I Love the God of the Old Testament!

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I love the God of the Old Testament! Honestly, I do. I suppose that some people will imagine me to be a judgmental enforcer of rules—or perhaps a really cruel-hearted guy with violent tendencies. Those prone to stereotyping might picture me carrying a protest sign alongside the members of Westboro Baptist Church—you know, that mean-spirited group of people who hate just about anyone who differs from their narrow-minded view of religion.

If you think that any of these things are true of me because I love the God of the Old Testament, you would be wrong. One of the most disastrous misconceptions held by people today is that Yahweh, the God of the Old Testament, is a cruel, violent despot and that Jesus, the God of the New Testament, is a passive and somewhat timid teddy bear. Why would we have such an inaccurate understanding of God’s nature? We generally don’t know the true character of God, nor do we understand the manner in which He interacts with the human race.

What are we to make of statements made by Jesus about His relationship with His heavenly Father (Yahweh)?

“He who has seen Me has seen the Father.” John 14:9 (NASB)

More than once, the New Testament proclaims that Jesus and Yahweh are of the very same essence (nature). The much maligned God of the Old Testament is the very same God who, because of His great love for us, sent His beloved Son to die on the cross so that our sins might be forgiven and our relationship with Him restored. This is the Old Testament God who is slow to anger and full of mercy (Psalm 86).

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Many who proclaim only the warm and fuzzy aspects of Christ’s love fail to recognize that it was He who turned over the tables of the money changers and blasted the Pharisees for their unjust practices. Yes, we are referring to the King of kings and Lord of lords who will one day return to judge all who have walked this earth.

All too often, we fail to understand that love without justice isn’t love at all. We don’t realize that God pours out wrath, not because He wants to, but because He would be unjust not to. Would a loving God wink and look the other way when an adult male abducts, molests, and kills a little girl? We may struggle to understand why God allows such things to take place, but we can rest assured from the Scriptures that He will one day call such actions fully into account. The guilty will not go unpunished!

The cross of Jesus Christ is where God’s wrath and mercy meet. Through the cross, the vilest of sinners can be both forgiven and transformed. Through the cross, we discover a love so profound that it overloads the natural mind’s ability to comprehend. If we are to believe the writings of the New Testament—and we should—we can’t help but recognize that God the Father is every bit as loving as Jesus Christ.

All of this, of course, leaves us with one massive, nagging question: If Yahweh is so full of love and mercy, then why do we see harsh judgment throughout the Old Testament? The question is entirely reasonable and well worth further explanation, but the short answer is profoundly simple. Through the course of time, the nature of God has never changed. What has changed is the manner in which He relates to the human race.

The short answer to our question is not complicated; however, understanding the details behind that answer is somewhat more involved. In future posts, I’ll further address God’s interaction with humanity. To set the stage, however, I’d like to highlight an ancient proverb that continues to speak deep wisdom even in our day.

It is the glory of God to conceal a matter,
But the glory of kings is to search out a matter. Proverbs 25:2 (NASB)

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Quick judgments are easy and usually wrong. Humbly searching the Scriptures, while asking God to open our eyes, is an entirely different matter. Those who are willing to search beyond the realm of natural appearances may soon find themselves encountering a heavenly Father who is very different from what our world thinks!

Is God Cruel?

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Anyone who has ever read through the Bible will have come upon some deeply disturbing passages. Some of them are historical in nature—simply recording the horrible atrocities committed by one group of people against another. But there are several other passages, such as 1 Samuel 15:3, that can leave a person wondering about the true nature of the God.

Then Samuel said to Saul, “The Lord sent me to anoint you as king over His people, over Israel; now therefore, listen to the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I will punish Amalek for what he did to Israel, how he set himself against him on the way while he was coming up from Egypt. ³ Now go and strike Amalek and utterly destroy all that he has, and do not spare him; but put to death both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’” 1 Samuel 15:1-3 (NASB)

This commandment to kill women, children, and even infants seems to fly in the face of what we know about God as recorded in the New Testament.

The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love. 1 John 4:8 (NASB)

Our natural tendency, then, is to draw one of two conclusions:

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1. Jehovah, the God of the Old Testament, was horribly cruel, while Jesus, the God of the New Testament, is as sweet and kind as the day is long.

2. The entire Bible is not really the inspired word of God so it’s entirely up to us to decide what we think is acceptable and what isn’t.

Personally, I see a third option that is rarely addressed: The problem lies not in the character of God or the integrity of the Bible, but in our misunderstanding of God’s relationship with the human race.

One of the great mistakes we all make is our tendency to draw judgments based on our natural abilities to understand God and the world around us. If it doesn’t make sense to me, then it doesn’t make sense. But if a supreme and eternal God does exist—something of which I am convinced—then it stands to reason that He would be far more intelligent than even the most astute scholar. This is, of course, what the Bible teaches.

Seek the Lord while He may be found;
Call upon Him while He is near.
7 Let the wicked forsake his way
And the unrighteous man his thoughts;
And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
8 “For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts. Isaiah 55:6-9 (NASB)

Wow! God’s ways aren’t just different than ours—they are on a totally different plane. The ways of heaven will never make sense to the natural human mind. But does that mean that we can never understand God’s way of thinking? No, not at all. The key lies in humbling our hearts, admitting our blindness, and asking Him to open the eyes of our hearts to understand His ways. This is something I have spent much of my adult life doing and the results have been rich beyond my imagination.

