For several generations, biblical scholars and preachers taught the Old Testament as the history of God the Judge or God the Avenger. They then presented the New Testament as an account of God the All Merciful. For a long time this theory rang true for many believers because its statements are clear and straightforward. And many passages in the two books do support its principles.  Stories about floods and fires, walls and towers crashing down on people, men thrown into steamy pits all these tumble out of Old Testament pages. In contrast, example upon example of Jesus healing sick children and soothing worried sinners and speaking about forgiveness fill New Testament chapters.

      The notion of Early Angry God and Later Accepting God was also embraced because it fits our preference in reasoning. Either/or thinking is easy. It requires lower brain functioning. Black/white, good/bad, then/now, judge/forgiver - dichotomies are comforting. They help us make quick, lasting decisions and allow us to move on to the next dilemma. And locking God down in a box is certainly reassuring. Getting a handle on the Almighty is no small feat, so a theory that presents God in succinct either/or terms is most appealing. Early on he was strict and exacting, later he sent Christ and now he’s kind and accommodating. 

     Yes, the concept has merit but it is also quite flawed. First of all, God is eternal.  He does not change. God is the opposite of fluctuation. He does not move in the world one way for 1000 years and then change his nature for the next millennium.   And while we might wish otherwise, understanding God requires many brain cells. Wrapping our minds around the Being that surpasses anything we can imagine demands our highest thinking. God is not an either/or proposition. God is the ultimate Both/And.  So God dispenses both perfect justice and perfect mercy. God holds his children accountable and continues to give second, third and fourth chances. This has been his way for all time.

      Why then, you may wonder, do the Holy Scriptures make God look so different in the Old and the New Testament?   Isn’t there a real change in His tone between the 2 books? Well, maybe it’s not God who changed. Maybe it’s His creation that continued to grow and evolve according to the Creator’s design.  The Old Testament is the collected history of a primitive people. The stories record nomadic and tribal living where the first and prime concern is survival. These children of God had no time for philosophy or the “meaning of life.” They needed land and water rights and heirs to continue their lines. They needed rudimentary laws to protect their property and assure some base line sense of order. In their time, they established leadership by might not persuasive ideas. So God revealed himself to a simple people in terms they understood. A list of laws, swift reaction, punishment and regular messengers kept an immature body focused and safe. Later, when his creation grew in intellectual capacity and spiritual maturity, he came to them in other ways. His Son, the perfect teacher replaced haranguing prophets.   The Summary of the Law replaced the 637 ordinances of the Leviticus Code. Metaphors and parables took the place of stone tablets.  God didn’t change, humans grew up. Their ability to reason and speculate, to hold complex ideas expanded so God’s revelation expanded to meet them. 

     But even with a shift in His communication, God was always and ever is His consistent Self. In the new account, in the teachings of Jesus, God still holds his children accountable for their actions. He still places demands upon them for obedience and righteous living. He still insists on faithfulness and loyalty. And in His earlier messages in his interactions recorded in the Old Testament, there are accounts of incredible mercy and deep abiding love.  Consider our Old Testament passage this morning.

     Hosea, a prophet living in the tiny Northern kingdom of Israel in 750 BCE brings his obstinate people this amazing message. For generation upon generation, God has endured a stiff necked, unresponsive people. He’s put up with unrelenting nonsense. Time and again, He's proven His sovereignty through mighty deeds and miracles. God created a Patriarch out of a wandering shepherd. He handed Abraham a dynasty. He gave Moses, the strutterer, voice to free a nation. Using David, God set down an empire in the middle of a dessert. In the miracles of Elijah and Elisha, He demonstrated his power and constancy. And still his children ignored his call. They paid little attention to His plans for them. They are sure that they’re smart enough, experienced enough, mature enough to make their own good decisions. They don’t really need a relationship with God. They’re doing fine on their own. And now God is done! Enough already! Of all the ways they could let their loving creator down; the Israelites have now gone too far. They’ve committed APOSTASY! Apostasy is the one unpardonable sin! It is the act of knowing God, of having experienced His presence in your life and deciding He doesn’t matter. The Israelites, God’s favored people have turned their backs on Him and He’s over them! He is so ready to move on. Just one fraction of a thought, just one flicker of an idea and the entire kingdom can be eradicated forever. Dust in the wind, sand on a dune could be their legacy with just a second of unchecked power.      

