I started reading through the book of Ezekiel a while back, and one doesn't have to read too much before realizing the intense displeasure and anger that God felt toward the inhabitants of Jerusalem. The first several chapters describe how God was planning a siege by a foreign army against the city that was to result in starvation and even cannibalism (ch. 5, vv. 9-10). Chapter 5, verses 5-6 state pretty clearly what God was upset about, and in chapter 6, verse 10, Ezekiel records God as saying, "I did not threaten to bring this disaster on them without a reason."
A thought that struck me after reading these chapters is how a lot of people - especially non-believers, but sadly even some claiming to believe - would consider such actions on the part of God to be too harsh and evidence that God cannot be a God of love. After all, was Israel not his chosen people? Were they not through whom God was going to reveal the Messiah?
Yet in these chapters, God is very repetitious as to not only what he was angry about, but what he was going to do about it - and what he eventually
did do about it. Therefore, one can only conclude that God had given his people fair warning to repent, i.e. to turn from their idolatry and turn back to Him, the One who lovingly brought them out of the brutality of slavery in the first place.
Other Old Testament books also make it plainly clear that the Israelites as a whole - not just the residents of Jerusalem - had been given much warning about staying away from the things that displeased God at other times in the past. Yet most times the nation as a whole, apart from those few who sought God, would be stubborn and "rebellious", in God's words, would keep on seeking their false gods.
So in light of God's patience and His repeated warnings in the form of the many prophets that He sent to warn his people, was God cruel or were the people simply reaping the consequences of their rebellion, getting their 'just desserts'?
I would argue that true cruelty would have been God striking people down with absolutely no warning whatsoever. This would be akin to a father spanking his child with absolutely no warning whatsoever that the child was repeatedly doing something disrespectful or rebellious that the father was growing more angry about.
Yet because God loves us, He gives us fair warning when we're going astray. But all rebellion must eventually be met with consequences if it continues in the face of constant warnings.
If my children, when they were small, had the bad habit of trying to touch a hot stove element, what should I as a loving father have done? I believe if I was cruel, I would have thought, 'Let them touch the darn thing. At least they'll learn the hard way not to do it the next time.' But as a loving father I would have slapped their hand if I saw it getting too close if my verbal warnings were being ignored. The pain of a slapped hand would have been a better substitute for the pain of a burnt hand.
What I mean by this is that often pain is, unfortunately, a necessary means of correction. We humans are often too stubborn and arrogant to listen to warnings or learn from the mistakes of others, and too prideful to think that we won't repeat any mistakes. As Scripture so rightly states, "Pride comes before destruction, and an arrogant spirit before a fall." (Proverbs 16:18).
Destruction and falls are often quite painful, but I would argue that they never result from a lack of warning. Whether the inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem or you and I in the here and now, God will send many people and situations into our lives to warn us when we're on a bad road, when we're heading toward making a harmful decision. He'll even give us that sense of conviction, that heavy feeling in our heart and mind that really should or shouldn't do this-or-that - that is, unless we've worked hard at suppressing that conviction, or conscience.
It's at that point that we need to make a decision: do we do what our hearts know is right, or do we do things 'our way'? The inhabitants of ancient Jerusalem decided - as repeatedly and clearly stated - to continue to stiff-arm God, and they paid dearly for it. What about you? Is life always about doing things your way, or do you have the sensitivity to be open to what God might have to say, again through using people and situations in your life?
I know that some people reading this might be wondering why we have to be punished in the first place, why we must suffer consequences for rebellion against God. You might be thinking, 'Why should I be punished for not doing something God's way? I thought He gave us free will? If He's a loving God, He'll respect our free will and not punish me for not living according to what the Bible says.'
"Woe to the one who argues with his Maker - one clay pot among many. Does clay say to the one forming it: What are you making? Or does your work say: He has no hands?" (Isaiah 45:9)
If you're a believer and you know that God is your maker, why do you - a clay pot - argue with God? Or why do you keep ignoring the counsel of Scripture and that of the people and situations that God brings your way, out of love with a desire to protect you?
If you're a non-believer, when will you open yourself up to the notion that perhaps you're not the end-all and be-all to existence, that there is something - Someone - greater than the human will and spirit, and that you're actually accountable to Him? How many more times will you try and fail, or strive and find no satisfaction, or suffer pain and loss until you realize that it's just better to acknowledge God and to do things his way, to let Him run your life - to give the steering wheel over to Him?
He's not trying to bring pain and suffering into your life, but He wants to warn and protect you from the consequences of bad decisions. He didn't inspire the 40+ authors of what is now called the Bible to write things to make you miserable and bored and bound by religious tradition; He wrote commandments and rules and laws and guidelines so that things may "go well" with you in this life, and in the life beyond. Out of love, so that you don't have to suffer for an eternity.
But again, there are consequences to decisions to rebel against God. It's just a fact of existence, and whether you believe or not there's simply no getting around it! Because God is your maker, He and He alone has the right to decide what they are, and thus He has the right to decide to bless you for decisions that are in obedience to his word and to punish you for decisions that are made out of stubborn, willful, prolonged rebellion to His word.
Stated bluntly, God made the rules. He decides what's right and wrong. And your decisions affect not just your quality of life here on earth but also your eternity. He made Heaven and Hell, and He decides how a person ends up in either place. If you're upset about all of this, is it worth refusing to accept the rules and suffering the consequences for ever and ever (and ever)? Is "your way" really that important? Remember about pride coming before destruction? Pride sends people to Hell, NOT God. He could have been cruel in this regard, but the loving God has given us the choice of where we end up; we aren't "sent" by Him to either place. Sound like pretty fair rules to me.
If you're still angry with God and think all this is totally unfair, shake your fist all you want, but think about the power and sovereignty of just Who you're shaking it at. And think about whether you'd rather heed His loving warnings now, or face the consequences one day after it's too late to change your mind. Consider this description of what will happen on the day when Jesus judges everyone who has ever lived throughout history. Whose side do YOU want to be on?
"Then I saw a great white throne and One seated on it. Earth and heaven fled from His presence, and no place was found for them. I also saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged according to their works by what was written in the books.
Then the sea gave up its dead, and Death and Hades gave up their dead; all were judged according to their works. Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And anyone not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." (Revelation 20:11-15)
