Bible Question (short): "My God". "My God". Why? |
Question (full): I do not know if that person meant to ask a question, but the statement leads me to ask one. Why do we refer to God as our God? The query had hardly formed in my mind when I realized that that person is not the only one. Jacob decided (Genesis 28) that the Lord would be his God. Moses referred to him as his God. David, Paul, and the prophets did. Jesus cried, “My God! My God!” And Thomas cried, “My Lord and my God!” One is not surprised if Nebuchadnezzar (Daniel 2) would refer to the Lord as Daniel’s God, because he had another god. Paul says (Philippians 3) that some people have their belly as their God. The Psalmist says, “Blessed is the nation (Psalm 32) or the people (Psalm 144) whose God is the Lord”. Other nations had other gods. Ruth had another god until she decided (Ruth 1) that Naomi’s God would be her God. But now I wonder why the possessive in all those other cases. I checked and found that the KJV refers to “our God” some 195 times. It has “your God” 172 times, and “my God” some 137 times. Even God himself says, “It shall come to pass … that … I will have mercy upon her that had not obtained mercy; and I will say to them which were not my people, ‘You are my people;’ and they shall say, ‘You are my God’” (Hosea 2). There are times when people refer to God without the possessive. Then he is the Lord, the Lord God. When do they choose to say “My Lord” or “My God”? Who can tell? |