Fighting for you!

What is your view of God?   How do you see Him? Is He more like a friend, or a father, a judge and jury? Do you see Him as distant, or personal?

Yesterday in my church group, we talked about God and the Israelites around Samuel's time.  The discussion was on when the Philistines took the Ark of the Covenant in battle against the Israelites.

Long story short, the Philistines took it and their god fell forward and broke off it's head and hands. Then they got tumors and some died.  They sent the Ark back to Israelites and some of them died because they looked into the Ark.  Which the Israelites knew was against God's commands.

The discussion turned to how God had withdrawn Himself from the Isrealites because they had turned away from Him and were not following God's law and commands. Also, how he killed off the people who looked in the Ark and some of the Philistines. Then the question came up "If God is a loving God and He wants people to be saved why would He do this?"  So it brought into question God's character.

I think as Christians we always fight with this in our head about God.  We want to believe He is loving and kind all the time and never harsh or punishing.  When we consider this story in the Bible, the waters get a little mucky and we don't want think about this side of God. We want Him to stay this sweet loving benevolent father, that never gets mad.

One of the guys in class said "Compare this story to being a parent, and your kid is walking toward a cliff." "What would do?"  These questions started a barrage of comments.  Listening to all this discussion, something just clicked in my head.

It is true, even with my niece and nephew if they are about to do something that is dangerous and they aren't listening, sometimes I raise my voice, or pick them up and remove them from the danger, or remove the thing that they want to get them to listen.  They view me as mean and harsh, but I know that I am doing something to protect them and help them so they don't hurt themselves or others.  What am I doing? I am fighting for them because I love them and I want them to have a good and safe life.

This thought just hit me.  God was fighting for the hearts of His people.  They were not walking but running full throttle into sinful behaviors that were eroding away at their lives. God tried over and over to get their attention but instead they were blinded and only focused on what they wanted at the moment.  God had to get their attention to wake them up to see how destructive they were becoming.  To both them and the Philistines it seemed harsh and mean.  But It was God Fighting for them out of His totally unfailing love for His kids!

The old testament stories sometimes are hard for me to swallow because it seems so ruthless sometimes.  But this helped me see how God has not changed. He is still a God of love.  It makes me see that even when it looks like He is Harsh and uncaring because things aren't going the way I want, that this may be ways that God is trying to fight for me and get my attention to turn my heart to Him.  That He will do everything He can to help me turn from things that destroy me and will in time take me down, even if harsh.  Not because He doesn't love me,  but BECAUSE He loves me!

Just makes me love Him so much more to know He cares that much!  God fights for you too!  Maybe the rough time or the thing you want is not working out, is the very thing God is using to say "Hey you are running toward the cliff! Turn around, Turn to me!"

Isn't it awesome how much God loves us! He will fight to the death to save us!  Guess What? He did that too! There is no end to how much He loves us! Such a good thing to remember when we are going through things that are rough and seem harsh.  He is fighting for you, because He loves you That Much!