Is God just an easygoing grandfather who lets you get whatever you want?
No. The God of the Bible is not an easygoing grandfather who can be manipulated to get whatever you want. He is sovereign, absolute, holy, and righteous, yet also loving, kind, merciful, and patient. As sovereign, He keeps secret things as long as He chooses and reveals them only when ready.
Les explains that too many people today imagine God as some big, easygoing grandfather type whom they can manipulate, tweak His nose, and get whatever they want. That is not the God of the Bible. The God of the Bible is sovereign; He is absolute, holy, and righteous, and yet He is loving, kind, merciful, and patient. In His sovereignty, He has every right to keep things secret as long as He wants, revealing them when He is good and ready and not until. This connects to Moses’ statement in Deuteronomy that the secret things belong to the Lord our God, while the revealed things belong to us and our children forever, so we may do all the words of this law. Les also notes that although Moses spoke to Israel and we are under a different set of responsibilities, the God of the Old Testament is the same God of the New; God has not changed, and what He hated or forbade then He still hates and does not condone today.