Victimizing God
“What can I do with you, Ephraim? What can I do with you, Judah? Your love is like the morning mist, like the early dew that disappears.” Hosea 6:4 NIV
What – Victim: a person harmed, injured or killed as a result of a crime, accident or other event; a person who is duped or tricked. In our judicial system there are “victimless” crimes. But there are no victimless crimes in the Tanakh. “Against You and You only have I sinned,” said David. God was the victim, the injured party. And we are no different than David.
“Wait a minute!” you object. “When did my behavior victimize YHVH? When did my actions make Him suffer?” The answer is found in YHVH’s expression through Hosea. When? When your love for Him disappeared like the morning mist.
Ah, but you will say, “That isn’t true of me. I have been faithful to the Lord.” Let’s see.
Some time past I saw the world in terms of what it could offer me. I pursued a course of action that gave me protection, pleasure and comfort. In that process, I involved others. They became instruments in my pursuit. I did not consider the fact that what I was doing was opposed to God’s view. I only thought of myself, what I wanted, what I needed, what I could gain. I didn’t consider myself selfish. I only thought that I was taking care of my needs like any ordinary human being would. But as a result of my use of others to care for myself, I left permanent scars on the lives of these other people—scars from a wound that pointed them away from God. They saw me as man who just was using them to get what he wanted, even if they were somehow complicit in the act. In that act I violated the second great commandment. And now I can’t undo what I did. They are damaged because of me. My refusal to see the world from God’s point of view means that I am accountable for the lives that I turned away from Him. My actions might have been perfectly explainable from my perspective, but my perspective doesn’t count! My sin had consequences far beyond me. I can only pray that somehow God will restore them to His world. But even if God heals those wounds, I am still responsible. And I will have to answer for that.
By treating others as less than what God purposed for their lives I victimized the Lord. I injured Him because I destroyed His purposes. When I violated the second great commandment, my love for the Lord disappeared like the mist. Oh, I still attended church. I still sang the songs and prayed the prayers. But it meant nothing. My actions toward other people spoke of my true spiritual condition. I was an abuser—of others and of God. I took advantage of His grace and let my yetzer ha’ra deal with the rest.
Then one day I came to my senses. I saw that the real world is not the world from my perspective. It is the world from God’s point of view. And I was way out of line.
This change in perspective means nothing in print alone. This change must result in working hard at never making those mistakes again. Today prayer is listening to the Spirit guiding me to think beyond myself, to ask, “What message will I leave with this other person? How will they see God in what I am about to do?” Saying the words of a prayer is easy. Doing a prayer is hard. Especially so when you have nothing to say—and you don’t even want to listen. Then you must pray with your hands and your feet. If you want to know your true spiritual state, pay very close attention to your “victims,” those whom you are about to use to meet your own needs. Change your direction before it is too late. Do it now! Now is the day of salvation. Only you can prevent God from being your next victim.
“What must I do with you?” says the Lord. “How will you ever see what you are doing to Me?” Wake up, o Man. The time is short.
Topical Index: what, victim, love your neighbor, Hosea 6:4
In Psalm 103, the angels bless ADONAI by doing His commandments; hearkening unto the voice of His word. The hosts of His ministers bless Him by doing His pleasure, and all His works bless Him by just being. Just what does it mean to bless Love? I believe to please Love and do what it wants and allow it to work through us IS how we bless Love. What does Love need and want? To love and be loved; to flow through us to others, to Him, and back again. Love flows like a mighty river, gathering the rain that falls in a generous stream on the just and unjust alike and returning it to the boundless Sea of His vastness, there to be swept up into the clouds that are His angels and ministers before His throne to be rained upon us again. To refuse to allow that flow through ourselves, or to impede it through others, is to do the River the worst of injuries. The love of YHVH is tender and pitying, not willing that any should have anything less than the full onslaught of His heart, much less perish!
I can injure His full intention and expression BECAUSE I am designed as a filament of His web; a carrier of His fullness, and, like a break in an electrical current, or a hole in the dike, I can bleed Him dry in my corner of the universe. With the power of my will, I can choose to block Love in such a way that the entire universe is impacted. If the entire kosmos got ruined by one man’s sin in such a way that the Cross had to happen to put it back to rights, then what is my will impacting? Just how powerful are the wills of we who are created in the image of Him Whose will is love? How important are my prayers, and what do they release back into that kosmos, and who can measure the impact of each and every little intent and gesture of the heart? We are all guilty! Skip has lots and lots of company in his misery! Me, too! I am miserable too when I am not blessing Him by willing myself to be a full channel of His grace to a parched and thirsty land. It’s true: I am either a part of the problem or the solution! I am either making the kosmos thirstier, or it is freely raining over here in my corner. Forget those fingers in the dike! What the world needs from me is to open the floodgates and let it pour! Halleluah! Bless the LORD!
this runs closely to my pondering lately; asking God and myself is what I am doing worth dieing for & every person that meets me would they be ” dieing ” to meet me again, am I impacting others for God & His glory & ….Am I choosing rightness to be impacted by His glory ………..?
Skip…You said, “My sin had consequences far beyond me. I can only pray that somehow God will restore them to His world. But even if God heals those wounds, I am still responsible. And I will have to answer for that.”
I wonder if your heightened awareness & acknowledgment of how you hurt others is God’s way of having you “answer” for your choices while here on earth. You live with that reality everyday, as all of us do who finally see the light. Will He still expect you “answer” for the hurt you caused others when you’ve spent so much time on earth agonizing, repenting, apologizing and trying to make amends? Perhaps He will just let you have a good cry for the things that couldn’t be fixed. Or, perhaps He will say…”Great job Skipper. You finally opened your ears and listened…you obeyed. Stop crying…ya done good!!! 🙂
Thanks Judi. But I wonder if this will be enough. The prophets were allowed to feel the heart of God and it nearly killed them. Maybe we have just numbed ourselves to reality. I think John knows what I mean. It is time to strip away the pretenses and excuses and feel the shattering blows of our arrogance. Then we will know how to love.
Every single word of this applies to me in spades. Every single one. I worry about the “consequences far beyond me.”
Yes, Rusty, same here – GUILTY AS CHARGED! What else could I possibly plea? Maybe for His mercy, His unfailing loving kindness (Hesed)? O Father, please heal the wounds – for Your Name’s sake!
I think it’s important to note that those people in the Bible who also felt this never pleaded on the basis of their own merit OR their guilt. They pleaded on the basis of His covenant faithfulness (“for Your name’s sake). That is what we have. That is all that we have.
Wow, Skip, that one was a zinger, I’m convicted! Repentance needed.
Skip, THIS IS SO TRUE, I would like to share this with my Spanish sisters and brothers, and also with friends that do not speak the language.
I need to get them in Spanish. Its there anyway?
Shalom
Been there done that big time! I’m afraid I still do.
Turning it around is like turning a half mile long train 180.
It takes a long time with tremendous continual effort and a lot of space.
OUCH!! Thank you! This is going to be formatted into our business’ vision or mission statement. I, too, need to repent, so convicted! And now more accountable as well. I am awakened! “Those whom I dearly and tenderly love, I tell their faults and convict and convince and reprove and chasten, I discipline and instruct them. So be enthusiastic and in earnest and burning with zeal and repent!” Revelation 3:19 (Amplified)
“Today prayer is listening to the Spirit guiding me to think beyond myself, to ask, ‘What message will I leave with this other person? How will they see God in what I am about to do?’ ”
Wow — a MOST excellent tool for measurement. Thank you.
All Things Considered
Love serves, and God is Love. God, (amazingly) humbled Himself and became the Servant. And He demonstrated this “service,” tHis Love to us. The “how to” of living and of sacrificial giving. Be the Servant. ~ Let ‘this Mind” be in you which also was in Christ Jesus ~ This is the heart of the matter and that heart is a Servant’s heart. ~ Serve one another in love ~
All of us are left with (basically) two choices. By our own free will we may either serve “self” or the Savior. Is it all about me? Is it? A man all wrapped up in himself makes a mighty small package.
J-esus, O-thers and Y-ou still is and forever will be the way to spell J-O-Y. Let all things be done decently and in order? God is first. First, love the LORD (your God) with all your heart-soul-mind-and strength! Who is #1? Who tops the list? Is it me? (or you or him or her?) or is it the One who we know as LORD?
There are those among us who absolutely (amazingly) refuse to realize or to recognize “He IS LORD.” Yes, the Lordship of the resurrected and now reigning Christ. He is (both) Savior (the One who delivers) and LORD, – the One to whom (are we listening?) –
“ALL authority has been given!!” [both] in Heaven and here upon this green planet. He is (are we listening?) – “LORD of all!!”
LORD of every situation and circumstance. LORD of (both) the living and of the dead. Who are the “dead ones?” All who are not “in Christ .” ~ Straight is the gate and narrow is the Way which leads unto Life ~ He is the “gate” (or the Door) and He is also the Way and the Life!! Oh, to be “Christ-centered.”
If we are not “Christ-centered,” then we are “off-centered” or Eccentric! – and to be “self-centered” or egocentric is to be eccentric. ~ He is before all things and by Him all things consist ~
So tell me please..” this day”- whom will you serve? Self? or the Savior? ~ As for me and my house? ~ We will (our choice will be) serve the LORD ~ Practically, how is this accomplished? – by serving others, -just as He did. ~ He went about doing good~ If you don’t love your neighbor, then you don’t love God! ~For the end of the commandment is? Love out of a pure heart, and of a genuine faith.
Such a good TW. Question- are we the victim, or are we the victimizer?
What we do to others we do to YHWH!
We often think of ourselves as victims rather than being the victimizer, when all we ever consider is meeting MY own needs, what others should do for ME, according to MY perspective, and how I feel. Are we so out of line?! This reveals our true spiritual state.
“My actions might have been perfectly explainable from my perspective but my perspective doesn’t count!” for the reason that others have needs and feelings that ought to be respected too.
“It is the world from God’s point of view.” Amein!
Thank you, Skip, this TW is brilliant.