Things About God I Didn't Understand
When God Wakes Up: Rediscovering the Wildness of a God Who Loves Without Limits
There is a passage tucked away in Psalms that most people skip right over. It describes God waking up like a warrior overcome with wine, driving back his enemies with devastating, unstoppable force. It is a jarring image. It does not fit neatly on a coffee mug or a motivational poster. And that is precisely why it matters so much right now.
We have spent a long time trying to make God manageable. Somewhere along the way, the church began presenting a version of God that was approachable to the point of being toothless, agreeable to the point of being powerless, and loving to the point of being permissive. And in doing so, we did not make God more attractive. We made him smaller. We made him less true.
The God of Scripture is not small.
Two Revelations That Cannot Be Separated
Throughout history, great spiritual awakenings have carried one of two distinct revelations. The first is the awesomeness of God, his holiness, his severity, his power so far beyond human comprehension that standing before him produces something the Bible simply calls fear. The second is the love of God, that wild, inexhaustible, relentless love that pursued humanity all the way to a cross.
Here is what is critical to understand: these two revelations are not in conflict. They are inseparable. You cannot truly grasp the love of God until you understand what that love has saved you from. And you cannot properly fear God until you understand that his severity is itself an expression of his love.
Romans 11:22 puts it plainly, instructing believers to consider both the goodness and the severity of God. Not one or the other. Both. A gospel that only preaches goodness without severity produces something dangerously close to spiritual entitlement. A message that only preaches severity without love produces crushing legalism. The full truth holds both in tension, and it is in that tension where genuine transformation happens.
A Wild Man Who Is Wildly in Love With You
Consider what it means that God's ways are described as being as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). His actions can appear disruptive, even scandalous, to the educated and the comfortable. He moves with a unilateral authority that requires the permission of no one. He refuses to conform to human systems or expectations. And because of this, he is frequently misunderstood.
But here is the breathtaking truth underneath all of that wildness: he is driven by love. A crazy, voracious, unfathomable love for ordinary people. The same God whose presence caused ancient warriors to fall on their faces is the same God who makes his intimate home inside human hearts by his Holy Spirit. Both of those things are simultaneously true.
This means you will never be entirely safe with God, but you will always be taken care of. He is not a God you can domesticate or predict. He is a God you trust completely, because he is good, and because his goodness operates from the perspective of eternity rather than the perspective of your immediate comfort.
The Danger of a Comfortable Gospel
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-26 that anyone who wants to follow him must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow. He said that whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for his sake will find it. These are not gentle suggestions. They are the terms of discipleship.
When the church softens those terms, something quietly breaks. A generation rises up that has accepted Jesus as a transaction rather than embraced him as Lord. People show up expecting God to serve their agenda rather than surrendering to his. And the result is a Christianity that looks increasingly indistinguishable from the culture around it, one that has traded the cross for comfort and called it grace.
Real grace is not permission to stay the same. Real grace is the power to become something entirely different.
Remember Lot's Wife
There is an urgency in this moment that the church cannot afford to miss. The book of Jude describes some who must be pulled from the fire. There is a sense right now that we are living in a time that demands exactly that kind of urgent, fearless intervention.
But here is the sobering reality: Lot's wife was part of a righteous household. She knew the truth. She had access to the same warnings her family received. And yet she looked back. She was compromised by her attachment to what she was leaving behind. And it cost her everything.
The open doors that compromise believers today do not always look like obvious rebellion. They look like habits. Compulsions. Entertainment choices. Private patterns that seem harmless but slowly erode the spiritual sensitivity that makes someone ready for what God is doing. The warning of Lot's wife is not for the obviously rebellious. It is for people who know better and are choosing comfort anyway.
What Is Coming Requires What You Have Left Behind
The book of Joel describes a moment when God pours out his Spirit upon all flesh, when sons and daughters prophesy, when the young see visions and the old dream dreams (Joel 2:28). That promise is not just a historical footnote. It is a horizon the church is approaching.
But the people who will be ready for that outpouring are the ones who chose consecration before it was required of them. The ones who shut the doors the enemy was using. The ones who stopped watching what was slowly deadening their spirit. The ones who said yes to God when it was inconvenient, uncomfortable, and even dangerous.
The gates of hell are not supposed to hold. Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18 that they will not prevail against his church. But that promise belongs to a church that is actually advancing, not one that is retreating into safety and calling it wisdom.
God is not trying to catch up to darkness. He is never behind. He is always ahead, always moving, always calling his people forward into something they could not have planned or predicted on their own.
The only question is whether we will follow.
