God does not Pretend

“He sent the ark of his might into captivity, his splendour into the hands of the enemy.” –Psalm 78:61 NIV

The truth in this verse is strange. That God would support the sending of his holy ark – the symbol of his might and presence in Israel – into captivity. We as humans do not normally act in this way. We work hard to protect our interests and everything that represents our glory, whether they are beneficial or not. We do not ever like to appear as failures.

But God is not like this. God has no problem in doing things that may make him appear as a failure if it would achieve his purposes. He would allow his temple to be desecrated and his ark to be taken captive, if it would help to wake His people up to repentance and restoration to him.

God is never in the business of make-believe. He rejoices in the truth. For He is the TRUTH. God’s glory is manifest in the beauty of holiness. He will have nothing less. He is prepared to tear everything down if it is false and empty, if this would allow him to build up in us something that is true and beautiful. This, right there, is a message to someone wondering why God is allowing such and such in his or her life which may look like a real shame.

There is a way in which we could become so familiar with God, that we would feel that our double life doesn’t matter. I must not ever fool myself into thinking that God would not allow such and such to happen to me, because of  special favour I have with him, or because of his mercies. No, it is because of his mercies and love that he chastens us!

“…. because the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” Hebrews 12:6

He that truly loves God will not take God for granted. No. He walks in reverential fear of the One who loved us so much that he was willing to die for us.