I would not want to know or meet God when God is feeling provoked. I believe in a loving and kind God, a Presence of patience and kindness and understanding. And yet, there is a part of this same God that knows anger, a truly righteous anger that I don’t want to imagine, an anger in response to willfulness and stubbornness. Let me not be part of that scenario.
“I was ready to respond to those who didn’t ask.
I was ready to be found by those who didn’t look for me.
I said, “I’m here! I’m here!” to a nation
that didn’t call on my name.
I extended my hands all day
to a rebellious people
walking in a way that isn’t good,
following their own plans;
people who provoke me to my face continually, . . .” [Isaiah 65:1-3a, CEB]
God is ready to be found at any point in person’s life. God even provided a human form, Christ Jesus, to insure his message could be heard and understood: life is more than this body, the battle is for the spirit, eternity is a choice–a matter of surrender. Each day, God is asking, will you see Me; will you hear ME? Will you answer?
Or will we provoke God instead by making the same choices over and over again. Will we choose, like a delinquent kid, to sit in the back row of the classroom, our body slumped over, our senses numbed by self-medication, our ears filled with jammin’ sounds, our eyes with decadent delights?
I understand, I’m not “that” bad. I have chosen to follow Christ into the arms of God, but not fully. I am still holding on to some of the old ways, the old sounds, the old pleasures. I am still looking down at my feet instead of watching the horizon for the signals God provides to walk this way and not that way; don’t look down. “Lift up your heads, you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.” [Psalm 24:9, NIV]
Meditations from Zion 
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