Defining God

 (Words from God, to Ezekiel)

"And you, son of man, say to the house of Israel, Thus have you said: 'Surely our transgressions and our sins are upon us, and we rot away because of them. How then can we live?' Say to them, As I live, declares the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; turn back, turn back from your evil ways, for why will you die, O house of Israel?" (Ezekiel 33:10-11)

God loved His chosen people, Israel. But instead of loving Him back, they rejected Him, again and again. They turned to idol worship, even though they KNEW the one, true God, the creator of the universe! They delighted in what God called sin. They broke His law.

God sent prophets to warn them, and they did not listen.

God continued to leave the way open for the people to turn back to Him.



I find it so interesting that today, a common cry against God, is that He can't be real, because He allows "bad" in our lives. (While taking the liberty of defining this "bad".) These people have forgotten that God is a Person. He was already a Person before the world existed! He was a Person before we existed. He continues to be who He is, and He will continue to be that same Person throughout all of eternity.

There is a very large gap between us and God. He is bigger than us. He is above us. He is holy and just and righteous. We (as in, the first man, Adam) sinned, and we have been cut off from God. BUT! He has written to us in the Bible. The gap can be bridged! In this Book we can find all we need to know about God in this world! (Amazing!)

I just love verses like this one here in Ezekiel, that reveal part of the heart of God. Does he take joy in the bad in our lives? No, clearly, He does not!

Now, these verses were referring to a specific context. Israel, as a nation, was being judged for their sin and rejection of their God. They had been taken into captivity by their enemies. Most of the people had been moved to a far-away nation. Only the poor remained in the land. Their enemies were in complete control of everything - they just had to do what they were told and find a way to get through.

God was judging them, because He wanted them back. He wanted their hearts. He wanted THEM to turn to HIM.

Did He want them to die? No, he did not! But it was very important to Him that they know Him. Their punishment (and death of many in the process of it all!) was God trying to reach their sinful hearts and get them to turn. Through all of this, His plea was, "Turn back, turn back from your evil ways!" This was what He wanted, above all! But the people were, at the time of this judgement, unwilling. And God followed through with His judgement. (There was promise for the future, and an open door for them to return to Him, but this would be far too much to grapple with all at once.)

Thankfully, for us, He is also merciful, and very often we get to live out our entire lives with Him pleading, "Turn, turn back from your evil ways!" At any point, any person can turn from their sin, and be reconciled to their Creator! THIS is the heart of God. He wants US.

Now, back to the accusations I hear against God so often in our day:

Since God is supposed to be good, and yet lets bad things happen, He must not be good. (or real, or I don't want anything to do with Him, or whatever the argument of the moment might be.)

To those of you who feel these things, I would like to say, I hear your frustration. I have so often felt your frustration! I know many of you are crying out with bleeding hearts. You have lost a child, or your health, or there has been a tragedy or heartache that feels too big for you to handle. I am sorry for your pain. (And God cares about your pain too! But again, there's not enough space here to hit all of that!)

To be honest, I, too, have wished I could define God. Sometimes I wish I could control God. (This is sin.) Most of us would make God serve us. We tend to make ourselves the center of our own universe, and, if we could, we would make GOD, our Creator, serve us. (This is also sin - see the first commandment in Exodus 17!)

But God was here before we were. He set up a world, and He held the right to set up the rules. He holds the right to keep those rules in place. (And, when you look at those rules, they are good rules.) He has a right to enforce these rules. He has said certain things are sin, and they are sin. He has given mankind a choice, and He pleads with them to come to Him, to obey Him, and to love Him!

Do most people do this?

The Bible say, "The gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many." (Matthew 7:13) Most people close their ears to God's call, and choose to serve themselves over God. This selfishness leads to sin, and this sin leads to judgement.

Since we don't have eyes to see the unseen world, we can't put everything into neat little categories, and we often don't know why the "bad" is happening. But we know, from God's Word to us, God does control all things. (ALL THINGS! No exceptions!)

We know that some of the "bad", some of the tragedies, wars, and disasters, are Him pleading, "Turn, turn!" Some are judgements of sin, even  judgements of a nations' sin. Some are both!

We also know from His Word that some of the "bad" is just set up as a means for His glory and praise. (John 9:3) This is a second broad category of the reason we might come to "bad" in our lives.

There is also "bad" that, from God's perspective, is actually good! He may using something difficult in your life to teach things that yield eternal benefit. He may be using your trouble to show others what faith looks like. He may be giving direction to your life that to you, now, seems bad, but you will appreciate later! There are so many ways that we misunderstand things for "bad" that are actually GOOD things straight from the hand of the Lord. 

A fourth category of "bad" is, I suspect, the most common. Other's sin has consequences. Since God has set up a world in which He asks people to turn to Him, and had given people the choice, the ones who choose to serve themselves end up sinning in ways that affect others. Remember Jonah, who, when fleeing from God's command, almost caused the sinking of a boat filled with other people who had nothing to do with his sin?

Some of us want to cry out that these things are not fair. But that is the point of this little post. We aren't the ones who get to decide that! God is!

To the broken heart that is struggling: Please just hear God's heart. "Turn, turn from your evil ways", and LIVE. Stop fighting Him. Stop running. Turn to the only One who can truly help you in your hour of need.

Is life fair? No. Is life always fun? No. Is life full of heartache? Sometimes. But the One who knows all things is calling to you. Turn to Him, and live.

As to how to live out the rest of your life in a fallen world - give all of your fears to God, and follow him. Give Him each heartache. Trust Him.

 You will continue to feel pain, because, in this life, "bad" will keep happening. But there is a life to come! We have a Savior! We have been loved with everlasting love. He continues to call to us. He wants us. THIS, my friends, is joy.

Hear Him calling, and answer Him.