He's Not a Tame Lion

That is one of the greatest quotes from The Chronicles of Narnia: the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. It is spoken of the lion, Aslan, who represents Jesus.

The wildness of God has really appeared to me as we have been studying the book of Judges in our Bible class. Try looking for it...it's quite clear. God loves the children of Israel, wanting to give them the best, and is their best friend. But time and again the people sin and God becomes their worst enemy.

The words of the Angel of the Lord in chapter two are especially telling:

...you have not obeyed m voice. What is this you have done? So now I say, I will not drive them out before you, but they shall becomes thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you (2:2-3, ESV).

This is certainly not limited to the time of the Judges, by any means. I came across a remarkable passage in Isaiah:

I will recount the steadfast love of the Lord...and the great goodness to the house of Israel...for he said, "Surely they are my people, children who will not deal falsely." And he became their Savior. In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them...but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit; therefore he turned to be their enemy, and himself fought against them. 

 It's quite amazing. God's love was abundant, but their rebellion turned him into their enemy.

My friend John has three children. He's a great dad, in my opinion. He shows affection and there is no doubt his children know their dad loves them, but he is also quite strict. I recently asked him about how he found this balance. I can't quote him (and he said it much better than I will recall), but he said he looks at his relationship to his children like our relationship to God. He wants to be their friend and have fun with them, but if they want to know the joy of their father, they have to obey him. Otherwise, he is not their friend.

I don't know about you, but I thought that was pretty awesome. What a great philosophy.

Our heavenly Father isn't safe. Jesus certainly isn't safe either (try reading Revelation--a guy with fiery eyes, iron feet for crushing his enemies, and a sword coming out of his mouth isn't a guy to be taken lightly). But He is good. And he wants to have a good relationship with us, but he leaves the ball in our court.