Knowing Him In Reality

09.02.14

Ezekiel 18.23 Have I any pleasure in the death of the wicked, declares the Lord God, and not rather that he should turn from his way and live? – God (ESV)

One thing is for sure: God is not a meanie. I know that’s hard for some to believe. I know some look at God as a divine Spoilsport who rubs His hands with delight over the trials and tragedies of men. How foolish. How arrogant. How misinformed.

Foolish because it is a nonsense to view God as mean or cruel; He’s anything but. It’s an arrogance to judge God as less than the Creator He is; He made us. And it is utterly blind to understand God as vicious, petty, and spiteful. But men are who men are; and their opinions of God are steadfast.

It seems to make men feel better about themselves when they can qualify God as someone or something like themselves. As long as God remains, in their minds, as something they can understand, then they are safe in their opinions of themselves (which may be more than they actually are…). God is better, in their thinking, as long as He is like them. He’s easier to ignore that way.

So, men assume God loves to see the death of the wicked. Men love to see the death of the wicked and if God is like them, then He must as well. But God cannot be God if He loves to see the marvelous creation of His hands despoiled. Only men embrace that reasoning in their foolish, arrogant, and misinformed hearts. I think that’s why we men baby our automobiles: we seem to care more about things than we do people. That’s why it is such a threat to us to see God as loving and caring; it reveals the truth of how we see others: like us, as sinful and miserable.

When we see God the way He really is, it helps us to see the way we really are; and it frees us to really be who God has created us to be. I know that is hard for some to believe. But when we see God as One who longs for us to be what He has intended for us to be all along, then we see ourselves as the perfect creatures He has created us to be: not deserving of death, but in need of Him to help us achieve every perfect happiness for all eternity. Sadly, that is just too much for some.

God is not mean. God does not take pleasure in the destruction of the wicked. The fact that God allows the wicked to live is testimony to that. But God desires that we know Him and find in Him the answer to every nagging issue we face. It starts with knowing Him in reality: not mean, not cruel, not vicious, not petty; but loving and kind to a world full of men who for the most part are anything but.

Father, I know there are those who look at You as less than You are. I know there are those who look to You to meet their every need. I know there are those who see You as One who only takes from them and I know there are those who see You as One who provides for them. I pray to be used by You to help the ones who suspect and reject You to see that You never take any pleasure in the demise of the wicked – You only want them to see and turn and enjoy life the way You’ve made it: full of You, full of wonder, and full of life to be lived to the full. Help me in that mission O God! Amen.