Walk in through the heavy doors, pass the security scanners and shiver as the chill of the refrigerators hits you. There isn’t much time to spend here. You have to get back to work, the children need to be picked from school, or you have to get on the road now so you don’t meet traffic and end up late for that appointment. You rush through the shelves, knowing exactly what you want (kind of) but some extras – like an ice-cold bottle of coke and biscuit to keep you company in the car – won’t be bad as well.

Getting to the cashier, it’s time to pay; but not with money. You pay with a desperate storytelling of how you are a faithful spouse, how you helped decorate your children’s school for Christmas carol night, or how you smiled at that difficult colleague though he/she deserved to hear, *&%# off! If your testimony cashes up to the value of your basket, you get the goods and walk out the door happy and free to enjoy your purchases, not needing the supermarket again until your next weekly or monthly stock-up or another emergency situation.

God, who created the universe, is not a supermarket deity. That new job, the promotion, this house, that car. Thanks God! Nah, that’s not him.

If you ever need an everyday analogy to understand who God is, I suppose he is best seen as a husband (I mean a good husband). He is a person with a personality, emotions and feelings.

He provides for his family. They may not live in a dreamy six bedroom masterpiece by the sea but they are comfortable in a two bedroom fit for a family of four and the rent is always paid on time.

He tells you when you are getting fat which gets you annoyed but he is cheeky about it and pokes your bum. The next morning, he takes you out on a run and massages your feet when you get back.

He tells you pointblank when you are rude to the school teacher at the open day and makes you write an apology letter. (Yes, a letter. Who even writes them these days!)

He doesn’t threaten to kill the next door neighbour whose older child bullies your children. This drives you crazy. Why won’t he just man up and teach those people a lesson? He’s bigger and taller, why won’t he just do it?! He prefers dialogue instead. Yet, if an armed robber should invade your home, he would stand between an AK-47 and you.

It irritates you that he didn’t get those shoes that you so clearly said you wanted for your birthday; but he always remembers the day and always does something to mark it.

And above all, he wants intimacy.

He definitely could be likened to a good wife, Proverbs 31 and the whole 100 yards, and I am sure there are men out there who have experienced God as a wife. As for yours truly, his relationship with me has been husband from Day 1.

He tells me when I am getting too lazy in my spiritual comfort zone and pushes me out into the world to do the sweaty work of making his love and gospel known. Whether or not I have a regular income, he has never for once left me stranded; he always provides. When shit happens and I’m in so much pain and despair, when I shout, “Why won’t you just take it away?! Why don’t you just deal with those people?! Send your consuming fire from heaven!”, he never stops hugging me. He reminds me that ‘those people’ too are his creation and they deserve a chance. No matter how much I hit back or do hurtful things, he just won’t let go. And above all, he wants intimacy in prayer and in my meditation on his words. Deep is always calling unto deep.

Definitely not a supermarket god.