Thursday
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.7 The LORD did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples. 8 But it was because the LORD loved you and kept the oath he swore to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you from the land of slavery, from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the LORD your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. 10 But
those who hate him he will repay to their face by destruction;
he will not be slow to repay to their face those who hate him.11 Therefore, take care to follow the commands, decrees and laws I give you today.
I have to admit that passages like this are hard for me to read. It’s nice to be “the chosen.” It’s even nice to know that your enemies will one day be brought to heal. But the final sentence is not even a thinly veiled threat.
A summary would read, “I like you people. And I plan to destroy people I don’t like. So be nice, or I’ll toss you in with that other lot.”
Not exactly a ringing endorsement for worship or a loving relationship.
On the other hand, if we reduce it to human terms, it is the very definition of a loving relationship. Marriage ceremonies often promise that love will conquer all and will never end. But we know that all too often it does – usually because of what one (or both) partners either do or leave undone.
What would the opposite sound like? A summary: “I like you. It really has no benefits, and I would appreciate it if you treat me well. But regardless, you’ll get everything I have forever and ever and ever.”
That’s sort of a recipe for a doormat, isn’t it? A bit co-dependent? At best, it would be an emotionally masochistic relationship (and by that I mean the recipient actually seeks to be treated that way).
The larger sticking point for me is that I do not believe in an interventionary God. Either God can’t, or won’t, interfere with human affairs. Obviously, I don’t know why. Perhaps, as with my relationship with my adult children, He simply trusts us to figure things out and knows we will turn to Him when we need to. It’s a strong and abiding kind of love, but it’s also one that gives a lot of room to grow – and to make mistakes.
Which is why the Christian calendar sets aside a time to recognize our mistakes and to ask for forgiveness if we cannot make amends. Sort of like a meta-twelve-step calendar, as it were. The difficult thing to do is to make a list, check it twice, and determine if one is truly ready to give up their iniquity and make amends. And what happens if the honest answer is: Not yet? Destruction? Or is it more like a meta-spiritual divorce?
I don’t have the answers, I’m afraid.
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