The Lens of Experience : How Our Stories Shape Our View of God

We experience our parents differently. Each child carries a unique memory of their father or mother, shaped by time, circumstances, and personal interactions. If you asked every child in a family to write about their parent, each story would differ; rarely would all have the same experience.

I know this personally. In my family, each of us had a different experience of my father. My relationship with him was complex, not the best, and if I were to tell you my story, you would see him through my eyes, through my hurts, my longings, my expectations. But if you spoke to my siblings, their stories would differ; their experience of him would reveal parts of him I may never fully understand.

And isn’t that the same with God?

The Different Ways We Experience God

Each person encounters God differently. Some will tell you the best way to know Him is through prayer, through moments of deep intimacy where words fail, and only silence speaks. Others will say faith is the strongest connection, that stepping into the unknown and trusting Him is how they have come to see His hand.

Abraham’s experience of God was different from Isaac’s. The way God dealt with Jacob was not the same as Joseph. In Scripture, we see how God’s relationships vary, some He called friend, like Abraham; some He called servant, like Moses; and when Jesus came, He was called Son. Each carried a different relationship, a different understanding, a different experience.

Even the disciples of Jesus did not encounter Him in the same way. They walked with Him, heard the same words, witnessed the same miracles, yet when they wrote about Him, their accounts carried different perspectives. Imagine if you judged my father based only on my experience and never asked my siblings about theirs. Would that be fair?

One Way to God, Many Paths to Jesus

There are different ways to get to Jesus, but there is only one way to get to God, and that is through Jesus.

Yet, within our journey of faith, not all are called to walk in the same manner. Samson was chosen, but unlike others, there were things he could not do. Not because those things were wrong, but because his relationship with God required a specific discipline.

We may serve the same God, but our dealings with Him are different. Some are called to deep sacrifice; others are called to radical faith. Some will never touch certain things, not because they are sinful, but because their journey with God has set them apart in a different way.

Don’t Compare Your Relationship With God to Others

It is easy to measure ourselves by how others serve God. To wonder why one person experiences miracles while another seems to struggle. But just as children experience their father differently, we all experience God in our own way.

Your relationship with Him is yours, shaped by His dealings with you, by the seasons of life He has walked with you through. Never let someone else’s journey make you feel less or unworthy. God sees you, knows you, and meets you exactly where you are.

And just like a father sees each of his children differently, tending to them in ways only they understand, God does the same with us.