There is a passage tucked away in Psalms that most people skip right over. It describes God waking up like a warrior overcome with wine, driving back his enemies with devastating, unstoppable force. It is a jarring image. It does not fit neatly on a coffee mug or a motivational poster. And that is precisely why it matters so much right now.
We have spent a long time trying to make God manageable. Somewhere along the way, the church began presenting a version of God that was approachable to the point of being toothless, agreeable to the point of being powerless, and loving to the point of being permissive. And in doing so, we did not make God more attractive. We made him smaller. We made him less true.
The God of Scripture is not small.
Two Revelations That Cannot Be Separated
Throughout history, great spiritual awakenings have carried one of two distinct revelations. The first is the awesomeness of God, his holiness, his severity, his power so far beyond human comprehension that standing before him produces something the Bible simply calls fear. The second is the love of God, that wild, inexhaustible, relentless love that pursued humanity all the way to a cross.
Here is what is critical to understand: these two revelations are not in conflict. They are inseparable. You cannot truly grasp the love of God until you understand what that love has saved you from. And you cannot properly fear God until you understand that his severity is itself an expression of his love.
Romans 11:22 puts it plainly, instructing believers to consider both the goodness and the severity of God. Not one or the other. Both. A gospel that only preaches goodness without severity produces something dangerously close to spiritual entitlement. A message that only preaches severity without love produces crushing legalism. The full truth holds both in tension, and it is in that tension where genuine transformation happens.
A Wild Man Who Is Wildly in Love With You
Consider what it means that God's ways are described as being as far above our ways as the heavens are above the earth (Isaiah 55:8-9). His actions can appear disruptive, even scandalous, to the educated and the comfortable. He moves with a unilateral authority that requires the permission of no one. He refuses to conform to human systems or expectations. And because of this, he is frequently misunderstood.
But here is the breathtaking truth underneath all of that wildness: he is driven by love. A crazy, voracious, unfathomable love for ordinary people. The same God whose presence caused ancient warriors to fall on their faces is the same God who makes his intimate home inside human hearts by his Holy Spirit. Both of those things are simultaneously true.
This means you will never be entirely safe with God, but you will always be taken care of. He is not a God you can domesticate or predict. He is a God you trust completely, because he is good, and because his goodness operates from the perspective of eternity rather than the perspective of your immediate comfort.
The Danger of a Comfortable Gospel
Jesus said in Matthew 16:24-26 that anyone who wants to follow him must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow. He said that whoever tries to save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for his sake will find it. These are not gentle suggestions. They are the terms of discipleship.
When the church softens those terms, something quietly breaks. A generation rises up that has accepted Jesus as a transaction rather than embraced him as Lord. People show up expecting God to serve their agenda rather than surrendering to his. And the result is a Christianity that looks increasingly indistinguishable from the culture around it, one that has traded the cross for comfort and called it grace.
Real grace is not permission to stay the same. Real grace is the power to become something entirely different.
Remember Lot's Wife
There is an urgency in this moment that the church cannot afford to miss. The book of Jude describes some who must be pulled from the fire. There is a sense right now that we are living in a time that demands exactly that kind of urgent, fearless intervention.
But here is the sobering reality: Lot's wife was part of a righteous household. She knew the truth. She had access to the same warnings her family received. And yet she looked back. She was compromised by her attachment to what she was leaving behind. And it cost her everything.
The open doors that compromise believers today do not always look like obvious rebellion. They look like habits. Compulsions. Entertainment choices. Private patterns that seem harmless but slowly erode the spiritual sensitivity that makes someone ready for what God is doing. The warning of Lot's wife is not for the obviously rebellious. It is for people who know better and are choosing comfort anyway.
What Is Coming Requires What You Have Left Behind
The book of Joel describes a moment when God pours out his Spirit upon all flesh, when sons and daughters prophesy, when the young see visions and the old dream dreams (Joel 2:28). That promise is not just a historical footnote. It is a horizon the church is approaching.
But the people who will be ready for that outpouring are the ones who chose consecration before it was required of them. The ones who shut the doors the enemy was using. The ones who stopped watching what was slowly deadening their spirit. The ones who said yes to God when it was inconvenient, uncomfortable, and even dangerous.
The gates of hell are not supposed to hold. Jesus declared in Matthew 16:18 that they will not prevail against his church. But that promise belongs to a church that is actually advancing, not one that is retreating into safety and calling it wisdom.
God is not trying to catch up to darkness. He is never behind. He is always ahead, always moving, always calling his people forward into something they could not have planned or predicted on their own.
The only question is whether we will follow.
Posted in Sunday Sermon Blog
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