WOUNDED LOVER - Chapter 11

God did talk back and defended the way that He was running the world. He said, "I am not silent; I have been speaking through my prophets. Well that could be a problem in today's world right there. Prophets??? Today the reviews on Prophets are mixed at best and if you accept that there are still prophets and that they are active today the results that I've experienced are 50/50 and that can then be taken as luck or hit and miss etc. Of course in the old testament days if a prophet was incorrect he was put to death. That certainly put some accountability on calling yourself a prophet and speaking as one.

Outside that doubts or questions regarding God using prophets today we as a people would be far more satisfied with something a little more dramatic than a man speaking to us. Things like a spectacular personal appearance or supernatural miracles. The fireball on Mount Carmel or Jeremiah's sermon? But God did not and does not consider "mere words" as inferior to signs and wonders. Miracles never made a lasting impact on the Israelites faith; but the prophets inscribed a permanent record to be passed down for generations.

With the Israelites God determined that they did not want a word from the Lord and they proved Him right when they said, "Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions... and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel." So God did say to them and the prophets when they complained about Him being silent and hidden " I have indeed withdrawn My presence."

To Jeremiah he expressed disgust with with what He saw: dishonest gain, shedding of innocent blood, oppression, extortion. God even refused to see hands spread out in a posture of prayer, for the hands were covered with blood.

To Ezekiel God said that after a certain point He "gave them over" to their sins and to Zechariah he said, " When I called, they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen."

The following words of the Lord are a SELAH (pause and think on that) moment. My slowness to act is a sign of mercy, not of weakness. Israel and I think for many today we sometimes presume that God had or has lost His power. "He will do nothing! No harm will come to us; we will never see sword or famine." They were wrong and reluctantly, like a parent out of options, God resorted to punishment. Israel's punishment was invasions by foreign people.

Though My judgements appear stern, I am suffering with you. And to Moab He says, "I wail over Moab, for all Moab I cry out... My heart laments for Moab like a flute. The Israelites may have watched in horror as babylonian axmen hacked apart the temple but it was God's own house. As the jews were led captive, He was led captive and when the conquerors divided the spoils, they joked not about the Israelites but about their weakling God. And yet God says, "despite everything, I am ready to forgive at any moment."

There is a place where God's perspective moves from that of a parent to that of a lover, a wounded lover. "What have I done wrong? he demands in a tone of sadness, horror and rage. "I supplied all their needs, yet they commit adultry and thronged to the houses of prostitutes. They are well fed, lusty stallions, each neighing for another man's wife. Should I NOT PUNISH THEM FOR THIS?

We sing a song here at the center about being God's favorite one. We sing the words "what are you thinking, what are you feeling, I have to know. Do we really want to know or are we to wrapped up in our own feelings? I have envisioned God as feeling like a rejected parent. He finds a baby girl lying in a ditch, near death. He takes her home nad makes her His daughter. He cleans her up, pays for her schooling, feeds her, clothes her, gives her gifts and loves her. Then one day she runs away. He hears reports of her unclean life and when His name comes up, she curses His very name.

I have also imagined God as feeling like a jilted lover. He finds His lover thin and wasted, abused, but He brings her home and makes he beauty shine. She is His precious one, the most beautiful woman in the world to Him and he lavishes her with gifts and love. And yet she forakes Him. She goes after His best friends, His enemies, anyone. She stands by the highway and under every spreading tree and worse than a prostitute, she pays people to have sex with her. He feels betrayed, abandoned. God asked Hosea to convey His passion in a living parable. Hosea on God's orders married Gomer and time after time Gomer wandered off only to have Hosea each time welcome her back with forgiveness.

Robert Frost talked of the story of Jonah and summed it up this way, "After Jonah, you could never trust God not to be merciful again." One line of prophecy where God says, "Forty more days and Nineveh will be overturned." But to Jonah's disgust that simple announcement sparked revival and God's plans changed. Jonah says, "I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." Jonah is upset because God was merciful to Nineveh. Disappointment with God was Jonah's inability to accept God's mercy in place of punishment. I think my disappointment often comes from what I think is God's punishment in place of God's mercy. Of course Jonah and I are both mistaken in our thoughts.

MY SLOWNESS TO ACT IS A SIGN OF MERCY, NOT OF WEAKNESS!

THOUGH MY JUDGEMENTS APPEAR STERN, I AM SUFFERING WITH YOU!