An Angry God?

Some might think it strange, but I love the Old Testament. I love reading and re-reading the story of God’s relationship with His people from its beginnings and through all its ups and downs.

I remember hearing the idea as a child that God somehow had a personality transplant between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The unspoken inference was that I wanted to get to know the NT God, because the other One was mean and angry.
But even a cursory reading of, say, Jeremiah or Isaiah shows how absurd that concept is. After every statement of disaster coming on His people who have stepped out of covenant with Him is the promise, “But I’m going to restore you to Me, and I’m going to do good for you, and you are going to dwell in the land in safety and provision.”

God’s heart is to be in relationship with the people He created.  “They will be My people, and I will be their God.” This phrase is repeated at least 4 times in Jeremiah alone.
In Jeremiah 32:40-41, He goes on to say this: “I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear Me, so that they will never turn away from me. I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all My heart and soul.”

Perhaps our problem is that so many people read that passage and get stuck on the phrase “fear Me.” By doing so, they are missing the beauty of this promise: God wants to turn His entire being towards doing good for His people.
That doesn’t sound like a mean and angry God to me.

Remember the picture Paul gives us in Romans 10:21 of God reaching all day long towards His people? He is actually quoting out of Isaiah 65.
Why is it so hard to accept the idea that God longs for a real relationship with people? That He isn’t the God who is far away pointing a finger at all our failures, but instead is beseeching us to come closer?

If you have struggled with this image of God, I encourage you to take another look at the OT. Read it with intention, asking the Holy Spirit to show you the threads of relationship that are woven throughout. Let the living and active Word come alive in you, exposing and then removing the old fears.
The God we hear about in John who so loved the world He sent His only Son is the same God who promises in Jeremiah that His plans for us are good and not for evil.

Take some time today to get to know your God.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Sow your tears

Everyone has seasons of sadness. We lose a loved one, a marriage falters, a child leaves home - any of countless things can happen to bring us there. Ecclesiastes even promises us there will be times of both weeping and rejoicing. I was in such a time myself when the Lord said something very interesting to me. He said, "Sow your tears." I had to chew on that a bit. I was focused on my tears. That's ok - God takes notice of them, too (see Ps. 56:8 ). But He said something else: "Sow." So I went to the parable of the sower. The story is told in Matthew, Mark, and Luke. By my 3rd read-through, I was beginning to get it. You know how it goes: "A farmer went out to sow his seed. As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path..., on rocky places..., among thorns" (Mt. 13). For whatever reason, this farmer was being careless with his seed. After all, it was only the seed that fell on good soil that bore fruit. "Those who sow with te...
Read more

A Kingdom of Opposites

The Kingdom of God is backwards - at least to our "modern" thinking. Jesus taught that you must be last to be first and you must die to live. The Lord of all creation came to earth as an infant. The vengeful Warrior is also a loving Husband and merciful Father. Paul, one of the most powerful and impactful men in the Bible, considered himself to be the least of all people. As we walk with the Spirit, we learn we must be empty to be filled. And we must be filled to empty ourselves back out. We enter through the narrow gate, only to find ourselves in the widest possible place - the vastness of the Kingdom of God, which is continually on the increase. We continually strive to become smaller in order to hold more of Him. As we lower ourselves, He raises us up. We turn ourselves inside out before our Father, offering Him everything we are, and He reaches out to cover us. It doesn't always make sense to me, but I'm learning to accept that it's just how He...
Read more

What sound do you make?

"Every church should have a sound." I heard a pastor say that recently, and it has stuck with me. As I've mulled it over, though, it's boiled down to the individual level - every person in the kingdom of God should have a sound. But what does that really mean? "A sound?" What is that? The Lord's Prayer, from Matthew 6:9-13, includes the plea: "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." When you really think about that, it sounds great - but how do you really get that to happen? How do we get what's on heaven to come down here to earth? We release it. It would be wonderful if God just had to point His finger and BOOM! it's done, but that's not how He established it. He's chosen to use people. And there are morals and good deeds and all kinds of great surface stuff we can do. But this goes deeper than that. Or it can, if you're willing. Every person has the opportunity to release the so...
Read more