     God is soooo tired of their abuse. He’s so weary of their bad decisions.    He just

wants to walk away and let them go to their own disaster! He’s God for God’s sake why should He continue to put up with this nonsense? And yet he does! When every reasonable impulse says, “Forget them, put your energy somewhere where it will be reciprocated and appreciated,” God stays engaged. Despite His long term frustration, He stays in relationship with His worrisome people. 

      Listen to the language God gives Hosea to share with his children. “When Israel was a child, I loved him. I called him my Son but the more I loved him the more he went away from me. He kept giving gifts of worship to other gods. Still, I didn’t leave him. I took him into My arms. He did not recognize that it was I who healed him. I led him with ropes of human kindness and ties of love. I lifted the load from his neck and went down to feed him. He is always turning from Me, but how can I give up on him? My heart will not let me do it. I am the Holy One and I will not come in anger. One day, my Son Israel will come to me. Someday Israel will return. And then I will welcome him back to his home.”

     This is our God.  How incredibly, incredibly fortunate are we? The single entity with enough power to create the universe and time itself and enough power to destroy it all also has this unending patience. Despite our feckless nature and our ridiculous sense of self importance, God doesn’t leave us to our stubbornness and ignorance. God stays committed to us and anticipates the time we’ll return to Him. No matter how we exasperate Him, God doesn’t give up on us.   He doesn’t close the door forever. He doesn’t say a “final” good-bye. He doesn’t do something that will severe our bond and assure our total separation. 

     Better than any of us, God knows what it means to be disappointed in a relationship. 

He knows the pain of being lied to and forgotten, of being dismissed and not listened to. He knows the frustration of seeing trouble ahead and being ignored.  God knows deep down and through and through that loved ones can let you down. Every one of us has someone in our life who we love and who tries our patience beyond reasonable endurance. We have that person (and thanks be to God if it’s only one individual) who we’re tied to by blood or kinship that drives us crazy with worry. It’s our mother or father, our sister or brother, our oldest or youngest child, our spouse, our business partner, our lifelong friend. There’s that person whose behavior shouts out to us, “Run!” “Run away from this pain and this crazy making drama!” Good sense tells us, “Close yourself off.” “Walk away and give up on that strong willed imbecile. 

     But…. If we’re made in the image of God and we’re called to emulate our creator then giving up is not an acceptable option. God says to us, “I know exactly how you feel. You’re sick and tired of putting up with this nonsense and you want to wash your hands of this trouble. But, I didn’t give up on you when you forgot me and refused to put me first in your life, every day, every second of the day. I haven’t left you.   I don’t suppose its okay for you to give up on your person either!

     So what do we do? How do we stay sane and stay in relationship? How do we balance our sense of right, reason and stability with the whims of the “problem” child, whoever that child happens to be? God uses Hosea to give us the answer. Through the words of His prophet, He says, as long as I don’t destroy the relationship, as long as I don’t end it forever, there remains an opening. There exists the possibility for reconciliation. As long as I don’t sever communication and turn my back, reunion is possible. If I don’t blow up the bridge between us, if I don’t say the thing that can never be taken back or if I do say it, if I write the note and say I’m sorry, there is hope! There is alive in the world the possibility of renewed connection between us. If I decide to leave the door open a crack, the other person may one day walk through. God says, "Leave the door unbolted." "Trust the possibility.” 

     Life is short when it comes to making amends. Days pass, opportunities slip by and before we know it, the chances for reconciliation disappear. But life is long for opportunities to change.  The one who disappoints today has tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow to change direction or have a change of heart. God lives for tomorrow. God gives us tomorrow so that it might be the day we finally turn around. As God extends his grace and forbearance to us, can we not offer a little of that love to the one who frustrates us? Can we not hold them in our heart just a little longer and wait and anticipate and hope just as our Father loves and waits and hopes for us?