Hands off my people!

In the Old Testament God is described rather hands on. He talks directly to selected people (some very worthy, others less so); he punishes persons and peoples, he rewards them, too and he performs a large number of miracles. All the stories focus on how much God loves his people and how much he wants them to succeed. He protects, rewards and punishes. The God of the Old Testament is most certainly interested. I will not describe the many ways in which God interfered in our world that are described in the Old Testament; you can read those stories for yourselves, instead I will focus on a few quotes.

Exodus 34: 6, 7

“God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands…”

God is not only interested, he also loves us, all of us at the same time (thousands must have felt as billions feel today) and on top of that he is faithful to us. He does not abandon us, he is there, always.

Isaiah 40: 28, 29

“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the creator of the ends of the Earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no-one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.”

God is all powerful, we cannot even begin to understand his strength and abilities and how much he knows and understands us. But inspite of all these differences, he is there for us when we need him the most and supports us and gives us strength.

Psalm 116: 1, 2

“I love the Lord for he hears my voice/he heard my cry for mercy./ Because he turned his ear to me,/ I will call on him as long as I live.”

This is a description of someone’s (presumably David’s) experience with God and it’s very powerful. God is being thanked and his love and care proclaimed to others and the whole psalm is very beautifully written (like almost all of them). So this person was in distress and God listened. Note, we don’t know how exactly this person was helped but we know the manner in which he (I say he because I doubt a woman would have been writing about upholding the Lord in the courts as it says later on) was helped: The Lord listened. The Lord heard his cry for mercy and helped him. He was there. And a lot of the time it may be all that is necessary; being there.