Shortly after moving to the Alma area, my wife and I hosted a family at our house for dinner. Over the course of the meal, as part of the natural flow of the conversation, they got to asking how my new job was going. We talked and talked, and eventually I could see that they would enjoy a tour of the church building where I was now serving. This family had very little religious affiliation, but they were very interested in knowing how we were doing. So we took them to the church, and gave them a tour. As we walked into the building, the question was asked “will lightning strike if I walk into this building?”. Now, I have heard that joke before. The question is – do people really believe this?
On the one hand, people should be afraid of God. They should believe this. God hates sin. Maybe if more people understood how much God hates sin, we wouldn’t be in the mess we are presently in. The flip side, is that if this is all we believe about God, then we have forgotten that whole side about His kindness. In fact more than once I have read about how it is God’s kindness that leads us to repentance.
People will often say that the God of the Old Testament is an angry God. But then I wonder, what do you do with a guy like Jacob? Jacob’s story is a fascinating one.
If the idea is that the God of the Old Testament is harsh, then surely Jacob presents some problems. Jacob lived his life deceiving people. The first example we get of this is when Jacob takes advantage of his brother when he is tired and hungry. When his brother is weak, he convinces him to sell his birthright (his inheritance). Later in life, he deceives his father in order to receive a blessing from his father in place of his brother. It is easily understood that following this, Jacob had to flee for his life. The anger of his brother had boiled over. You would think that Jacob would learn. But his scheming ways didn’t end there. Jacob eventually married, and the relationship with his father was tenuous at best. The scheming continued.
But you know what? Despite all of this, God never destroyed Jacob. In fact God blessed Jacob and not only blessed him, but included him in the direct lineage of Jesus. If there is a lesson for us as we look at the life of Jacob, it is that God is slow to judge, and is very patient, showing great kindness. Jacob did things that caused people to want to kill him. Yet God was so gracious with him.
So think again of that guy living in fear of lightning striking if he walked into the church building. Well, it seems to me that God is more interested in forgiving, and in having a relationship with us then he is in judging and killing. Whatever sins this guy may have committed, I can’t see them being any worse then what Jacob might have done. In fact we are told in the Bible that God’s grace is sufficient for all of us. No matter what we may have done, God’s first response is not judgment, but kindness, and then we need to remember that His grace is sufficient to cover any thing that we may have done, no matter how bad we think it might be.
Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and tolerance and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance?
Romans 2:4