,,, the text for June 5, 2020

During all their distress it was distressing to him. - Isa. 63:9

The "him" in this scripture is Jehovah, Himself. The comments for today say this:

Jehovah does more than just feel compassion for his servants who suffer.

When something you witness distresses you, you want to take action, some step to relieve the affliction. Jehovah is the same way. The comments point out how He heard the outcries and witnesses the suffereing of the Israelites under Egyptian slavery. (Ex. 3:7, 8)

He is our empathetic Father, the One who understands us. He is aware of what goes on, how we are treated by others. What a wonderful God!

Many paint Him as unknowable, distant, out of reach of us, but through the pages of the Bible, He proves otherwise. Judges is probably one of my favorite books to read, and there will be many posts about it.

Why do I like it? Because it describes how the nation of  Israel enjoyed blessings from Jehovah, then they sin against Him by following other gods. He withdraws his protection, and they suffer at the hands of other nations oppressing them. They cry out to Jehovah, repent of their wrong ways, and Jehovah forgives them, sending judges to save his people.

The funny thing is, it's a cycle of sorts. Everything is great, then they got sloppy in their worship, things go bad, they feel bad and repent, Jehovah forgives and helps, then the cycle repeats itself. Can't they just figure out that doing good is the best course.

But no, they're imperfect, so they make the same mistake over and over, never really learning it. But, the book of Judges shows Jehovah's ability to forgive and to show real compassion for his imperfect servants, even when they're repeat offenders. But His patience does run out. When Jesus was put to death, he gave up on the Israelites completely, establishing a covenant with a spiritual Israel.

Isn't that the same today? Yes. For me, I have repeated my mistakes only to experience pain, then I realize that Jehovah is the One to worship in truth. So, I change.

But, I change. I try to change. I make the effort to change. I'm not perfect, and it's a long road for me. But, that's the key. We read about Jehovah's mercy and forgiveness, but there is a point. It's not limitless. It's important to try to change. Jehovah does appreciate the effort we make in that regard, and he will provide the help necessary for us to be successful. And many are successful! (1 Cor. 6:9, 10) Believing that He will accept us for who we are is wrong thinking, because the scriptures indicate otherwise, that we have to "strip off  the old personality" (Col. 3:9) That brings to mind a person taking paint off of an automobile's fender. The paint is removed all the way to the bare metal, the imperfections and blemishes are repaired (sanded down, a new piece of metal welded in), then a new coat of paint is applied. This must be done, otherwise the new paint on top of the old paint will reveal imperfections and will not adhere. Eventually, it flakes off. So, we're taught to completely remove it. Eph. 4:22 says to "put away the old personality that conforms to your former course of conduct". It's not easy, but it needs to be done.

You can succeed in doing so. Our empathetic Father feels for us, understands us, knows everything about us, and will truly help us in his compassion that moves Him to action on our behalf.

... cruelty

"With your past, no one will ever love you." Could you imagine Jehovah or Jesus uttering those words? Thankfully, you couldn't. They would never say that in a million years.

Huymans, on the other hand, have demonstrated an amazing capacity to be cruel to one another, with they way they talked to those they're supposed to love; to think of and create fiendish means of torture; to develop and maintain weapons of mass destruction. We this profound ability to do the worst things.

We create gods to worship that are like us, cruel, vindictive, heartless, angry, demanding, control freaks, and dictators.

How does Jehovah feel about that? In Genesis 6, he said that the earth was ruined because of the way people were. (Gen. 6:11) That's why he brought the flood. He promised he won't use water to kill the wicked (Gen. 9:11), but He has other things at his disposal. The world today is even worse than in Noah's ;time. As a whole, the wicked today have made up for the lack of the Nephilim. Jehovah will definitely clean his once again ruined earth.

Many paint Jehovah as a heartless God, ready to punish and destory. They imagine that He created Hell for us to fear Him and bow to his control. That's exactly how some treat others, they create fear in order to dominate. They try to create a sense of inferiority in others in order to dominate and to treat with disdain and cruelty, as if they're more important.

In ages long ago, there were those who sacrificed their firstborn children by fire. How did Jehovah feel about that? Did he accept such sacrifices? He says in Jer. 7:31: "...something that I had not commanded and that had never even come into my heart" So, how could Jehovah even dream of an eternal place of torment for sinners on earth? Impossible. So, it's obvious man dreamt it up.

We must endure the cruelty and dominance of others. But, the day will come when such diabolical actions and thoughts will be done away with, when Jehovah gives Jesus the signal. I look forward to that day!