MrsDrPoe: A Caricature of God

It's another Theology Thursday on the blog, and as always, I invite you to open your Bibles with me as we look at another portion of God's Word.

As I mentioned last week, I'm currently in a class on the Judges.  While studying about Gideon a few lessons ago, a verse in the sixth chapter of the book got me to thinking:

v.13 - Gideon said to Him, "O my lord, if the LORD is with us, why then has all this happened to us?  And where are all His miracles which our fathers told us about, saying, 'Did not the LORD bring us up from Egypt?' But now the LORD has forsaken us and delivered us into the hands of the Midianites."

In this verse (emphasis mine), it seems like the children of Israel were teaching their children something about the Lord, but it seems like they were only teaching of the Lord's power and might- of the plagues that allowed the nation to leave Egypt.  These parents have apparently neglected, however, to teach their children about the law of the Lord and the fact that He is a just God who judges righteously.  Hence they are in the situation they are in- under subjection to the Midianites because they neglected to follow the way of the Lord.


While it could be argued that 'something is better than nothing,' it is very important for us to not only have a full picture of God in our own minds but to also teach that full picture of God to our children.  God IS NOT the nice old grandfather who only loves and that sweeps all of our sins under the rug.  As we see from His dealings with the children of Israel, those who do not follow God's law will be punished in one way or another.  God IS loving and merciful; although the children of Israel don't 'deserve' it, He sends them deliverance when they repent.


We must avoid caricatures of God that emphasize one or more of His 'more desirable' qualities while neglecting the others; we must see and teach the full person of God, even if we can't understand how justice, righteousness, mercy, power, love, etc. can all perfectly coexist.