Is God mean?

Hosea 13:4-9

4“Yet I am the Lord your God

Ever since the land of Egypt,

And you shall know no God but Me;

For there is no savior besides Me.

5 I knew you in the wilderness,

In the land of great drought.

6 When they had pasture, they were filled;

They were filled and their heart was exalted;

Therefore they forgot Me.

7“So I will be to them like a lion;

Like a leopard by the road I will lurk;

8 I will meet them like a bear deprived of her cubs;

I will tear open their rib cage,

And there I will devour them like a lion.

The wild beast shall tear them.

9“O Israel, you are destroyed,

But your help is from Me.

Do you look at that bit of scripture and think, "what a cruel God!" Do you wonder at verse 7 and 8, "how could a loving God do such a thing?" I did! I thought those thoughts and I doubted God's faithfulness and His love.

What do you think? Is God an angry God, prone to wrath? Look at that scripture again, verse 6 says; "When they had pasture, they were filled; They were filled and their heart was exalted; Therefore they forgot Me."

In the beginning God created man and placed him in the garden of Eden. He gave him everything but that wasn't enough. Adam and his wife decided God was holding out on them. God commanded them not to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve forgot who they were in God or just disregarded God completely in order to exalt themselves and take the thing that their creator had forbidden. Sin entered in and the man and his woman fell away from the blessings and were cursed.    

There are lots of people who seem to have everything they've ever wanted and are perfectly content to live out their days without seeking to know their God despite the fact that they too are only human and will die like all the rest. People think in their hearts, "I'm not that bad of a person God will let me into His heaven." I know I use to be one of those 'not that bad' thinkers. You can't live a life of self worship and come to the end of that life and enter into the kingdom of God where the only worship will be unto Him.

Sin lies, not only in how we conduct our behavior but also in the belief that we can get there on our own. We have created a faith in ourselves. When a person believes they don't need God and goes about life with an, "I'm not that bad of a person," attitude (Ironically trusting that God's love will cover their ignorance), they invite the curse and court destruction. Only in America can a person call him or herself a Christian and not be able to explain the gospel or follow Christ's teachings.

God knows that our hearts are wicked so....God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8). Ask Him to give you a heart that desires Him. We all need pure hearts and only God can cleanse us from our self centered sinful hearts.
"Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing (John 15:4-5)."

God in His infinite wisdom, in His infinite love for us has made a way for us to be saved because there is no way we could ever save ourselves. God set it up so that we are all on the same playing field, "for all have sinned and fall short of the Glory of God (Romans 3:23)."

As it is written:
“There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God.
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one (Romans 3:10-12)."

Verse 9....“O Israel, you are destroyed, But your help is from Me." God didn't spare His wrath from His disobedient children so that He might save them. Have you ever had to punish your child for being disobedient? I hate having to punish my children because its inconvenient and difficult and exhausting. But when I do it, and I do it God's way, I get to see them learn from their sufferings and grow in wisdom and understanding. To withhold punishment from them for a wrong behavior would be unloving! God doesn't withhold punishments from those whom He loves.
Have you experienced that in your life? I have. I'm grateful for my sufferings since they have led me closer to my Savior!

God saw me in all my wickedness and He offered me His love.
1 John 4:8 says, God is love.
1 Corinthians 13:4 says, Love suffers long and is kind. God suffers long with His rebellious children and continues to be kind!

Don't put it off any more...seek the Lord while you still have a beating heart and breath in your lungs. Your eternal destiny depends on it!

"In this the love of God was manifested toward us, that God has sent His only begotten Son into the world, that we might live through Him. In this is love, not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son to be the propitiation for our sins (1 John 4:9-10)."

Jesus is our only hope! What an incredible love we have in The Father and in The Son and in His Holy Spirit. Be content with the things you have been given. Your loving Father knows the things you have need of. Make your request to Him and receive His perfect peace as you wait in hopeful anticipation for the Lord to answer your hearts cry. May you be blessed today knowing that He will never leave you nor forsake you! "For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast (Ephesians 2:8-9)."