2 Samuel 22:26-27 ESV
With the merciful you show yourself merciful; with the blameless man you show yourself blameless; 27 with the purified you deal purely, and with the crooked you make yourself seem tortuous.
The ‘God is a big Granpa in the sky’ view is utterly torn away in this verse (as it is throughout the whole Bible). God shows Himself as ‘tortuous’ doesn’t seem fair. But that is exactly how the unbelieving world sees Him who do not want to believe/trust Him.
One of my high school friends (whose family was very Catholic in the bad sense—yes, there is a ‘good’ sense you can be Catholic—can a Baptist preacher say that???) has come to call himself an atheist. God is tortuous to him; he just cannot see God as anything but a mean God (so he chooses not to ‘believe’ in Him. That is one of the saddest things I have ever heard.
But this verse explains God: He is merciful, He is blameless, He is pure, and He is tortuous to those who are ‘crooked’. We have come to associate ‘crooked’ with mere avarice: greed accompanied by funny dealings. But crooked I think is a much broader term in this context. Crooked is as opposed to ‘straight, in line with God and His righteousness. In this case, crooked means one who will not walk ‘God’s Path’—if you haven’t seen “End of the Spear” rent it, buy it, or borrow it and watch it soon (if you steal it you’ll probably miss some of the ‘goodness’ of the movie).
Father in Heaven, save my friend’s soul by saving him from himself.
Son on Earth, glorify Your Name with his salvation.
Spirit among us, tear down the false walls he has built around his heart.
Save us from ourselves.
Walking as straight as I can along with you,
Pastor Greg
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