"For thus says the High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: “I dwell in the high and holy place, with him who has a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones. For I will not contend forever, nor will I always be angry; For the spirit would fail before Me, and the souls which I have made."" Isaiah 57:15-16 (NKJV)
Man using all of his intellect, wisdom, and all that he is - in his fiercest rage...
...has no more power against the God that created him, or against His Word, than that of a grain of sand...
...Yet so many among mankind seem to think that they can rebel against God and get away with it. They disbelieve and blaspheme, commit crimes against Him, against what He's created, and against His just reign over all that He's created - including His reign over man himself. Still His patience with man persists in the hope of man's repentance... as long as hope persists.
The true heart of our God is displayed throughout scripture and contentious hearts holding God in suspicion, may well miss it. Hearts truly submitted to God though, will see it when they scour scripture with a desire to see and attempt to understand Him in order that they might possess more of Him, while trusting and believing everything that He's said about Himself as truth above anything else. That's a revealing journey, when taken honestly with Him, that has the ability to bring about immensely completing and real-life giving growth and change.
"For I desire mercy and not sacrifice, and the knowledge of God more than burnt offerings." Hosea 6:6 (NKJV)
Even when His own created beings have failed to be obedient to Him so many times, and have rebelled against Him yet again, God's initial call for their return to Him often reveals the tender desire of His heart...
“Return, O backsliding children,” says the Lord; “for I am married to you. I will take you, one from a city and two from a family, and I will bring you to Zion. And I will give you shepherds according to My heart, who will feed you with knowledge and understanding." Jeremiah 3:14-15 (NKJV)
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil." John 3:16-19 (NKJV)
Prayerfully seeking Him out in scripture, we begin to learn that He's not only a God of wrath. In fact, His desire is to share His love with us. His wrath is saved for those who choose to stubbornly remain in their sin and refuse to submit to Him and to the very purpose of relationship with Himself that He created us for. Mankind in general has drifted so far from our original and proper place of submission before Him - acknowledging and respecting Him as God over us that I fear many are detached from the reality of our origin and sustenance under His power and authority. It seems as though they've lost the reverent fear of God and have allowed themselves to become lulled and deluded by the world's lusts, occupations and intellect. God Himself will heal them of any delusions they may be holding when His judgment comes to find them if they don't repent. In the meantime, He still calls like He did to ancient Israel. Even though they wounded His own heart repeatedly, He offered hope and redemption...
"“If you will return, O Israel,” says the Lord, “Return to Me; And if you will put away your abominations out of My sight, then you shall not be moved. And you shall swear, ‘The Lord lives,’ in truth, in judgment, and in righteousness; The nations shall bless themselves in Him, and in Him they shall glory.” " Jeremiah 4:1-2 (NKJV)
...But when they were found to be stubborn, God resisted them as they headed toward their own destruction. Instead of allowing them to permanently fall away, He would correct them out of His love for them until they had no choice but to turn back to Him once again and repent. However, there came a point as there has in so many lives that refuse Him, when they forced God by their own choice, to judge them. It began with stern warnings as it still does now to some yet unsaved by Christ...
"Yet the Lord testified against Israel and against Judah, by all of His prophets, every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways, and keep My commandments and My statutes, according to all the law which I commanded your fathers, and which I sent to you by My servants the prophets.” Nevertheless they would not hear, but stiffened their necks, like the necks of their fathers, who did not believe in the Lord their God. And they rejected His statutes and His covenant that He had made with their fathers, and His testimonies which He had testified against them; they followed idols, became idolaters, and went after the nations who were all around them, concerning whom the Lord had charged them that they should not do like them." 2 Kings 17:13-15 (NKJV)
And they defied Him as so many are still doing today...
"So they left all the commandments of the Lord their God, made for themselves a molded image and two calves, made a wooden image and worshiped all the host of heaven, and served Baal. And they caused their sons and daughters to pass through the fire, practiced witchcraft and soothsaying, and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, to provoke Him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel, and removed them from His sight; there was none left but the tribe of Judah alone." 2 Kings 17:16-18 (NKJV)
Now the sins of ancient Israel at that time may seem horrific compared to the sins that some of the much less drastic sins some may commit these days, but I would throw out a couple of very large cautions to those who think that way. First, Jesus raised the bar pretty high when He pointed out that even just our thoughts can condemn us. Second, James pointed out in his writings in the book of James that there is no true hierarchy of sin given that if we commit only one sin against God's law, it's as if we committed them all since the end result is the same. It only takes one sin to condemn us if we're without Christ to save us. There may come a point where God will judge them even here in this life - without waiting for the final judgment because of their confirmed dedication to their wickedness. Even those that He once loved will have made a final choice to be separated from God rather than submitting to Him and God will honor their choice. He did it with the nations that He drove out before the children of Israel... and He was forced by Israel to judge them as well. Knowing the historic record that God has provided us of Himself and of mankind, any possible reason that anyone would continue to choose to defy Him, seems beyond foolish and self destructive - potentially in permanence.
"Also Judah did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the statutes of Israel which they made. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel, afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of plunderers, until He had cast them from His sight. For He tore Israel from the house of David, and they made Jeroboam the son of Nebat king. Then Jeroboam drove Israel from following the Lord, and made them commit a great sin. For the children of Israel walked in all the sins of Jeroboam which he did; they did not depart from them, until the Lord removed Israel out of His sight, as He had said by all His servants the prophets. So Israel was carried away from their own land to Assyria, as it is to this day. 2 Kings 17:19-23 (NKJV)
God is consistently all that He is all of the time. How He was then in ancient times, He is now. So anyone who only thinks of God as passive in the moment should never forget who He really is and learn from what happens when His patience runs out. When His patience with any among mankind has come to an end, it's important to remember that it's mankind that made the choice against God, and God knowing all things, unlimited by time, knows with certainty those who will remain unrepentant to their end. God knowing the future and the finality of their choice, may cut them short for the sake of keeping them from contaminating those who remain. He may let them linger for His own reasons, but in the end, the unrepentant are cut down by their own choice.
“What is man, that You should exalt him, that You should set Your heart on him,
that You should visit him every morning, and test him every moment? Job 7:17-18 (NKJV)
Master, Sovereign Lord over all that exists, how much better is my life lived in the safety of Your shadow. How much more the blessing of sure provision as a friend of the God who created me and blessed me with life, than in defiance of Your order and commands. That I should experience such blessing as to know You is beyond my hope to gain by anything that I am, or have, or ever will. It comes to me by my submission to accept Your grace and my obedience to Your instruction. How blessed I am to be a child of Your love and grace rather than a subject of Your wrath!
In Scripture...
"He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you But to do justly, To love mercy, And to walk humbly with your God?" Micah 6:8 (NKJV)
“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God require of you, but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good? Indeed heaven and the highest heavens belong to the Lord your God, also the earth with all that is in it." Deuteronomy 10:12-14 (NKJV)
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