“The faithfulness of God may be obscured, but we cannot be rid of it; His gifts may evoke no gratitude, but they will not be withdrawn; His goodness will bring under judgment those who withstand it, but it is His goodness nonetheless.”
Thoughts?
Todd
That describes the God I know today, not the God I was taught about when I was a child. I still hear versions of that lie today that says God’s blessings are determined by your obedience. If that were true, I’d be destitute and desperately trying harder to please.
In “The Voice” translation it says: “Every good gift bestowed, every perfect gift received comes to us from above, courtesy of the Father of lights. He is consistent. He won’t change His mind or play tricks in the shadows.” James 1:17
I’m thankful for that because God’s faithfulness and love does not depend on me. It is based on His character. Paul David Tripp says the cross is the ultimate definition of what love is and what love does: Willing self-sacrifice for the good of another that does not demand reciprocation or that the person being loved is deserving.
Barth’s statement that “His goodness will bring under judgment those who withstand it, but it is His goodness nonetheless” brings to mind the tough love a parent has with a rebellious child. From the child’s perspective it doesn’t feel like love, but when they mature it becomes clearer that the discipline served to protect and teach them how to live and love well. If that child continues to rebel and bring harm to himself and others, he suffers the consequences of being separated from the goodness of his family.
And yet, even though we stand condemned by our “badness,” it is the very goodness and kindness of God that leads us (the rebellious children) to repentance. It is a good and loving God who invites us with open arms to come and join the party, Jesus’ sacrificial love that paid the price for our admission, and the Spirit’s gift of transformation that brings us from death to life, from being clothed in filthy rags of our own design to a righteous robe from God’s closet. It is our stubborn resistance that heaps judgment on our own heads.
Brenda, this is one of the voice tracks for my radio program last week,,,,it shows both sides of God’s goodness.
~~”I took my daughter to the lake beach last Sunday instead of going to the pool, not realizing this beach was now a place for the boats to dock.. It looked like fun anyway so we decided to stay and play there. I had forgotten about the drinking & smoking environment that goes with most boating crowds. I wasn’t ‘threatened’ by it because I know who I am in Christ and I can talk about Jesus to anyone. But, as we sat there, this drinking/smoking crowd started coming closer to us on both sides, and I listened to their conversation which was not godly. I felt this overshadowing presence of evil…and my concern was for my daughter. She did not need to hear or see any of it (6 yrs old).
So I started praying about it, and God reminded me that I had brought my Bible. My mind was impressed to get it out and start reading. After a few minutes one lady looked at me,, smiled and got back into her boat. In a matter of 10-15 minutes the crowd that had gathered around us dissipated and moved on. And it was peacful.
Well I prayed….’God, I don’t want to use the Word to drive people away’… and HIs reply, “My Word drives away evil”…People choose whether or not they want to be drawn to the Word, or whether or not they want to hang onto evil as it draws them away from the truth. ” ~~
God’s goodness for me & my daughter was the same goodness that judged sin.
It reminds me of that wall between the Israelites and the Egyptians….to one it was light, the other darkenss….but still the same wall.
Thanks Joanne.
“The God who rightly condemns sinners according to His law, liberates sinners with the forgiving love of His gospel.” –Tullian Tchividjian
That’s how amazing God is, why he can be considered “good” even when his goodness brings judgment–because even though he has the authority to render justice and demand payment, he steps up to pay the price of my sin debt himself. “I had a debt I could not pay; He paid a debt he did not owe.”
Just because we do not see God’s faithfulness does not mean it is not there. It reminds me of what Tozer says about hearing the voice of God. “Whoever will listen will hear the speaking Heaven. This is definitely not the hour when men take kindly to an exhortation to listen, for listening is not today a part of popular religion. We are at the opposite end of the pole from there. Religion has accepted the monstrous heresy that noise, size, activity and bluster make a man dear to God. But we may take heart. to a people caught in the tempest of the last great conflict god says, “Be still and know that i am God.” and still He says it as if He means to tell us that our strength and safety lie not in noise but in silence.” -A.W. Tozer “The Pursuit of God”
I love that our inability to be grateful has no impact on God and God’s faithfulness. God’s love and faithfulness are not dependent in any way upon us. God does not choose to love us or be faithful toward us – God is love and God is faithful. These are attributes of God, and no matter what anyone says or does He does not change.
I completely agree. God is love, and God’s love is endless. We can not earn it, nor can we lose it. In fact, He loves us so much that He has given us the privilege of choosing to love Him. He seeks intimacy; He seeks our love. But He will not force us to choose Him. Whether one chooses Him is irrelevant; He loves us all no matter what. God pours out His gifts with the purpose of our using them for the destiny He has planned for us. Again, He gives us the choice to use these gifts for His glory. Bottom line: God is faithful and He is good all the time.
What this makes me think of, is that we humans like to take what we Think God promises and put it in a neat box of our understanding, and then when He does not deliver based on what we expected, we can be pretty ungrateful, because we feel like He let us down, or that He failed us. Yet God does as He promises, and whether or not we see His faithfulness and goodness, it is ours anyway, not because of who we are, but because of Who He is.