Wednesday, May 7, 2014

The Divine Dilemma

UV 1084/10,000 The Divine Dilemma

How shall I give thee up, Ephraim? how shall I deliver thee, Israel? how shall I make thee as Admah? how shall I set thee as Zeboim? mine heart is turned within me, my repentings are kindled together

Hosea 11 v 8

The Lord is always thinking of ways to redeem His people, to heal us of our backsliding, to make us mature in our faith and in all our ways. He will not give up on us easily. He is not a man to be short tempered and irritated with some act or word spoken by us that annoyed Him. He is gracious and will not cut us off from our intimate and personal relationship with Him for even some grievous hurt we have caused Him. In this uni-verse, the Lord bemoans the infidelity of Israel as she turned back to the fertility cults of the past and the golden calf idol. He was disappointed with the rebelliousness and waywardness of Ephraim. God was facing a divine dilemma whether to visit judgement or to show mercy to these people. Similarly, we may get deceived in our lives and transfer the source of our reliance and dependence from God to our bank balance or our profession or our abilities. These then become the golden calf of our lives. It is at these times that the Lord agonizes over us as any loving parent laments over a wayward son or daughter.

God is not a sadist. He takes no pleasure in willfully causing us hurt. He does not willingly afflict or hurt us. He does it only to discipline us, to prevent us from a greater harm and to build a greater hope and future for each of us. He does not want us to be pinned down or to clip our wings so that we cannot fly high or far. He is waiting to deliver us. He rejoices in vindicating us and in honouring us in every way possible. He desires to make our lives successful, meaningful, prosperous, joyful and an example in a positive sense to others.

Even when we rebel, when we willfully walk away from Him, violate His word and His will, the Lord looks at us and muses to Himself, “ How can I bring him or her back to me again? How can I show him the plain folly of his ways? How can I save Him from the mess and turn his life into a message?” He weighs the options and takes the least painful ones to bring us round again. But as the prophet Jonah said, “ the Lord God is compassionate. He is quick to forgive and bless and slow to punish.” Jonah was reluctant to issue warnings of judgement of God to Nineveh for the reason that God would change His mind from judgement to mercy after he had prophesied destruction. This would make him look small and powerless since what he had said had not happened. We must not imitate Jonah and fear that we would look small but rather want God to look as large-hearted as He is. Unless the hand of God is compelled, His Father’s heart is not to condemn or punish but to redeem, to bless and to reward.

Prateep V Philip

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