Is God Cruel?
“The right response is No! No! God is not cruel. He is never mean or evil. But even is you say or just think He is, it’s all right. It’s all right only because for now you are blind to the truth of who our Covenant God really is. So listen.” (Arthur, 27)
God is not cruel, but is He loving? Can I understand his love? The whole world seems to be stumbling around in the darkness. I have so many questions, but nobody seems to have answers, or at least the answers I want. Some people talk about God’s love triumphing over all this darkness. They say He is in control, and that He protects his people from harm. But honestly- I don’t see it. Sometimes I just think that this faith is weakness in me. Just another crutch I have to cling to try and preserve my sanity. I need to believe in there is hope, because I am too weak to face the truth that this world is only going to get worse.
God,
I want to believe you exist, I want to believe you are good, I want to believe that you love and save and heal; but maybe in all this wanting for goodness to be real, I have made up a God of my own. I have felt emotional highs, and I have seen what I thought were miracles, but I have also seen children stricken with poverty and disease, homes torn apart by abuse, my own friends cry out for a savior and then turn away because the really believe that no one could ever care for them. I can not dismiss the things that I have seen and all the images cause me to question. Who are you?
Possible origins of the word Beriyth:
❏ derived from the Hebrew, barah:meaning to cut.
❏ derived from the Assyrian word, burru: meaning to bind
❏ derived from the Akkadian word, birtu: meaning a fetter.
The binding act in the word fetter seems very appropriate to describe the act of cutting covenant. God made a promise and bound himself to sinful man, because of his love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (verses 2&3)
I have always loved this hymn because of how it talks about Jesus seeking us out while we were wandering, and I relate well to the wanderers of this world. I feel like I have so little security. In reading this last chapter I have realized how much the hymn is about covenant. It talks about raising an Ebenezer, a “point of no return, which is a reference to a covenant Samuel made (1 Samuel 7:12.) It talks about how Christ’s blood was interposed for mankind in the new covenant so that believers can be in relationship with God (Hebrews 9:14.) Finally it addresses the choice we each must make about whether or not we want to enter into the covenant, imploring God to “Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.” Many months that has been my prayer, because the deeper I look into my heart the more I realize that I am indeed “prone to wander,” and am so in need of God.
God is not cruel, but is He loving? Can I understand his love? The whole world seems to be stumbling around in the darkness. I have so many questions, but nobody seems to have answers, or at least the answers I want. Some people talk about God’s love triumphing over all this darkness. They say He is in control, and that He protects his people from harm. But honestly- I don’t see it. Sometimes I just think that this faith is weakness in me. Just another crutch I have to cling to try and preserve my sanity. I need to believe in there is hope, because I am too weak to face the truth that this world is only going to get worse.
God,
I want to believe you exist, I want to believe you are good, I want to believe that you love and save and heal; but maybe in all this wanting for goodness to be real, I have made up a God of my own. I have felt emotional highs, and I have seen what I thought were miracles, but I have also seen children stricken with poverty and disease, homes torn apart by abuse, my own friends cry out for a savior and then turn away because the really believe that no one could ever care for them. I can not dismiss the things that I have seen and all the images cause me to question. Who are you?
Possible origins of the word Beriyth:
❏ derived from the Hebrew, barah:meaning to cut.
❏ derived from the Assyrian word, burru: meaning to bind
❏ derived from the Akkadian word, birtu: meaning a fetter.
The binding act in the word fetter seems very appropriate to describe the act of cutting covenant. God made a promise and bound himself to sinful man, because of his love.
Here I raise my Ebenezer;
Here by Thy great help I’’ve come;
And I hope, by Thy good pleasure,
Safely to arrive at home.
Jesus sought me when a stranger,
Wandering from the fold of God;
He, to rescue me from danger,
Interposed His precious blood.
O to grace how great a debtor
Daily I’’m constrained to be!
Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,
Bind my wandering heart to Thee.
Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it,
Prone to leave the God I love;
Here’’s my heart, O take and seal it,
Seal it for Thy courts above.
Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing (verses 2&3)
I have always loved this hymn because of how it talks about Jesus seeking us out while we were wandering, and I relate well to the wanderers of this world. I feel like I have so little security. In reading this last chapter I have realized how much the hymn is about covenant. It talks about raising an Ebenezer, a “point of no return, which is a reference to a covenant Samuel made (1 Samuel 7:12.) It talks about how Christ’s blood was interposed for mankind in the new covenant so that believers can be in relationship with God (Hebrews 9:14.) Finally it addresses the choice we each must make about whether or not we want to enter into the covenant, imploring God to “Let Thy goodness like a fetter, bind my wandering heart to thee.” Many months that has been my prayer, because the deeper I look into my heart the more I realize that I am indeed “prone to wander,” and am so in need of God.