'That Vengeful God of the Old Testament'

I've been reading Jeremiah. I love the major prophets. And I love how the Word can be new to you even when you've read it MANY times before. I know I've read Jeremiah 5:1 several times, but when I read it Friday, it was like I'd never read it before. It says, "Roam to and fro through the streets of Jerusalem, And look now and take note And seek in her open squares, If you can find a man, If there is one who does justice, who seeks truth, Then I will pardon her." Does this remind you of anything? Well, it never did with me before, but Friday it SO reminded me of when Abraham was discussing the overthrow of Sodom with the LORD. In Genesis 18:26, the LORD said, "If I find in Sodom fifty righteous within the city, then I will spare the whole place on their account."

How often do believers and unbelievers alike hear these accounts and refer to 'the God of the Old Testament' as a vengeful God Who is full of wrath? PUH-LEASE!!! In the Genesis account, it's a city full of extremely wicked unbelievers, with the exception of 'righteous Lot' and maybe his family. So God, Who has a RIGHT to judge wickedness (do we believe that?) is willing to spare 'the whole place' if He can find fifty righteous within the city! The stakes are a little higher here than in the Jeremiah account, but in Jeremiah, He is dealing with those who profess to know Him. So, for them, He is only requiring ONE! Instead of judging God as One Who is vengeful, why don't we focus on His willingness to spare ALL of them if ONLY ONE does justice and seeks truth? Is this too much for God to ask? Could this possibly be a reference to the 'only One' Who did justice and sought truth as He walked in an earthly body?

Jeremiah goes on to intercede for the people of Jerusalem and God recounts their many sins and their unfaithfulness to Him. He reminds Jeremiah of how they have willingly embraced the lies the prophets have told them and even says in verse 11, "For the house of Israel and the house of Judah Have dealt very treacherously with Me." Now when someone we love deals treacherously with US, we are quick to protest and tell everyone in earshot how we've been wronged! But when we wrong the Lord, well...that's another story, isn't it? He'll forgive us because Jesus came to die for all our sins, right? No big deal. ooohhh...we put a different standard up for ourselves, don't we? We care either nothing or very little about His feelings or even His right that we live righteously! We're quick to call Him vengeful, when, in fact, He's waited for a very long time on these people (both accounts and many more) to repent. Even with the Canaanites, Joshua and Caleb reported to the Israelites after spying out the land, "Their protection has been removed from them." (Numbers 14:9) This was after how many years of wickedness on their part? God gave the land of Canaan to the Israelites because He was TAKING IT AWAY from the Canaanites due to their great wickedness.

Let us be quicker to remember this about our great and loving Lord: "Therefore the LORD longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you For the LORD is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him." per Isaiah 30:18. May we teach ourselves to long for Him instead of accusing Him.