For we do not have a great high priest who cannot be touched by the feeling of our infirmity. (Hebrews 4)
I have been thinking a lot about the phrase in Psalm 11 that God's very soul hates violence. To the core of Him He hates it. What else does He hate? Proverbs 6:16 gives a list: pride, lying, murder of the innocent, a mind that thinks up evil plans, feet that are quick to do evil, a witness who lies, and someone who starts arguments among families. Hate is a really strong word. But these are the things we hate, too. The thought that He hates like we hate is astonishing. That He chooses to feel what we feel, not just set our emotions in place and then back off to see where that takes us.
In his book ADDICTION AND GRACE, Dr. May discusses God as both transcendent and imminent at once. He knows all...transcends time and space and is therefore apart from it though in control of it. The imminent God, however, chooses to be close and to experience our feelings. When we are upset, He is upset. He feels with us.
I remember discussing His imminence with my daughter when she was teaching middle schoolers in an at-risk school in Los Angeles. The cycle of poverty, violence and abuse spilled over into the children's lives to such a point that it daily disrupted classes. Students brought guns to school, one time shooting the principal, sending him to the hospital. My child's need to reach and change this climate - to somehow stir these kids to a higher hope - seemed to her a mountain she would never be able to climb. She ultimately became so ill she had to quit the job, and she felt like an utter failure. The experience also made her wonder where her God was to allow this to continue. I reminded her that God sees what she sees and is just as broken over it as she was. He is not sitting on His throne "tsk-tsking" our pain. He is experiencing it. He chooses to feel with us. Just like we feel with our kids, family and friends.
"I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness." (God in Jeremiah 31) Our God reaches down into our history, which He sees as one continuum of time, and decides to engage in our joy and our pain. To show us love and kindness. Listen to His language toward His people in the book of Hosea: "
When Israel was a child, I loved him and I called him out of Egypt. But when I called the people of Israel, they went away from Me. It was I who taught Israel how to walk, and I took them by the arms, but they did not understand that I had healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness - with ropes of love. I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down and fed them.....How can I give up on you? My heart beats for you, and my love for you stirs up my pity...I am God and not human; I am the Holy One, and I am among you...I will not come against you in anger."
Though jilted, He pursues us. His heart beats for His people.....He sees us and is stirred up with compassion for our lives and circumstances. He feels like we do.....or, we feel like He does. Made in His image. Made for fellowship with Him.
Lord, let me feel what you feel. Love with Your heart. Discern with Your mind. Made in Your likeness, may I trust the One who is teaching me to walk. Who bent down and fed me when I had only recently been delivered from my slavery, unfettered from the chains of bondage. Who lifted me up with Your hands under my armpits, as I would lift a toddler, so that we could smile at each other face-to-face and wonder at my rescue. Please never give up on me. May Your everlasting love be enough.
I have been thinking a lot about the phrase in Psalm 11 that God's very soul hates violence. To the core of Him He hates it. What else does He hate? Proverbs 6:16 gives a list: pride, lying, murder of the innocent, a mind that thinks up evil plans, feet that are quick to do evil, a witness who lies, and someone who starts arguments among families. Hate is a really strong word. But these are the things we hate, too. The thought that He hates like we hate is astonishing. That He chooses to feel what we feel, not just set our emotions in place and then back off to see where that takes us.
In his book ADDICTION AND GRACE, Dr. May discusses God as both transcendent and imminent at once. He knows all...transcends time and space and is therefore apart from it though in control of it. The imminent God, however, chooses to be close and to experience our feelings. When we are upset, He is upset. He feels with us.
I remember discussing His imminence with my daughter when she was teaching middle schoolers in an at-risk school in Los Angeles. The cycle of poverty, violence and abuse spilled over into the children's lives to such a point that it daily disrupted classes. Students brought guns to school, one time shooting the principal, sending him to the hospital. My child's need to reach and change this climate - to somehow stir these kids to a higher hope - seemed to her a mountain she would never be able to climb. She ultimately became so ill she had to quit the job, and she felt like an utter failure. The experience also made her wonder where her God was to allow this to continue. I reminded her that God sees what she sees and is just as broken over it as she was. He is not sitting on His throne "tsk-tsking" our pain. He is experiencing it. He chooses to feel with us. Just like we feel with our kids, family and friends.
"I love you people with a love that will last forever. That is why I have continued showing you kindness." (God in Jeremiah 31) Our God reaches down into our history, which He sees as one continuum of time, and decides to engage in our joy and our pain. To show us love and kindness. Listen to His language toward His people in the book of Hosea: "
When Israel was a child, I loved him and I called him out of Egypt. But when I called the people of Israel, they went away from Me. It was I who taught Israel how to walk, and I took them by the arms, but they did not understand that I had healed them. I led them with cords of human kindness - with ropes of love. I lifted the yoke from their neck and bent down and fed them.....How can I give up on you? My heart beats for you, and my love for you stirs up my pity...I am God and not human; I am the Holy One, and I am among you...I will not come against you in anger."
Though jilted, He pursues us. His heart beats for His people.....He sees us and is stirred up with compassion for our lives and circumstances. He feels like we do.....or, we feel like He does. Made in His image. Made for fellowship with Him.
Lord, let me feel what you feel. Love with Your heart. Discern with Your mind. Made in Your likeness, may I trust the One who is teaching me to walk. Who bent down and fed me when I had only recently been delivered from my slavery, unfettered from the chains of bondage. Who lifted me up with Your hands under my armpits, as I would lift a toddler, so that we could smile at each other face-to-face and wonder at my rescue. Please never give up on me. May Your everlasting love be enough.
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