Us vs. God
Us vs. God
Once humanity views the world from an “us” vs. “them” perspective, and prioritizes the needs of us over them, it doesn’t take long to shift that perspective toward God.
When Adam and Eve experienced God walking in the garden even after they ate from the apple, God was someone they called “you”.
“God called to the man and said to him, “Where are you?” He said, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked; and I hid myself.” (Gen 3: 9-10). God and Adam knew that they were separate from one another, but by calling one another “you” they acknowledge they are in a relationship.
Yet by the time civilization got going, people were so separated from God that they felt a need to build a tower to make a name for themselves (Gen 11). God had become objectified and God’s power was now something to be obtained. The people wanted control. As a response God says in verse 7, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language there, so that they will not understand one another’s speech.” By confusing their language, God made it difficult for the people to coordinate a human “us” against God’s “us”.
Throughout the Old Testament, God seeks a “you” relationship with people rather than a “them” relationship. In Jerimiah, God shares this perspective with great passion. “For surely I know the plans I have for you, says the Lord, plans for your welfare and not for harm, to give you a future with hope. Then when you call upon me and come and pray to me, I will hear you. When you search for me, you will find me; if you seek me with all your heart, I will let you find me, says the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, says the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.” (Jer. 29:11-14.)
As lovely and hopeful as that sounds, it is important to note that this promise applies to the time after they have been captured by the Babylonians. God is promising to forgive them and bring them back into relationship. Prior to their exile, the people had turned to other gods. God’s disgust and dismay pour out through laments in verses like this from Chapter 2: 7-8 “And I brought you into a plentiful country to eat its fruit and its goodness. But when you entered, you defiled My land and made My heritage an abomination. The priests did not say, “Where is the Lord?” And those who handle the law did not know Me; the shepherds also transgressed against Me, and the prophets prophesied by Baal (a false god) and walked after things that do not profit.”
So God describes the consequences of their actions:
“Have you not brought this upon yourself by forsaking the Lord your God, while he led you in the way?’ (Jer 2:17) “Your wickedness will punish you, and your apostasies will convict you.”(Jer 2:19)
God continues: “I thought how I would set you among my children, and give you a pleasant land, the most beautiful heritage of all the nations. And I thought you would call me, My Father, and would not turn from following me. Instead, as a faithless wife leaves her husband, so you have been faithless to me, O house of Israel, says the Lord.” (Jer. 3:19-20)
God longs to be in relationship with us and give us all that we need. When Jesus encourages his disciples to pray to God as their father, he is calling us back into relationship with God. God is not an object. God is our father.
