Going through the minor prophets gives me an appreciation for how important it is to feel and hear the heart of God in relating to His people.
There’s a kind of mentality in approaching the Old and New Testament. It gives the impression of a more kind and caring fatherly God in the New Testament in contrast to a more strict and judgemental Lord in the Old Testament. There’s a lot of assumptions about depictions of God in the Old and the New as though He is very different.
The minor prophets, however, echo a theme that can be traced throughout the Old and New Testament. That theme is the character of God being of mercy and righteousness. It’s His mercy that gives people an opportunity to turn away from their wrongdoing and even restore them after it. It is the mercy of God that restores in the first place. That mercy however is complimenting the right that God has established throughout His creation. Jesus emphasises that in His life and obedience and victory over sin and death. Jesus also reinforces the nature of God’s commitment to righteousness also meaning He will judge.
It makes me wonder why people are so eager to minimise the consequences of evil and the righteous judgement of God. I appreciate that some have got hung up on judgement and taken it as a chance to condemn others. The response to that, however, is not to go to the other extreme and present a picture of God who is soft and cuddly and warm and fuzzy and just wants to give you good things and indulge you with no reference to His solution to evil.
As the prophets speak to the people having heard and seen of God, as it is highlighted in Christ and subsequent events, so it reassures me and challenges me that it is exactly because I serve a holy and merciful God that I should expect love and judgement. That thought should motivate me to rely more on that incredible mercy and grace.
(Photo by Sang Huynh on Unsplash)
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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