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When we don’t fully understand how God revealed Himself in the Old Testament, we can get a very warped view of Him. He’s often painted as an almighty dictator waiting to pour out fiery judgement on anyone who gets on His bad side. As a result, we may live in constant fear that anything we do will turn God against us. But it just isn’t so.
A patient God
None of us enjoy being mistreated. Our levels of patience may vary, but we all know what it’s like to hit that point where we reach our breaking point and snap. Whether it’s the kids talking back to us, a customer treating us as sub-human, or a friend who only knows how to take and never give, we all have something where we just yell “Enough!” and let our anger out.
However, none of us are spit on by our children every day. None of us hear people mocking or berating us every moment. None of us have been so taken advantage of that we make sure our friends have food to eat, air to breathe, and a place to sleep, only to have them complain about things not being good enough.
But God does.
Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant (1 Corinthians 13:4)
This passage in 1 Corinthians is popular at weddings, yet we so often miss its meaning. We aren’t ever-patient and always kind to those we love. Yet we have a perfect model of all these traits in our Heavenly Father.
God is patient and kind. He has patiently endured abuse and mistreatment every moment since sin entered the world. If we had infinite power, we would have wiped out the world long ago. Yet here we sit, saved by grace but so often living like fools.
God understands. He isn’t content to leave us in our sin, but He’s not so quick to anger and vengeance that He will remove His love as soon as we step out of line. God endures much from His children, and loves them no matter what.
A forgiving God
Get God doesn’t just accept our traitorous actions toward Him, secretly harboring bitterness yet choosing not to act on it. God loves justice and can’t leave our murderous, adulterous, blasphemous feeds unpunished. Yet for those who belong to Christ, our sins were already forgiven at the cross.
but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
How could a good God love us less for crimes He has already forgiven? Christ took God’s wrath in our place not just to save us from Hell, but to mend a relationship we shattered. God can look at us with love because we were given Christ’s righteousness.
However, that’s not to say God doesn’t still deal with our sin.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives. (Hebrews 12:6)
Because He loves us, He wants us to grow to be less like His enemies and more like Christ. So while the eternal consequence of our sin is paid for, God still loves us enough to allow consequences for our actions. Never to punish us, but always to teach us and pull us away from the destructiveness of sin.
A loving God
True love isn’t a reaction. While we may have an unbelievably warped view of love today, we know that God’s love has nothing to do with us.
In love he predestined us for adoption to himself as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved. (Ephesians 1:4b-6)
God’s love for us is completely one-sided. God can’t fall out of love, and the amount of love He has for us doesn’t shrink as we act less worthy of it. That’s because nothing we could ever do could make us worthy of such extraordinary love!
Isaiah gives us a marvelous look in to the absoluteness of God’s will being carried out.
For the Lord of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back? (Isaiah 14:27)
We would never assume we could stop God’s will in causing rain, healing the sick, or redeeming lost sinners. If it’s God’s will to love His children, no amount of foolishness on our part can stand in the way of that. Let us rest in God’s unchanging love as we grow closer to Him and further from the sin He hates.
For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
