Why, God? Why?

 

READ: Ezekiel 20:8-13, 30-36

As a young man, I had great difficulty reconciling the God who sacrificed his only son for the sins of the world with the God who judged his chosen people through exile, slavery, rape, and execution. I much preferred the former and oft asked of the latter, “Why, God? Why?”

Why did you hand the people you created over to such cruelty and suffering? Would you do the same to me or to the people I love?

I thought he would, and perhaps justifiably so. 1 Peter 3:12 says, “The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer, but the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.” 

I have done evil by breaking God’s commandments, as have my loved ones, as had God’s chosen people. In fact, Romans 3:12 says, “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”

Do we then deserve to be spared from the evil of others if we ourselves do not do good?

Perhaps, then, we should question not the God who judges, but the God who shows mercy.

Did God not drown the world in the time of Noah? Burn to ashes the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? Has he not reserved the present heavens and earth for destruction by fire? (2 Peter 2:4-6, 3:10-11)

Why, then, should Jesus come into the world that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life? (John 3:16)

Because we’re sorry? Because we repented? Because we’re going to try harder and do better?

No. The Lord says, “But for the sake of my name …” (Ezekiel 20:9)

The name (or reputation) of God. That’s why the Israelites were delivered from slavery in Egypt, that’s why they were returned from exile in Babylon, and that’s why Christ died for the sins of the world. Because God’s name is synonymous with love, mercy, and grace.

In Ephesians 2:4-5, Paul puts it like this: “Because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions—it is by grace you have been saved.”

Do You Love Me?

READ: John 14:15-27

If you love me, keep my commands.

There’s a love language I don’t speak well. You probably don’t either. “All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.” (Romans 3:12)

Jesus, we break your commands daily. We don’t love you. Do you still love us?

“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” (1 John 4:10)

Back up to 1 John 4:8, “God is love.” Think about that. God must love because God is love. What great irony, then, that love itself is unrequited!

Ever felt that pain? Ever been driven by an obsessive desire to bless someone in any way you are able only to see your efforts come to nothing? Your gifts not received; your warmth met with coldness; your love met with apathy or spite?

Multiply the pain by seven billion and you’ve got God’s relationship with this world. Big problem, but God has a big solution: He’s going to teach us how to love him by dwelling within us in the form of the Holy Spirit.

The night I put my faith in Christ, I received this Spirit. He does what Christ promised he would do. He teaches me. He reminds me. He advocates for me. He never leaves me. 

As it is written, “When you believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God’s possession - to the praise of his glory,” (Ephesians 1:13-14) and, “He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 1:6)

Glory to God! By the Spirit’s presence I see a miracle at work within me. I am learning to obey Christ’s commands, and in so doing I am learning to love my God.