963 God Brooks No Offense
I
To understand God’s righteous disposition,
one must first understand God’s emotions,
that is, what He hates, what He loathes,
what He loves, to whom He’s tolerant and merciful,
and on what type of person He bestows that mercy.
This is one main point.
One must also understand that no matter how loving God is,
no matter how much mercy and love He has for people,
God does not tolerate anyone offending His identity and status,
nor does He tolerate anyone offending His dignity.
Even though God loves people, He does not pamper them.
He gives people His love, His mercy and tolerance,
but He has never coddled them; God has His principles
and He has His limits, He has His limits.
II
Regardless of how much of God’s love you have felt,
regardless of how deep that love may be,
you must never treat God as you would treat another person,
you must never treat God as you would treat another person.
It is true that God treats people with the utmost intimacy,
but if a person views God as just another person,
as a person that is equivalent to a created being,
or as a friend or an object of worship,
then God will hide His face from them and forsake them.
This is His disposition, this is His disposition,
and people must not take this issue thoughtlessly,
people must not take this issue thoughtlessly.
One can often see words such as this spoken by God about His disposition:
It does not matter how many roads you’ve traveled,
how much work you have done or how much suffering you have endured,
once you offend God’s disposition,
He will repay each of you based on what you have done.
III
When people offend God,
it might not be because of one event or one thing they said,
but rather because of an attitude they hold and a state they are in.
This is a very frightening thing. This is a very frightening thing.
Some people believe that they have an understanding of God,
that they have some knowledge of Him,
and they might even do some things that satisfy God.
They begin to feel equal to God
and that they can cozy themselves up to Him.
These types of feelings are terribly wrong.
So, you must not forget that,
no matter how God treats people
nor how He thinks of people, how He thinks of people,
God’s status, authority, and identity do not ever change.
God’s status, authority, and identity do not ever change.
For mankind, God’s identity is always that of the One
who is sovereign of all things—the Creator.
from The Word, Vol. 2. On Knowing God. God Himself, the Unique VII