understanding God

Today we read from 2 Chronicles 30:1-31:21 in the One Year Bible. We are reminded that the way we sometimes see God in the Old Testament, as depicted in the cartoon above, is not really very accurate. We think of the God of the OT as being angry and vengeful, and the God of the NT being kind and forgiving and merciful. But the truth is that God is the same, now and forever.

One thing to remember is that as we grow in our maturity, we perceive God differently. CS Lewis talks about this when he says that as we grow older, Aslan appears to be bigger. When we're children, it's important for us to have healthy respect, and even a little fear, of our parents. We don't want to treat them badly. As we grow older, we lose the fear and learn to love as adults. The same thing happens with us and God. We need to respect Him and even fear Him when we first start getting to know Him. The fear of the Lord is the BEGINNING of wisdom. But as we grow in our faith, we learn to love Him and He treats us as family.

The God of the OT was merciful and kind. Jesus in the NT talked more about hell than any other subject. God doesn't change. He is merciful and kind and loving - and He is also just.

God, thanks for showing us that You don't change - we do.