Chapter 12b

Some readers may wonder why I have not yet put up a poll on where we should go next. I crave your indulgence – since we’re heading into the Old Testament again, the next book will be one of the Poetry books. And I have made my OWN choice here (Don’t worry, you may torture me again when we head back into the NT!) – we’ll be looking at the book of Proverbs next!

Also, my internet has been really erratic over the last couple of days. My apologies if today’s commentary doesn’t reach you until tomorrow or some such.

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As I said I would yesterday, I’m spinning chapter 12 into two devos. This is because verses 16 – 29 are simply too good to miss out on.

Mick is continuing to spin out the differences between the old covenant and the new covenant. And he comes now to what is perhaps the most striking difference between the two.

It’s this: For the people of Israel, God was a figure of fear. A loving figure of fear, to be sure, and one who promised them much; but the relationship was succinctly spelled out: “I shall be their God, and they shall be my people.”

For the Christian, this can still be said; but it has a totally different meaning, because the relationship between a God and His people means something different to us. To us, rather than that aloof and slightly terrifying figure, God has allowed Himself to become like us, and therefore we have been given the privilege of knowing God translated into our terms. Jesus was fully God, but he was also a human, with human flesh and frailties. So whereas God had always been slightly alien to us, in Christ He becomes completely understandable for the first time.

The contrast is between awe and intimacy; between fear and love.

Note that once again He was still the same God. People could still experience intimacy with Him if they knew where to look. And today, He is still awesome in His power and glory.

What is the difference?

An oft-repeated story: When John F. Kennedy was president of the USA, he was in charge of that country at the zenith of its power. He was in charge of perhaps the most impressive nuclear arsenal the world has ever seen (we know now that the Russians never had sufficient weapons to equal the Americans).

In short, if you were the representative of a country that didn’t get on well with the USA, he was terrifying.

But at that time there was a small boy who used to sit on his lap in the Oval Office, who was able to gain access to the President at any time. His son, JFK jr, had intimacy with this man, even though he was a potentate with the ability to destroy entire nations.

The difference between intimacy and awe being the primary feeling about him depended on who you were. Similarly, the situation with us and God is analogous.

Under the old covenant, we were representatives of a country treating with an angry feudal lord. For us, God was being merciful not to simply stomp us flat.

Under the new covenant, God has adopted us as sons. We now have the right to interrupt His meeting, throw ourselves into His lap, and demand that he looks at the grubby snail shell we found in the backyard. And (amazing though it may sound), He loves that! He would rather sit and chat to His little kid than run the Universe!

(He can do both at once, in case you’re wondering . . .)

Mick doesn’t want us taking this God for granted. In verses 25 – 27, he reminds us that God still can shake the Earth if He wants to. In fact, He will one day give the Earth one last shaking.

But once that has happened, God will set up the final, UNSHAKEABLE kingdom – the kingdom that will never be destroyed.

Where is this important to us? It’s important because we often treat God differently from the way He wants to be treated. We think that God’s not interested in discussing the day’s events – somehow those events are too “mundane” to interest Him.

Where we go wrong is forgetting two things.

1) God is DADDY. He wants us to be sitting in His lap telling Him about all the things we saw today!
2) God isn’t limited as we are. He isn’t fixed in one spot in time. He therefore “always has time” for us – time isn’t a limiter for Him.

Don’t ever say to yourself that “this is too little a thing to bother God about.” God wants to be bothered!