The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him in Hosea 12:14,
"Ephraim has bitterly provoked him [the Lord] to anger; his Lord will leave upon him the guilt of his bloodshed and will repay him for his contempt."
Israel had turned from God, rejecting him, "The land is guilty of the vilest adultery in departing from the Lord." Hosea 1:2. The resulting and inevitable decline as a nation into increasing sin and wickedness is clearly evidenced by the Lord's indictment of the Israelites. He will repay Israel for their guilt of bloodshed and contempt.
What is clear here is that God is no mere ethical principle or standard to live up to. He is a real person with real feelings, and as seen here, a passionate person at that. The sin of the Israelites has "bitterly provoked him to anger". God is not pictured here as a judge at his bench dispensing justice in some impersonal, untouched manner. He reveals himself as intimate as the husband of a wayward and unfaithful wife. He has been provoked to anger, "bitterly".
I often think of God in terms of bright bold colors, not soft pastels, in the overwhelming booming intensity of an horrific thunderstorm, not in the soft flutter of humming birds. I see him in an intensity that we all might find impossible to survive were we subjected to it at too close a proximity. I don't mean to say that I don't see him nudging us in the tenderness of his love and affection, just that that love and affection comes from one who loves immeasurably and intensely, the dimensions of which we struggle to wrap our minds around (see Ephesians 3:17-19.) Whether it be his justice or his love, it is frightful or overwhelming to behold. Here in Hosea he has not simply been angered. In his great passion, God has been bitterly provoked to anger. While this speaks of the degree to which the Israelites sinned, it certainly speaks of the intensity of his anger.
I am mindful that God does not only get angered, he also loves, both of which I see as expressions of his heart in an intensity or a level of passion that surpasses my comprehension. He has revealed other passions of his in Scripture as well, for instance we are told in James 4:5 that he "envies intensely". Additionally, he has also revealed to us these passions of his collide with one another from time to time. In the midst of his proclamation of his judgment upon Israel he says, "How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboiim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused."
We live in a world that is removed and estranged from God. We don't see him today as we will one day. In the absence of that view, I want to ensure my impression of God, of his personality, is shaped by what he has revealed to us through the Scriptures. One thing is clear to me: he has passion I can scarcely conceive. The cross of Jesus Christ is the great expression of this. At the cross of Jesus Christ I see both the expression of God's passionate wrath as he visits his horrific punishment upon the Son of his love as well as his passionate love for all mankind by sending his Son to pay the penalty for our sins.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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