Showing posts with label God's patience and love. Show all posts
Showing posts with label God's patience and love. Show all posts

Wednesday, 7 October 2015

How Does God Speak to People who Disobey Him?




Who is God?

I was reading Genesis and it struck me how God deals with people who have disobeyed him. He always gives them a chance to talk with him about it. He doesn't come rushing in angry and yelling; he gives them a chance to confess and explain and ask for his help and forgiveness. Here are a few examples of how he treated people.

Genesis 3

Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”  (of course God knew where they were)
He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?”
The man said, “The woman you put here with me—she gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.”
Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?”
The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

Genesis 4
Now Cain said to his brother Abel, “Let’s go out to the field.” While they were in the field, Cain attacked his brother Abel and killed him.
The Lord said to Cain, “Where is your brother Abel?”
“I don’t know,” he replied. “Am I my brother’s keeper?”
The Lord said, “What have you done? Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground. 

1 Kings 19:9

Elijah ran away from King Ahab and Queen Jezebel. He was frightened for his life. Elijah usually only went where God told him to go. Not this time. 

"There he went into a cave and spent the night. And the word of the LORD came to him: 'What are you doing here, Elijah?'"  
Elijah was a Godly man and he talked with God about what he had done.

Matthew 26:

Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: "The one I kiss is the man; arrest him." 
Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, "Greetings, Rabbi!" and kissed him. Jesus replied, "Do what you came for, friend." 

 Jesus calls Judas his "friend."  He told Judas at the last supper he knew he was going to betray him; yet even now he now calls him a friend. He is still hoping Judas will confess and ask for forgiveness. But apparently, Judas' heart couldn't be persuaded by Jesus' love.

God gave all these people a chance to explain themselves. I think how God talks with people shows who he is. He isn't some scary guy looking for us to make a mistake and toss us aside. He is continually looking for ways to talk with us. He loves us so much he will keep trying to reach people until their hearts are too hard to even hear him anymore. That's who God is.

Who am I?

I'm like Elijah. I'm afraid of a lot of things. I've tried running, but God always finds me. He is always good to me and infinitely patient.