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I have discovered that there is something noble about choosing to humbly search out God’s ways as opposed to making rash judgments based on one’s own intelligence. Deliberately taking such an approach can open up to us an amazing, unseen world far greater than what our natural eyes can see. My life has certainly been transformed!

Passages like 1 Samuel 15:3 continue to disturb me but I have discovered that God actually wants me to be bothered by these things. I’ll expound on this concept more over the next several posts, while showing that even though God commanded the killing of the Amalekite women and children, He did so contrary to His desire.

Understanding the nature of God’s interaction with the human race is nothing short of fascinating. You’re going to want to stay tuned!

Paving the Pathway to Glory

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Ladies and gentlemen, the worst professional sports team over the past 20 years is now contending for 1^st place in the Major League Baseball Central Division of the National League! The Pittsburgh Pirates manager Clint Hurdle has done an amazing job with what seems to be an ever changing group of young athletes. Clint would certainly have my vote for Coach of the Year!

Have you ever wondered why every sports team has a coach? Probably not! It’s readily understood that every team needs coaches to instruct, motivate and organize its players. Having spent all of my life in the sports-rich area around Pittsburgh, I’ve come to clearly see the value of a skilled and effective coaching staff. The players realize the value as well. Many of them long for the constructive input they need to become champions in their sport.

But have you ever wondered why this type of input isn’t welcomed more in other arenas of life?

This summer we’re launching a new Bible study titled The Search for Wisdom. If all goes well, it may be in book form by this time next year. During this week’s study it became quite clear that insecurity can easily become an arch enemy of wisdom.

I define wisdom as the ability to see and live skillfully in such a way that I know and honor God, releasing His blessings for my life, my loved ones and my circumstances.

We all want the benefits of wisdom, but many of us are not teachable because even constructive criticism is often taken as an attack upon who we are. Why is this?

In part we’re conditioned by the massive amounts of cruel and uncaring criticism levied each and every day. From late night monologues to virtually any type of talk radio, our culture is consumed by our efforts to analyze and demean the weaknesses or shortcomings of others. But our problems reach further still!

Every person’s compulsion flows from the desire for personal glory apart from God. This glory is found by reaching for standards of perfection through what we do and how we look. Being less than perfect means that we are inglorious—something we simply cannot stomach. Hounded by the fear of the pain of imperfection, we jump ship from rational thought into the often irrational world of self-preservation. The fruit is not good!

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How do athletes tolerate constructive input? A wise athlete realizes that skillful instruction paves the path to glory.

I can’t help but wonder how much more glorious the Church would be if every local church environment embraced the ideal of wise input and discussion. How would our worship teams change? Would our church services captivate more hearts? Would we taste more of God’s glory?

Identity isn’t just another issue for us to navigate. In many ways it is the issue that has influenced human behavior since Adam & Eve ate from the tree.

Personally, I am really trying to swallow my pride so that I might see and live skillfully in such a way that I know and honor God, releasing His blessings for my life, my loved ones and my circumstances.

 How about you?

Do You Want Fries with That?

Most of us have probably prayed the Lord’s Prayer at one time or another. Seriously now, did you really mean what you were praying?

“. . . and forgive us our debts, as we ourselves have forgiven our debtors. . . For if you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you do not forgive others, your Father will not forgive you your sins.” Matthew 6:12, 14 (NET)

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Hold the train! This seems rather severe. Perhaps Jesus didn’t really mean it the way it sounds. Shouldn’t forgiving others be optional for us as Christians, like ordering a side of fries with a cheeseburger?

Thankfully He clarified Himself at another point with the parable of the unforgiving slave who was unwilling to forgive the small debt of another slave even though his master had forgiven his huge debt.

“Then his lord called the first slave and said to him, ‘Evil slave! I forgave you all that debt because you begged me! Should you not have shown mercy to your fellow slave, just as I showed it to you?’ And in anger his lord turned him over to the prison guards to torture him until he repaid all he owed. So also my heavenly Father will do to you, if each of you does not forgive your brother from your heart.” Matthew 18:33-35 (NET)

Ugh! I guess Jesus did mean what He said. He tends to have that habit.

I admit that I wrestle with all of this. After all, isn’t God full of love and compassion? Shouldn’t He forgive me simply because I ask (and even if I don’t)? I mean, I’ve never done anything really bad—and for God to put conditions on my forgiveness—well, that just doesn’t seem fair.

A major part of the problem with this line of thinking is the starting point. When it comes to comprehending God and His motives we tend to think that qualities such as love and compassion should define the sum total of our Creator. And while these virtues are integral to our understanding of God, the Bible states more than once that the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 1:7, 9:10; Psalm 111:10).

We’re not talking about some overwhelming terror incited by an abusive drill sergeant, but rather a deep sense of reverence and respect toward the righteous and just Judge who is sovereign over all things. God’s position as the Judge of the universe is not to be taken lightly as our self-justifying minds so often conclude.

From Christ’s perspective it is unjust for us not to forgive the lesser debts of others in light of the insurmountable debt that we owe(d) to God. Jesus wasn’t mincing words and so it is wise to take His admonitions quite seriously.

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If we forgive others out of a sense of obligation, however, we completely miss the point. Our willingness to forgive isn’t so much about another rule to follow as it is a litmus test (I did a few of those in my chemistry classes!) of our faith. If our faith in God is genuine, if we truly comprehend the depth of our sin and the extent of His graciousness, if we love Him with all of our hearts, then we will freely forgive those who hurt us no matter what the circumstances. In the end love boldly proclaims that forgiveness is not simply a side dish for the Christian faith.