The Untamable God!

As I been following our Bible reading plan for the year, I cannot help but be struck by the God that I continue to encounter in His written revelation. A God who creates the entire universe in a mere six literal 24 hour day span by His very Word (Genesis 1; Psalm 33:6; Hebrews 11:3). Who promises to bring about the Deliverer to ultimately defeat the deceiver (Genesis 3:15). Who wipes out all of His sinful creation but decides to show grace to one man and his family (Genesis 6:5-8). Who does the impossible (Genesis 18:14; Jeremiah 32:17; Matthew 19:26; Luke 1:37). Who takes evil intentions and uses them for the good of His people’s salvation (Genesis 50:20; Romans 8:28). Who is the great I Am Who is, was, and is to come (Exodus 3:14; Isaiah 41:4; Revelation 1:8). Who displays His great power in freeing His chosen people from slavery and through hardening the Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 3-14). Who thunders and appears as smoke and fire upon the mountain and warns unholy people not to get too close to Him (Exodus 19:18-25). Who is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin; yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations” (Exodus 34:6). Who strikes down Nadab and Abihu for failing to treat Him as holy (Leviticus 10:1-3), as well as Uzzah (2 Samuel 6:6-7), and Ananias and Sapphira (Acts 5:1-11), yet chooses to show mercy to sinners David (2 Samuel 11:1-12:15) and Paul (Acts 9:1-19; 1 Timothy 1:12-17). Who is a consuming fire (Deuteronomy 4:24; Hebrews 12:29). Who puts to death and gives life, wounds and heals, and from Whom no one can deliver (Deuteronomy 32:39). Who crushes His very own Son to death so that His chosen people may have life with Him for all eternity (Isaiah 53). Who does whatever He pleases, as He pleases, how He pleases, to whom He pleases (Exodus 33:19; Psalm 115:3; Proverbs 21:1; Daniel 4:35; Jeremiah 18:5-10; Romans 9:15-18; Ephesians 1:11).

This is a God so holy that He cannot let even the smallest infraction of His perfect law go unpunished and so loving that He sent His only Son to serve as the perfect substitute for those who look to Him alone to be able to have a relationship with Him in spite of the sins that condemn them. This is a God to tremble at. A God who should bring us to our knees. A God fully deserving of all our worship and adoration. A God that you seriously don’t want to mess with. (You did read some of the examples shared in the last paragraph, didn’t you?)

I am reminded of a scene in C. S. Lewis’ children’s story, The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, when the beavers are first telling the kids about the King of Narnia, the noble lion, Aslan. (Lewis wrote His Chronicles of Narnia series with the intention of teaching children about the faith with Aslan representing the Lord Jesus Christ in his stories.) As soon as they discover that he is a lion, they ask if he is “safe." The response they receive is that he is not safe, but he is good. And if anyone can appear before him “without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly” (New York: Macmillian Publishing Company; 1950; 75). He is a fierce and loving lion. What an accurate picture of God! He is not safe or tame, but He is good. He is both fierce and loving.

However, I am concerned that we have lost such a picture of God today. There has been a great attempt among many to try to “tame” God. To overemphasize His love to the exclusion of His holiness. To focus on the loving aspects of His character (His mercy shown to David and Paul as well as to all repentant sinners), while choosing to ignore His fierceness (His appearance on Mt. Sinai or His dealings with Nadab, Abihu, Uzzah, and Ananias and Sapphira as well as the eternal punishment He decrees for all unrepentant sinners). Those who do just that do not wind up “taming” God but actually “creating” a god of their own fashioning who cannot save and will leave one empty. As you continue to read through your Bibles this year, make sure to take note of the full picture of how God has revealed Himself. He is untamable and we must see Him for Who He is as He has shown Himself to us.

Love in Christ,
Pastor Lee