God Needs to Lighten Up!

Ever been reading in the Old Testament and come across a story that made you question God's mercy? Stories like these:

• 2 Samuel 6 - A poor sap named Uzzah (what a handle!) is struck dead by God for inadvertently touching the ark of the covenant
• Genesis 19 - Lot's wife looks back to see Sodom & Gomorrah being destroyed and is turned into a pillar of salt
• Numbers 15 - Some schlub is stoned to death for innocently gathering sticks on the Sabbath
• Leviticus 10 - Two of Aaron's sons are struck down by God because they used the wrong type of fire before The Lord in the Tabernacle

Lot's wife being turned into a pillar of salt.

We read these and think, "Well, that seems a bit harsh, maybe God should lighten up!" The problem as David Platt explains in his book Follow Me is that our perspective on sin is incorrect. "We naturally view sin through man-centered eyes." Instead of seeing this as an offenses against an infinitely holy and eternal God, we see them as innocent mistakes by people just like us. Our real problem is that we value humanity, code for ourselves, much higher than we value God.

The penalty for any transgression is not determined so much by the nature of the act as much as who the act is committed against. Platt writes, "If you sin against a log, you are not very guilty. On the other hand, if you sin against a man or a woman, then you are absolutely guilty. And ultimately, if you sin against an infinitely holy and eternal God, you are infinitely guilty and worthy of eternal punishment."

So the issue isn't God needing to lighten up, the real issue is us needing to take sin and God's holiness much more seriously than we do. We don't need to apologize for God defending His holiness. We need to apologize for defending our sinfulness.

Here's a link to purchase a copy of Follow Me by David Platt.

http://www.amazon.com/Follow-Me-Call-Die-Live/dp/1414373287/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1367947760&sr=1-1&keywords=follow+me