God is Love

Ever since my experience on Sunday, I have been really, really excited about reading my Bible. I don't remember a time when I was so hungry for God's Word as I am right now. I sit down with my Bible (I'm reading the Message right now, but it's a One-Year-Bible version...I love it) and I say to God, "what do you have for me today?" I've been reading 2 Kings and have seen God's grace in that, which is something that I hadn't noticed before and I think most people miss. Israel sins, God gets angry. Cause, effect. Then God lets them go their own way, not because He wants to leave them, but because He wants Israel to return. He wants to forgive and He does.

People who claim that the God of the Old Testament is a different God from the one in the New Testament have never really read either with the right frame of mind. You see, God is Love throughout both. Those who have children will probably understand this more than those who don't, but sometimes you have to discipline a person, not despite the fact that you love them, but because of it. Sometimes you also have to let a person make their own decisions, even if you know them to be mistakes. [Side note: I read an article a year or so ago about a psychological study. The study showed that your brain has the same reactions when you see somebody else make a mistake as it has when you yourself make a mistake. That's why it's so hard to watch somebody else mess up.] That's what God does with His people. They sin and He disciplines them. They decide to go their own way and He lets them in the hopes that they will come back. It's because He loves them, not because He is vengeful. Don't get me wrong, He is just. He just isn't wrong.