The canard on the God of the Old Testament centers around claims of fury and vindictiveness. Why would God encourage the slaughter of the nations Israel displaced from the promised land? Then again, why would God allow the slaughter of Israel when he later drummed them out of the same land? One thing for sure, don’t trifle with this God.

But a later psalmist pointed to another aspect of the Old Testament God. During the hopeful return to Jerusalem after the Babylonian exile, the writer expounded on God’s goodness:

The Lord heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds. He determines the number of the stars; he gives to all of them their names. Great is our Lord, and abundant in power; his understanding is beyond measure. The Lord lifts up the humble; he casts the wicked to the ground.

Notice the tenderness of this Old Testament God. Those who hurt and suffer garner his attention. The One who gave every single uncountable star its name also knows you and me by name. Regardless of my station or circumstances the Lord stays by me and cares for me.

Dig deeper into the God of the Old Testament. Don’t believe the skeptics. Jesus didn’t—he declined to ignore a single jot or tittle from the Hebrew scriptures. The more I read through the Bible (this year makes 32 times cover to cover), the more insight I gain into the coherence and combination of both testaments, and the more I appreciate our amazing God.

Psalm 147:3-6

Photo by avidan yoram