Both
By Lexi Cole Ellis
The Lord passed
in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh! TheLord! The God of compassion and
mercy! I am slow to anger and filled with unfailing love and
faithfulness. I lavish unfailing love to a thousand generations. I forgive
iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But I do not excuse the guilty. I lay the sins of
the parents upon their children and grandchildren the entire family is affected
- - even children in the third and fourth generations.”
Exodus 34:6-7 (NLT)
Exodus 34:6-7 (NLT)
Two
songs were playing on the radio. As I was switched back and forth between the
two Christian radio stations, one song proclaimed God’s love is like a
waterfall while the other declared God roaring like a lion. The polar opposites made me smile as I envisioned the
imagery… God’s love gushing over like water falling but then God’s power
synonymous with the commanding roar of a lion. Both pictures are accurate from
a theological standpoint.
So if both are true, is there a contradiction? It seems like
it. Or perhaps our minds and our language wrestle with the idea that God can be
both because of the limits of our “human-ness.”
The reality is, without both songs, I miss out if I focus on
one attribute of God because I don’t see the fullness of both (sometimes seemly
incompatible) characteristics. How easy it is to focus on the facets or statements
of God I like, and choose to ignore parts that show the opposite. I like the
parts about strength…but I’d rather ignore the part about serving. I like
verses about receiving…but do I have to see the “both” of giving to receive? [1] In the verse above,
it’s easier to focus exclusively on the compassionate and gracious God, the one
who forgives and loves. Verse seven talks about punishment for the guilty and future
generations’ experiencing the consequences of that sin. Hmmm…not really a fan
of that part. How can God be the God of both?
At the end of the day, that’s where trust and faith comes in.
While I am called into a relationship with God, I am not His equal in
understanding His ways and His attributes. I resonate with what God says in
Isaiah 55:8, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my
ways.” (NIV)
Part of being in an active and growing relationship with God
means that we’re willing to wrestle with the “both’s” that seem
contradictory…and are willing to trust when it doesn’t make sense. I’m thankful
that flipping back and forth between the two songs reminded me to stop ignoring
the parts of Scripture that I don’t naturally cling to and realize that the
“both’s” reveal how incredibly complete God is.
GOING DEEPER:
- What are some of the
characteristics of God that you tend to ignore?
- What parts of God’s “both” in
Scripture do you need to address?
GOING FURTHER:
