Our spiritual life is governed by our view of God. It is important that we have an accurate view of his heart and his character. Isaiah is a fascinating book filled with prophetic declarations and insights into the heart of God. As you read through it you find a rhythm of withering judgments coming against wickedness alternating with prophecies full of hope and God’s kindness for the future.
In Isaiah 30, we find a prophetic warning issued to a rebellious Israel. You find phrases such as “’Woe to the obstinate children,’ declares the Lord, ‘to those who carry out plans that are not mine, forming an alliance but not by my Spirit, heaping sin upon sin; … these are rebellious people, deceitful children,, children unwilling to listen to the Lord’s instruction’” (Isa.30:1, 9). Isaiah paints a picture of a nation that was redeemed by God, brought out of slavery into a rich land and into a singular covenant with the God of Creation. This nation that was loved and redeemed had totally broken faith with their God, had ignored his prophets, and had made alliances with nations that served demons. Severe judgments were in the pipeline and headed their way – judgments by sword, plague, and famine. Isaiah and other prophets had warned them and yet they were ignored. This had gone on for decades. The holy wrath of God had been aroused and the God of Israel had made his case as to why his wrath was not only just but necessary.
Yet, in the middle of all that, we find the heart of God. Isaiah says, “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. (Isa. 30:18). The idea that God longs to be gracious, yearns to forgive, and deeply desires to restore his relationship with his people is the opposite view of God that many hold.
Even many believers see God as angry, vengeful and just waiting to pull the rug out from under them. They see him as the angry, abusive Father that is quick to hand out punishment and who must be begged in order to receive a blessing. When we hold that view of God, we cannot pray with faith that always anticipates good gifts. We cannot draw near because we believe that being near to God is an unsafe place. We cannot believe his promises because we think he will search to find something against us so that he can withhold his blessings.
Yet, that is not God’s heart even toward the wicked. ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign Lord, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel” (Jer.33:11)? Those verses and many more like them were written under the Old Covenant. How much more is this true under a covenant established by the blood of Christ?
This seems so simple but apparently it isn’t. I continue to see men and women who have been Christians for decades still doubt the love of God and the goodness of God for them. They still assign the most hurtful moments of their lives to some act that God perpetrated against them as if child abuse, rape, the death of an infant, or a car wreck that took five family members were all moments that God orchestrated without any thought to the devastation that loss or trauma would visit on them for a lifetime. We often shroud such sentiments in the cover of mystery. We say that we will only understand why God did such a thing when we get to heaven.
Many of us still have an inaccurate understanding of the sovereignty of God. We believe that because he is sovereign everything that happens in this world was his will and was caused by him. It is clear from scripture, that in his sovereignty he determined to limit the control he would exercise over this planet. He gave us free will and in doing so he took his hands off the steering wheel and put us in the drivers seat. His desire is for us to stay on the road and to drive safely and sensibly. But we can choose to ignore his urgings and drive recklessly. We can, by our own choices, end up in the ditch or injure others by our reckless driving. We can all be guilty of driving under the influence of sin. Not only that but once God handed the planet over to Adam and Eve to rule, their sin and rebellion released a curse on the world they ruled. That curse introduced death, disease, birth defects, war, addictions, etc. that create the pain we so often must endure. God is there to walk us through the pain but to eliminate the pain is this world would require the removal of our free will.
One of Christ’s primary purposes for his visitation of planet earth was to show us an accurate picture of the Father. John recorded a conversation between Jesus and Philip who had just asked Jesus to give him and the other apostles a revelation of the Father. “Jesus answered: ‘Don’t you know me, Philip, even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Don’t you believe that I am in the Father, and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father, living in me, who is doing his work. Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me’” (Jn.14:9-11).
When we look at Jesus, the Good Shepherd, we cannot imagine him taking a child from a single mother by killing the child. What we do see is him giving a child back to a single mother by raising that child from the dead. We can’t imagine him laying hands on someone and imparting advanced leprosy to a mother or a father of three small children. What we do see is him healing lepers and giving them back to their families. We can’t imagine him calling down fire from heaven to obliterate a rebellious village. What we do see is Jesus rebuking James and John for volunteering to call down fire on a Samaritan village for their unbelief.
In essence, Jesus told Philip that whatever he had seen Jesus doing for poor, hurting, broken, rejected, and demon-possessed people was exactly what the Father himself willed to do for them. However Jesus responded to prostitutes, crooked tax collectors, grieving widows, or thieves was exactly how the Father responded to them as well. Jesus simply put flesh and blood on the desires of the Father. Many of us need to receive that revelation as well as Philip. When we see Jesus as being one way and the Father being another, we have a schizophrenic view of the Godhead that we are trying to serve. How confusing can that be?
As you read through the Old Testament and see the judgments of God being released, you need to remember that those judgments were never God’s first choice. His heart was always for men to repent and live. His heart always longed to be gracious even to those who had been walking in wickedness and rebellion. Now that the holy wrath of God has been satisfied by the cross, we can certainly rest assured that the Father’s heart for each of us is always to redeem, to forgive, to bless, and to be gracious….even if we have been on a prodigal’s journey.
When we pray we need to have our minds fixed on the goodness of God and his desire to bless his children. That accurate view of God gives us faith for the answers to our prayers. The Godhead is not debating over whether to love us or be angry with us but is in total agreement that we are loved and that blessing and eternal redemption is the motive behind every response to our prayers. I freely admit that there are mysteries as to why some of our prayers seem to go unanswered. But it helps me to live with the mystery if I know God’s heart for me is the heart of a loving father who always wants the best for his son or daughter. If you still see God as the angry Father keeping score and eager to punish your every mistake, live in Christ will have no joy and little faith. Reconsider God. Ask the Spirit to give you a full revelation of the Father knowing that you can see him perfectly in Jesus. It will make all the difference.
