start.log | Let Us Begin Again ② What Kind of God Do I Believe In? | Hosea 6:3

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Christians are people who believe in God. But how can we truly know Him?
 
Jesus once rebuked the people of Israel, telling them that their worship was hollow — that though they honored God with their lips, their hearts were far from Him. Why? Because they had filtered God's Word through their own assumptions and constructed a god shaped by their own preferences. The uncomfortable question we must ask ourselves is this: are we any different? Do we claim to believe in God while quietly worshipping a version of Him we've fashioned on our own terms?
 
So how do we get it right? There is only one way: through Scripture — the very Word in which God has revealed Himself to us. The Bible alone is the mirror in which we see God as He truly is. With that in mind, let us consider what the sixty-six books of Scripture tell us about who God is. The full picture is inexhaustible, but three essential truths stand out.

First, God is the Creator and sovereign Lord of all things.

God made the heavens and the earth, the universe and everything in it — including us. That means He is not a distant observer. He is the owner of all things, the One who holds absolute authority over everything that exists. The Bible shows us a God who parts the Red Sea, who stops the sun in its course, who works wonders beyond human comprehension. "I am the LORD," He declares, "and there is no other." This is not mythology. This is the living God.
 
And He is still at work. Today, He governs every nation, holds the breath of every living being, and ordains the rise and fall of empires. For those who believe this, the implications are profound: when we face circumstances beyond our strength, we are not left to fend for ourselves. We bring our burdens to Him in prayer, and He answers. That is not wishful thinking — it is the testimony of Scripture and of God's people across the centuries.

Second, God is absolutely faithful to His covenant promises.

Because God is holy, everything He does is just. He does not change His mind, walk back His commitments, or fail to deliver on His word. What He promises, He performs — without exception. This is what theologians call the covenant faithfulness of God, and it is the bedrock of the Christian life.
 
The Bible is, in its entirety, a record of God's covenant. The Old and New Testaments are not merely ancient texts — they are the binding promises of a God who swears by Himself, because there is no higher authority to swear by. Jesus himself said that not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the Law until everything is accomplished.
 
This is why Christians anchor their faith in Scripture. Isaiah 43 promises that when we pass through the waters, they will not sweep over us; when we walk through the fire, we will not be burned. Jesus promised that everything is possible for one who believes, and that whatever we ask in His name, He will do. These are not sentimental reassurances — they are the sworn promises of the Almighty. The question worth sitting with is this: what are you clinging to as you walk with God?

Third — and most personally — God has come toward us in love.

Left to ourselves, none of us could stand before God. The story of humanity is the story of rebellion: Adam and Eve broke the one command God gave them, and in doing so plunged the entire human race into guilt, condemnation, and separation from God. We were, in Paul's words, enemies of God — deserving of judgment, with no grounds for appeal.
 
And yet. God did not leave us there.
 
He looked on us with compassion. He extended mercy. He loved us — not because we were lovable, but because love is who He is. John 3:16 is perhaps the most famous sentence in all of Scripture, and rightly so: "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." The Son of God took on flesh, bore the full weight of our sin on the cross, and rose again — so that everyone who repents and believes might be forgiven, adopted into God's family, and given a standing before God that no sin can take away.
 
This is the heart of God toward us. This is His character.
 
The prophet Hosea issued a charge that echoes across the centuries: "Let us press on to know the LORD" (Hosea 6:3). The more we know God — truly know Him, not merely know about Him — the richer our lives become. There is no shortcut. It takes a lifetime of reading, studying, and meditating on Scripture. But there is no greater pursuit. To spend your days growing in the knowledge of the living God is not a burden. It is the deepest kind of blessing there is.

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About Author

Choi Jong Eui

Pastor, teacher, and writer committed to connecting Christian faith with everyday life. He writes with the hope of praising the Lord and faithfully completing the mission entrusted to him, bearing good fruit to the glory of God.