Saturday... But isn't He mean?

I was talking to a person this week and they said, they like to read in the Bible about Jesus but they didn't like to read about the mean God. And so many have that opinion of God.

Now I love the Old Testament. It is not, I believe, the story of a mean God but the story about a loving God who was doing all He could to bring His creation back to Him and to His plan. He showed what it meant to be obedient and the consequences of being disobedient.

I know what it is like as a father and a grandfather when out of love I have to correct my children. Yes correction can hurt them and hurt me but handling disobedience is a loving thing. It will make all the difference.

Now Psalm 118:28-29 (AMP) says, "You are my God, and I give thanks to You; [You are] my God and I extol You. O give thanks to the Lord, for He is good; For His lovingkindness endures forever."

Now the book of Leviticus in the OT is a book of a whole lot of laws that God gave to His people. There are a lot of them that are about what we should and shouldn't eat. Now some have studied those laws and have come to the conclusion that if we would have followed them then there would be no diseases. Those laws were there to protect us not to limit us. They were there not because He was mean but because of His love. He was striving to keep us from the consequences to us at doing and eating what we wanted. And our disobedience brought about the diseases that plague our world. The laws were there for our good not for our harm. God did not bring disease our disobedience did.

Now over in Matthew 4 it tells of how Jesus before He started His preaching ministry had to go through a time of temptation by Satan. God, His Father allowed it because He loved Him. He allowed it for His good and as an example for us. God is not a mean God He is a loving Father.

And also out of His love for those who are obedient to Him He must bring consequences and punishment to those who are disobedient. His love gives us a choice.

Psalm 118:1 (NLT) says, "Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good! His faithful love endures forever." Yes, yes! #todaysbeginning

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Todays Beginning

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