Gentle

                 The Lord said, “Go out and stand on the mountain in the presence of the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.”

            Then a great and powerful wind tore the mountains apart and shattered the rocks before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind. After the wind there was an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake. After the earthquake came a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. And after the fire came a gentle whisper. When Elijah heard it, he pulled his cloak over his face and went out and stood at the mouth of the cave.

            Then a voice said to him, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” (1 Kings 19:11-13)

For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. My frame was not hidden from you when I was made in the secret place, when I was woven together in the depths of the earth.  Your eyes saw my unformed body; all the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be.(Psalm 139:13-16)

 

Last night around 2, Grace needed to go out. When I crawled back into bed a few minutes later, I suggested to God that in whatever time I was awake, it’d be nice to practice good prayer habits. The old pattern of ACTS (Adoration, Confession, Thanksgiving, Supplication) came to mind, so I started with how mighty God is. Instead of referring to wind, earthquakes, and fires, I thought in terms of black holes – so powerful that light can’t escape their grasp, but nothing in comparison with God’s might.

The coin flipped with clear direction. Instead of adoring God’s power, contemplate His gentleness. I was a little surprised at my willingness to do so. I remember a time when it occurred to me that I had been gentle to someone. My reaction was, “Oh, no, Lord, I don’t want to be gentle. Gentle means weak.” I’ve made some measure of peace with the idea, but it’s not a word I tend to associate with God.

Of course, Jesus describes Himself as gentle in Matthew 11:29, and Matthew quotes Zechariah 9:9 about the king riding into Jerusalem “gentle and riding on a donkey,” but if we make the claim that the God of the Old Testament is a nasty, judgmental fellow, while Jesus is nice, we are committing heresy. The passage from Psalm 139 speaks of God’s gentleness with the creation of each new person. David noted that all the days ordained for him were written in God’s book before those days came to be. God knew the good and the bad of David’s life but allowed him to live.

God saved eight people and two of each sort of animal when He used the flood to destroy the nightmare that the world had become. He saved four people from the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah even knowing that Mrs. Lot would look back and both Miss Lots would commit incest with their father. He gave Pharoah ten chances to let the Israelites go, and most of the plagues were not deadly. Even the death of the first born didn’t wipe out the whole of the Egyptian people. And in spite of Israel rebelling repeatedly, God spares at least a remnant repeatedly. Repeatedly, God does not exert the level of power He can. He withholds vengeance and judgment. In other words, He is gentle. More gentle than we deserve.