Even though my mother has dementia, there are certain events from her past that she has no problem remembering. Hearing God’s words is one of them.

Having lived what she calls a ‘good Christian life’ in her own eyes, Mum went through some struggles in her late sixties, trying to understand those age-old questions common to us all, ‘Why, God? Why aren’t You doing anything?’

As she rattled off a list of all the things she had done for God, as though presenting to Him her resumé of qualifications and suitability for His favour and blessings, she heard four words loud and clear, ‘I owe you nothing’.  She abruptly put her hand over her mouth, and her eyes widened to the size of dinner plates! Every time she has relayed the story she has described it in the same way. The fearful shock of hearing God speak those words would be enough to silence anyone and be forever burnt into one’s memory.

How very often we think God owes us something. We whine and complain because He has permitted this or that, or He’s not budging on something we want Him to. I think it can be this way when we are expecting God to perform according to our expectations and plans. We line everything up according to Scripture and His rhema word to our hearts, according to our understanding, and then…nothing happens.

Why God? Why aren’t You doing anything?

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding (Proverbs 3:5 BSB)

I often think of John the Baptist, sitting in his prison cell and hearing Jesus’ words relayed through his disciples, ‘And blessed is any person who does not take offense at Me’ (Matthew 11:6 NASB). Let’s admit it. We take offense at God sometimes. Jesus knew what was happening in John’s heart, even if John didn’t. Here was John, who had waited all his life for the Lamb of God, the One for whom he was making the way, the entire reason for his existence, and what happened? The Lamb of God showed up, and John was put in jail.

Now, if it had been me in that prison cell, I probably would have started looking at myself. First port of call. What did I do wrong? What’s wrong with me? If I didn’t get any answers there, my next stop would have been, did I get ‘it’ wrong? Which, I think, is where John was at when he sent his enquiry as to whether or not Jesus was really the one they’d been waiting for or should they be waiting for another. I think that’s called doubt. If I hadn’t received an answer like John received, detailing the miraculous things that were taking place, and how the good news was being preached, therefore assuring him that Jesus really was the one, I would probably sink into some degree of discouragement, self-pity and potentially being offended at God.

Am I the only one?

I think there are definite times when we need to be reminded of who God is. That includes being reminded of who and what He isn’t.

• God does not exist for man but man for God. He is the potter. We are the clay. We are vessels of mercy.
• God is the God of heaven and earth. He is the God over all other gods. He is a jealous God.
• God will not contend with man forever.
• God’s ways are not our ways. His thoughts are higher than ours.
• God will show mercy and compassion to whom He chooses.
• God has given everything in His Son. He has nothing more to give us.
• God owes us nothing.

But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use? (Romans 9:20-21 NASB)

Where we are born, and into what family and what conditions, is God’s sovereign business. God’s calling on our life is God’s business. It is up to Him entirely. Whether God chooses to use us in high and great things or not at all, or if He’s already gotten out of our life what He was after and He has no more for us to do in His name, is His call. He. Is. God.

In the famous Exodus account of Moses and Pharoah, we read that it was God who hardened Pharoah’s heart in order to accomplish His testimony (Exodus 4:21). In 2 Samuel 6:3-8 and 1 Chronicles 13:7-11, there is the record of a man named Uzzah whom God struck dead because he placed his hand on the Ark of the Covenant, putting flesh upon what was holy. In Acts chapter 5, Ananias and Saphira were struck dead by God because they lied to the Holy Spirit.

And, dare I mention it, the Old Testament records many occasions where God instructed the Israelite warriors and armies to wipe out their enemy, even women, children and animals, because of the worship of other gods, which God had said He would not tolerate. And He won’t, not even today. The killing of women, children and even the animals, is not something we like to hear. We don’t like to acknowledge this part of God’s character, it makes most of us feel very uncomfortable and perhaps even uncertain about the nature of God.

All these accounts might make God sound hard, like a God who acts only according to His own will, and without mercy. We might be tempted to water down His ‘almighty-ness’ in order to make Him appear softer, more gentle, more kind, more loving, so that the unsaved won’t be put off by His Godness. We might be tempted to fluff Him up a little. But we may need some reminding; God will always act according to His own will. He. Is. God.

What God is, is holy. God’s holy standard cannot be compromised, or He becomes unholy. Did you get that? Holiness cannot tolerate unholiness or else it becomes unholy and there is no more holiness left. We NEED God to be God. We need Him to be this sovereign, holy, Almighty God who we are to revere. God’s holiness is something so pure and strong, that He is described in Deuteronomy 4:24 as a consuming fire! No flesh can stand in His presence, let alone, wickedness.

Take a read of this from Exodus 34:5-16 (BSB):

And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD.  Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out:

“The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness, maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

And the LORD said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you. Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst. Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles. For you must not worship any other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices. And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

This passage of Scripture reveals God’s relational nature with His people, His desire to bless, His compassion, loving devotion, His justice, His uncompromising holiness, and His intolerance for the worship of other gods.

God has made things pretty plain and simple, really. In effect, He says, ‘This is who I Am. If you want all that I have to give you, follow Me, obey Me. Do what I tell you. If you don’t want it, sure, you don’t have to accept My blessings, but I will not tolerate your sin. That’s just how it is because I am God. If you want real life, stick with Me’.

I think we need to understand life on God’s terms. God doesn’t owe us a thing. Not one iota. Zip. But there is no doubt, He certainly is a loving, compassionate, merciful and gracious God. In fact, His entire nature has been revealed to us now, in the life of Jesus as He lived on the earth and still lives in God’s children today. He has revealed the Father to us.

Jesus replied, “Philip, I have been with you all this time, and still you do not know Me? Anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? (John 14:9 BSB)

If we want to understand who God is, we only need to go to Jesus.

GOD SO LOVED THE WORLD THAT HE GAVE HIS ONLY BEGOTTEN SON…