The God who makes me uncomfortable...

One of the things happening as I read through the O.T. is being re-introduced to the God who makes me uncomfortable. Uncomfortable is really an understatement. This God shocks me. He confounds and disturbs me. He confuses me and in many ways frightens me. This God is "shock and awe" and the body count is rising. All of these are statements that may seem to verge on the edge of disrespect or trifling with the Holy. Nothing could be further from the truth. These statements are only possible because of the deep and abiding belief of my heart that this God is real, that He wants to be known, and that He has revealed Himself fully in Jesus Christ.

My friend Scott replied to a post and said...

The standard evangelical response (to disturbing O.T. accounts) is, “yes, but Jesus loves you.” I don’t find that to be relevant, comforting, or even an answer. The triune God or God Head existed from the beginning and if God (i.e., the God Head) wanted to kill Moses, I don’t see myself as more loved than Moses. Sure the covenant has developed and changed but the God Head hasn’t. Surely I anger God in significant ways that I’m not even aware of. Is Jesus constantly intervening saying, “Dad, chill”?

Another friend emailed me and said:

"...when Moses asked to see God's glory, God talks about His name, His goodness, His compassion. (which is an interesting set of descriptives as opposed to I am the one who created everything, earthquakes, hurricanes and plagues) but as Tevye from Fiddler on the Roof says ... on the other hand ... God says he will have compassion on and mercy on whom He chooses to ... now that is scary... could it even be seen as capricious?"

I identify with the questions that tear at us. I think we're in good company. I take comfort in the fact that David, a "man after God's own heart," spent a lot of time in the Psalms complaining and essentially asking "what the heck is going on!?"

So what do I do with the unsettling things I read?

For me I start from a certain spot and work at things from there. The spot I have to start at is the supremacy of Christ above all other revelation or understanding of God. I 'm fairly sure that this is exactly what the N.T. tells me. For example, in the book of Hebrews the writer declares that Jesus is the "radiance of His (God's) glory and the exact representation of His (God's) nature." (1:3)

In Colossians, Paul makes this grand claim:

"He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things were created by him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together... For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him... (1:15-20)

Finally, in the opening of John's gospel he tells us that in the beginning of all things was the Word, and that this Word, this agent of creation, became flesh. God "tabernacled" among us in human skin. He then makes this statement:

"No one has seen God at any time; the only begotten God who is in the bosom of the Father, He has explained Him."

Now the problem here of course is that the Jesus I see in the gospel blessing the little children doesn't square with the pre-incarnation Word that sends bears to attack and maul 42 kids to death for calling a prophet with no sense of humor, "baldy." (II Kings 2) And that's a mild example! The fact is there is a lot of things I see God doing in the O.T. that don't square with the Incarnate One.

So what I'm left with is this conclusion. When Phillip said to Jesus "show us the Father" and Jesus replied by essentially saying "you're looking at Him..." He wasn't pulling my leg. This Jesus that I love and that calls me to follow him is the complete and unquestionable "explanation" (to use John's word) of who God is and what God is like.

I have decided that everything I look at in the Scriptures and, therefore everything I know about God, is going to have to be filtered through the lens of Jesus Christ. The reason I have a problem with the God of the Old Testament is that He doesn’t always look like Jesus Christ and Jesus is the one who “represents God exactly.” Moses doesn't explain God to me. Only Jesus is the explanation.

So, I’m left with a couple of options. Throw out the OT which would be a horrible choice as I end up destroying the grand metanarrative of which we’re apart. (Not to mention the incredible life lessons, widsdom and worship that it contains.) Or, I recognize the reality that God really is transcendent and that I cannot hope to understand Him completely. What I do have is this Jesus who calls me to follow him. So that’s who I choose to look at. When I read about a God who does not square with what I know of Jesus Christ, then I have to trust that one day I will, that I will have to live with the questions, For now, Jesus Christ is going to be the one who fills my vision.