Judged With Grace

We Christians love to talk about Jesus. We love that He loves us, we speak of all the nice stories of how Jesus demonstrated His love, healed the sick and down-and-out, and fed the hungry. Even non- Christians really don't have much to say against Jesus. He was a great teacher, a good prophet, a noble character, even if they do not believe this character actually existed. But it seems to me, that we have a big issue with God. Jesus we get, but God? He intimidates us. Last summer I was asked to explain how a Great, Loving God, could do the things that God did in the Old Testament. How do you reconcile a loving God (Jesus), to a God who would wipe out entire nations and smite entire groups of people in one angry breath. How can you trust a God who is constantly threatening to smite you? I could not answer that question, in fact, I had never even tried. I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the God of the old testament, I was pretty happy to just keep looking at Jesus. I didn't answer the question when it was asked of me, but I hid the question away in my heart. Every so often I would look at it, turning it around in my hearts mind, and perplexed- put it back away even more confused then I began. Honestly, I couldn't piece it back together, I couldn't explain and rationalize the anger of God. 

This year, has been a year of questions; a year of asking hard questions and looking deep into why I believe the things that profess to believe. As I began to look deeper into who God is, I actually began to see, more clearly, who I am. You see, on the surface, I knew that I needed a savior. I knew that I was lost without the salvation of God. But I didn't really understand my own fallen nature. Although I professed with my mouth my dependence on God, deep somewhere inside I still was resting in the knowledge that I am a 'good person'. And from the standard of this world, I am. Heck, I could say that I even "beat the odds" I'm successful despite my history! God would never look at me and be able to justify smiting me, I'm a CHRISTIAN. With this mindset, I began to read more and more of the not so nice stories of the Bible. As I read, I put myself in the position of the accused, the wayward Israel. I was particularly struck by the words in Jeremiah. God speaks to Jeremiah and likens Israel to an adulterous woman. I began to see the heart of God, God was not yelling and cursing and smiting nations like an abusive father, or militant dictator. He was pleading with his lover to simply come home to the arms of her groom! We have been called the bride of Christ, this title is not given by Paul out of a convenience, to be used as an analogy to make us feel loved by Jesus. This has been the design for all eternity! When Israel turned their backs on God, they were turning their back on their groom. The 10 commandments were not a legal document created to keep us in God's good graces. They were a marriage covenant between a God and His people. And his people, you and I, we are unfaithful. God doesn't run after naughty nations in order to punish them for disobedience, he runs after them to save them, and restore them back into this relationship! He practically BEGS them to return home to his arms, and return to the marriage covenant, and he will forget that they were ever apart! 

Jeremiah 3: 12-13

Go proclaim these words towards the north and say:

 Return, faithless Israel, 

declares the Lord.

I will not look on you in anger,

    for I am merciful,

declares the Lord;

I will not be angry forever.

13 

Only acknowledge your guilt,

    that you rebelled against the Lord your God

and scattered your favors among foreigners under every green tree,

    and that you have not obeyed my voice,

declares the Lord.

When I began to change my understanding how God was speaking, as a husband to his wayward wife, rather then as a angry dictator to a rebellious nation: the tone of the Old Testament God changed dramatically. In fact my view of Jesus began to change too, as I realized my inability to keep God's covenant, I became even more acutely aware that I needed Jesus. The gift of his sacrifice on the cross becomes sweeter the more I understand my need. The stories of nations who were wiped out by a just God, motivated by preserving his bride, make more and more sense. His destruction of ungodly and wicked nations have less to do with his anger at being disobeyed and more do to with his undeniable passion for saving his bride from the influence and moral destruction of nations who further degrade and ruin her integrity. 

I could go on and bring to mind many more instances of God's great mercy for his people in the Old Testament, of His pleading with her to return, of His rescuing of the few God fearing men and woman who would have otherwise perished in God's justified wrath of their sinful perverted nations... But I would rather leave you with a challenge: What is your view of God. Is he a big, angry dictator watching and waiting to smite you down? Do you feel like you are always dangling on the edge of salvation? Perhaps, like me, you don't know who God is because you've never really looked at Him. Maybe you've spent a lot of time thinking about Jesus, and God just doesn't seem to fit in your mind. Will you do something? Will you hide the question away in your heart? Will you think about it, turn it over in your mind, ask questions, and ask God who he is? 

I would love to hear from you! If you take this challenge and start your search, let me know. If you've gone on this journey and come out on the other side what did you learn about God and about yourself. Leave a note in the comments section below and let your experience be an encouragement to someone else.