The violent winds of suffering and trouble blow us into the Lord’s protective hands.
~Sadhu Sundar Singh
I, Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ—I who am humble when face to face with you, but bold toward you when I am away!— I beg of you that when I am present I may not have to show boldness with such confidence as I count on showing against some who suspect us of walking according to the flesh. For though we walk in the flesh, we are not waging war according to the flesh. For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have Divine Power to destroy strongholds. We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, being ready to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete.
~ paul, The Least of The Apostles, in 2 Corinthians 10
Oh beloved, it is true.
We, each of us, is tempted towards some sort of sin. And, while the transgression itself is horrible, the treason that occurs in our spirit, and the adultery in our relationships to others and G_d – is nothing short of eternally catastrophic.
So yes, G_d hates sin. But, we have to come to a place where we see it through His eyes – before we truly get the victory over the failures.
We, each of us, know that sin is bad, and that our Creator does not like it. However, our hearts often serve up a very wrong view of our Creator. And this is idolatry. John Calvin (and other theologians) have gone so far as to say that the heart is a factory – constantly building things that are not G_d – but we worship this twisted view of Who He Is.
Even so, His ways are far beyond ours. Saint Augustine, long ago, said, “si comprehendis, non est Deus” (if you understand, that isn’t God). But, even our attempts at understanding can be quite misguided – because we start from the wrong perspective.
Most of us start from the place where we think that G_d is far away. Most of us see Him as some fickle being who changes their attitude towards us, based on how we behave. So, when we do sin, we reinforce this misunderstanding by projecting our own shame onto The Almighty. We ‘feel’ like G_d is even more disappointed in us – and is thus, farther away.
Can we see it?
However, what is actually true, is that while He truly hates sin, it is not because He is some moody supreme being, who gets mad when we don’t do what he says. No, our Triune Creator is not in competition with anything, especially that which They have made in Their Own Image.
The Creator understands our design. The Maker knows what we are really looking for. And so, as we run out from under His Loving Care – towards the idols of wealth, power, pleasure, and honor – our King already knows that we are not going to get what we are looking for. We will, instead find ourselves emptier than when we started out, and definitely more in danger.
Maybe it is easier to say this more simply: G_d yearns for our safety and satisfaction. And we run out into the world, He knows that we are gonna get hurt. It is like the father who wants make sure his baby doesn’t get out into that busy intersection. For, out in that place, is only danger for a child.
And so, when we do run away, and do something in our flesh; when we sin against a Holy G_d, we do feel separation. But, we do not feel separation because G_d is abandoning us. We feel the separation because we now are missing the sense of His Presence in our lives.
Hopefully, this can make us think a bit more practically, when and if we do fail. That sense of shame and angst must be read correctly. We need it to operate as a warning alarm on the dashboard of our souls. And the warning is clear: GO BACK HOME! YOU (AND THIS FOOL OF A WRITER) ARE NOT GOING TO FIND WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR, APART FROM THE LOVE RELATIONSHIP WE HAVE WITH JESUS.
He cares for you, beloved. He is the only Safe Haven in the universe. Everything else is going to damage us. The anger of G_d is not towards you, it is His utter hatred of all that would damage His precious children.
Tonight is your night. Time to allow your sin to drive you TOWARDS Him, and not the other way. Repent of the old way of thinking. It may just get you killed.
Did you never run for shelter in a storm, and find fruit which you expected not? Did you never go to God for safeguard, driven by outward storms, and there find unexpected fruit?
~ John Owen
