With my pocket-full of wisdom and my suitcase-full of desire to learn more, I am finding the Bible so satisfying to study. Something I noticed that I used to do is find excuses for this 'God of the Old Testament.' I'd read a blur of battle and prophecy and judgement and conclude that this was the past-tense God, and I'd thank goodness I know the new One. This week we have been studying Jeremiah; the weeping prophet. With my hand on my heart I say that I have never seen God like this before. It has been breaking me and striking me dumb. My eyes are opening to see that love and judgement aren't polar opposites, rather I think judgement is part of YHWH's outpouring of love. Out of His holy justice sin has to bare a price; it cannot go unpunished. The book of Jeremiah is absolutely drowned in God warning His people relentlessly not to mess with sin and not to be blind to what it provokes. Even though for decades they ignored His imploring, judgement was never the bottom-line for them. He planned for restoration to be its fruit. I'm seeing that love is so much more than provoking short-term happiness, it fervently pursues life in its fullness for another.
