Misperception and Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions

For the sake of this post, let's assume that you, dear reader, believe in God, or that you at least have some perception of what the God of true Christians is like, whether real or not. What brings this up is that I think most people, Christian or not, have a certain perception of what God is like, and that this perception is not all correct, and is maybe way wrong. I think this is mostly due to the fact that authority on earth doesn't do a perfect job of being authority, and we ascribe our experiences with them to what the ultimate authority might be like. The only real, concrete idea we can trust of who the Christian God is, is through what the bible says...and it says things much different than how I think the world perceives God. I will list some things verbatim...

"Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne."
"Love and faithfulness go before you."
"I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness."
He is "the Father of compassion and the God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles"
Jesus is described as being "full of grace and truth."

The bible is full of this stuff. To me, it makes God sound more like a great husband or dad than anything else. I'm not trying to sound religious by any means, I'm just trying to be real here. What is our perception of God? I'm always finding myself doubting that God would want good things for me, or that he cares about my trivial needs a whole lot. But if my dad's goodness and faithfulness to me and my family is even an inkling of God's goodness and faithfulness to us, I think we'd be crazy not to pursue his love. I'm just saying people...I think we've got it all wrong most of the time. I think the best thing we can do is try to understand what God might actually be like. The foundations of his throne, the very framework in which he is God, is righteousness and justice? What if you could trust that your dad or boss or president's authority was completely righteous and just? That would be so freaking reassuring! Could it be that he is like a Father, but a Father who is truly right and just and faithful to us? I'm not attempting some back handed way to get you to become a believer. I'm trying to really challenge what it is you think about the God of the bible. Let's be real with ourselves here. If he's really that good, we need to figure out what keeps us from trusting him.

By the way, I graduated Saturday with my masters in Interdisciplinary Ecology. I feel really great and thankful about it. The ceremony was for all advanced degrees. If you get an advanced degree you get to wear a hood, and your gown has big wings on it. As we were waiting for the processional I couldn't help but whistle the theme song for Harry Potter. I was almost sure I was at Hogwarts. Gosh I wish I could go to Hogwarts. Anyway, there were so many times I thought I would never finish this degree. I mean, I really didn't think so. Hard work, I think, is always worth it when you get to the other side of it.