The steadfast love of God is sung in hymns. His love never ceases. But our understanding of love and God’s understanding tends to be vastly different.
As i was going through the first few books of the Bible, from Judges, Kings to Chronicles. The love of God was manifest through God bestowing peace and fighting Israel’s battles for her. When the king of Israel was deeply devoted to God, like King David or King Asa or King Jehoshaphat, God showed His steadfast love by delivering Israel from her enemies. When God fought for Israel, the enemies of Israel trembled in fear. How does one fathom that 3 armies gathered against Israel could turn on each other and destroy each other while Israel stood by without a single arrow fired at them. God did this for Israel inspite of the many betrayals and adulterous deeds of Israel where they chose to find their refuge in human alliances instead of relying fully upon God.
In the reading of the old testament books, i found the answer which in my heart i had been asking God. How does a Christian’s life look like. In the old testament narratives, we see beyond all the Sunday school lessons and see how a Godly people have interacted with a secular world. This was as real as it got. The life of the Christian/prophet/king/seer couldn’t have been more relatable. The facts of evil kings in Israel were not whitewashed to make the Kings of Israel seemed like they were more than human.
The best of God’s servants were not spared from the judgement of God as the records of Kings and what they did were written as how God saw them. And without fail, God evaluated each and every king, just as He would evaluate every single human based on whether they were committed to following His commandments.
Yet, somehow, if the king regardless of how evil he was would repent and humble himself before the Lord, God turned His anger away. Where people see a judegmental God in the old testament, God is always very clear that He punishes wickedness. He is completely impartial in His judgements.
Seeing the world today, where evil is called good and vice versa, i am glad that God’s standards change for no man.
But reading the love God has showered upon Israel, makes me cognizent of things we take for granted. That there is a cause and effect of war. Where a nation chooses to live righteously, the Lord grants relief from enemies. However, where we depart from God’s ways, peace is elusive. The love of God is seen where people can rest. Something that seems so basic but not all that basic when we think about it.
The times where i experience most anxiety and agitation is where i am furthest from God.
Wisdom and ability to do work also come from the Lord. King Solomon was the prime example. Because he had a sincere desire to see Israel succeed, he asked for wisdom to lead rather than wealth or judgement against his enemies. As a result, God granted him on top of wisdom, wealth, peace,success far beyond King Solomon’s imagination.
It is however like reading a tragic story. Where we see how well King Solomon started only to fail so badly. There was a huge ‘if only’ that ear marked King’s Solomon’s success. If only he had not worshiped other Gods. One can’t begin to imagine how much greater Israel would have been today if the King had loved God deeply enough to tear down the ashera poles that God so detested in Israel.
The story of Israel is marked by defeat after defeat. The only time Israel experienced true victory was when Jesus came down. In Him was a fully obedient King. He did what no other King was able to do. He was obedient, fully humble, never ahead of Himself, always seeking God’s advise even though He Himself was God. No other man existed who was fully submitted to God as Jesus. No other King weighed in as closely as Jesus where it came to humility.
And when contrasted with Judges and Kings of past, It was no wonder that God said, this is My Son, in whom I am well pleased.