidden from us, because of this and His LOVE for us...I think God shows us Himself through our daily living experiences...Especially, if we believe what Paul said that He is always near to us...And He shapes our belief in Him through these and our experiences in life...
But since He has shown to us, Himself in glimpses and slices, we have not see God in His completeness...Through the Bible we know these things about Him...He is near us...He showed Himself to us with Jesus...God is mostly subtle with us…God is gentle…God wants to guide us...We know He does not want us to exalt ourselves...God wants to comfort us...God is Truth...God is caring, soft, easy, and light…God is humble in His heart…God is LOVE…God is so soft-hearted completely of LOVE that we know He is gentle and humble in heart, and that we can find great rest for our souls in Him…For His yoke is easy and His burden is light…
God is infinite…God is eternal…God can do anything…God is complex...God is Spirit...And God is LOVE...So, sometimes I think He hides in His subtleness in His different characteristics…Allowing us to think whatever thoughts we have about Him, while all the while He is listening and near us and what we have to say (about Him, as well as others), like the Good Father listening to His rambling young child…
God has the Power to be completely perfect in His subtleness...God is so complex, as described earlier, with His subtleness that I think we miss Him as He goes about our day…He is not far from us, so He can be near us and we can absolutely miss Him…God can be always be with us and we do not see Him...He is everywhere, and yet often we do not even notice Him...Thus, He is so subtle that He is not even obvious to us…And how can this be, when He is the most powerful force in the universe?…And somehow He subtly works for the good in all things when we love Him, even though we know that all things that happen to us are not always good…
As we often process and think about our anger and how when we might forgive others, He is not like that… God is so forgiving, that He has the ability to forgive immediately…He can forgive the unpardonable...He is completely merciful…God is full of grace…His forgiveness is quick and complete...Live the Father who LOVES His child and forgives them of their different wrongdoings...
So God is LOVE...Yet, I believe that He most likely does not want to have the same kind of love we have for a spouse, or our child, or our friend...We already have those things...Jesus tells us to call Him Father, so that is the closest of the love relationships we might have with Him...He wants His relationship to be Fatherly, but not like another parent we have...What good would that be when He created us to give us another father?...He has provided for us, all these other loves for us on earth...So somehow we must think in terms of a Almighty, a bigger, more glorious, a more gracious LOVE that He holds and has for us, and we might have for Him...Other earthly loves give us some things and a great sense about Him...But He is more and as said is Infinite and Eternal, even in His LOVE...His LOVE is the type of LOVE that gives life meaning...His LOVE is the type of LOVE that gives life a purpose...His LOVE is completely unconditionally into eternity...His LOVE give us eternal life...His LOVE is forever with His children...And God wants our love...So there is God's LOVE and then their is our love that we know...
So we can learn from God that love has to be close to another one or our neighbor and in one's heart...So I believe, His LOVE is different...Surely love must be best when it is the gentlest…Love is best when it is guiding...As the Holy Spirit guides us to love, we must listen to Him, so God is with us...Love is best when it is comforting and near...Love gives rest for us when we are weary...Love must be best when it is absolutely the most humble…Love must be best when it is the most forgiving…Love must be best when it is completely merciful…Love must be best when it is full of grace…Love must be best when if is full of Truth...So LOVE must be best when it is the Way to an abundant life and the way to the Truth...LOVE is Eternal, and the Way to Eternal Life...So LOVE will be with us till the end of the ages...
For me, my faith must learn and live with this sometimes absence of His and know about this Great Subtleness of God...