Zephaniah 2

I've heard unbelievers say that one of the reasons they don't buy into God is His Old Testament gruesomeness and vengefulness. This chapter even says terrifying. The more I come to know God, the bigger and more complex and incomprehensible He gets. In our little brains, things that are opposites cannot co-exist. I mean, God can't be both terrible and merciful can He? I think yes. I think God is a lot more and than or. I think His nature is so beyond our labels and definitions of fair and true and right. God is love. I know that from personal experience. But it's OK with me for Him to also require vengeance. We think we know what justice is, but our earthly systems are nothing if not based on His immutable laws.

So many things in the Bible that we read about God's doings seem irrational or even flat out mean. But we cannot contain God with our feeble words. I think that's why He said to call Him, I Am. He just Is. He's all of it. He's everything all rolled into One. He created everything for His good pleasure and He holds everything together. Let us worship Him as He Is without trying to rewrite stories like this. Let us stand in awe of His judgement while confidently relying on His mercy.