THE FIERCENESS OF GOD Kay Keith Peebles October 26, 2018 18.31
God (Father, Son and Holy Spirit) is full of love and passion for His people, His Word (Truth) and His justice. In my last writing, NO GEATER LOVE, I discussed the passionate love of God that sent His only Son to die in order to take away the sins of mankind. That sacrifice opened the door of salvation and redemption, freedom, healing and adoption into the family of God. Mankind had no hope until Jesus came and made a way for us to be reconciled to God. There is no greater love than God’s love for us.
God’s great love creates in Him a passion for His people that is Fierce! Fierce means: aggressive, violent or intense, profound. Synonyms for Fierce are: ferocious, brutal, severe, stern, angry and vicious. He loves us so much that His attitude toward any force that would come against the well-being of His children is FIERCE! Whether that force is mankind, ideologies, governments, nations, demons or Satan himself, God’s response to un-repented injustice that enslaves, abuses, harms or kills His children is and will be FIERCE .
Those who reject God and His compassion, His Word and His Kingdom become surrendered to the devil and his demonic kingdom. There are no other options. (See NO GREATER LOVE – article October 12, 2018). The History of Israel is a Biblical example of God’s great love for mankind and His Fierceness against all evil.
The Book of Exodus explains that God is attentive to the suffering and injustice done to people. “And the Lord said, I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters and oppressors: for I know their sorrows and sufferings and trials. And I have come down to deliver them out of the hand and power of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a land good and large, a land flowing with milk and honey [a land of plenty]..” Exodus 3:7-8 Amplified Bible. You can read the rest of the account in the Book of Exodus. The Egyptian people had enslaved, sorely abused and brutally treated God’s people. The Israelites cried out to the Lord for intervention and He heard their cries. He sent Moses to demonstrate the Fierce love of God to defend His people and His Fierce judgment over a ruthless idolatrous ruler and nation.
He gave Pharaoh and the people of Egypt the opportunity to repent by sending 10 plagues which exposed their false idols and the futility of life without the One True God. Although Pharaoh saw the signs and wonders God did through Moses, he continued to reject God which caused his heart to become harder and harder against God. He saw the power of God, he even said He was the true God but he refused to repent. Pharaoh experienced the final judgement of God when the Red Sea collapsed over him and his entire army drowning them in a watery grave.
Micah was one of the prophets of God. His name means “who is like the Lord”. He lived in the southern kingdom of Judah during the reigns of Jotham, Ahaz and Hezekiah. (Amplified Bible notes). Both the kings of Judah and Israel had sinned against the Commandments of God. There was great social injustice and the people were not living holy lives. They had become idol worshippers. God had sent the prophet Elijah to confront king Ahab and his wife Jezebel but they refused to repent. “Elijah replied, I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, by forsaking the commandments of the Lord and by following the Baals”. Elijah stood before king Ahab, the people and the false prophets and gave full explanation for their coming judgement. “Elijah came near to all the people and said, How long will you halt and limp between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow Him! But if Baal, then follow him. And the people did not answer him a word.” 1 Kings 18:18-21. Elijah was victorious in his stand-off with the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah when the Lord sent fire upon his sacrifice. He killed all the false prophets with his sword. The Fierce judgment of God empowered Elijah to execute justice upon those who led God’s people astray.. Ahab and Jezebel were subsequently killed by others. See 1 Kings 18:1-46.
The Lord God used Gideon to bring judgement upon the Midianites who tormented Israel and stole their food and cattle every year. He used David, a young man, to judge the giant Goliath and the Philistines who continually attacked Israel.
What was it that caused God to move in Fierce judgment to defend His people at a certain time? We must remember that Israel was in slavery for 430 years. The Midianites had been attacking Israel for 7 years. It was when His people repented for their own backsliding and cried out to God for His intervention! “If My people, who are called by My name, shall humble themselves, pray, seek, crave, and require of necessity My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, forgive their sin, and heal their land.” (Emphasis mine). 2 Chronicles 7:14.
When the people of God turn from practicing His righteous commandments and worshipping Him, God allows them to go into the captivity of false gods, addictions or immorality (the demonic kingdom). Sinful behavior deprives them of the presence and peace of God. In that vacuum, the pressure and weight of sin becomes unbearable and motivates them to return to the Lord. When repentance takes place, God will turn His Fierce wrath upon the rulers and principalities of darkness and those who serve them without conscience or repentance like Pharaoh, Ahab and Jezebel.
The discipline of the Lord may seem severe but it is equal to the depths of our fall, and its severity is meant to awaken us from our slumber so that we can turn and repent. Christianity is not a game or simply something we do on Sundays. It is our life! “For in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28. Apart from Him, we will never enter our promised land.
I have observed and experienced enough of God’s redemptive love to know that He extends patience well beyond that of man. He continues to pursue us by attempting to draw us back to healing. However, it is extremely dangerous to choose to sin deliberately, believing we are solely saved by grace and have no personal responsibility regarding our salvation. God is not fooled. Although He loves us, His judgment can be eternal as we see in the Bible’s account of Israel in the wilderness.
There is a worship song that is new to me. It pierces my heart every time I sing it. It describes the Fierceness of God on behalf of His children better than any other I know. It also explains the simplicity of our position to remain steadfast in the Secret Place of the Most High God.
DEFENDER by Rita Springer
You go before I know, That You’ve gone to win my war.
Your love becomes my greatest defense. It leads me from the dry wilderness
All I did was praise. All I did was worship. All I did was bow down. All I did was stay still.
Hallelujah, You have saved me, So much better Your way.
Hallelujah, great Defender, So much better Your way.
You know before I do, Where my heart can seek to find Your truth
Your mercy is the shade I’m living in. You restore my faith and hope again
All I did was praise. All I did was worship. All I did was bow down. All I did was stay still
Hallelujah, You have saved me. So much better this way
Hallelujah, great Defender. So much better this way
When I thought I lost me, You knew where I left me, You reintroduced me to Your love
You picked up all my pieces, Put me back together, You are the defender of my heart
All I did was praise. All I need to do is worship. Lord I will just bow down. I’m just gonna stay still. Hallelujah, You have saved me. So much better this way
Hallelujah, great Defender. So much better Your way.
David learned that God was his Defender when he kept the sheep of his father. Lonely nights in pastures taught him intimacy with His Creator as he played his lyre and sang to God. When the lion came to kill the sheep, David called upon His God to help him. When the bear threatened the fold in the dark of night, David summoned His Keeper, the One who trained his hands for war through worship, praise and bowing down in humility. His Fierce Defender guided the smooth stone to the forehead of the giant giving David yet another victory!
When David fell deeply in sin, he called upon his Defender because he knew He was merciful, full of loving-kindness and tender compassion. The depth of David’s sin did not quench the Fierceness of God’s love for him, but the humility of his repentant heart brought the Fierceness of His power to deliver him from the grips of hell. “Behold, You desire truth in the inner being; make me therefore to know wisdom in my inmost heart. Purify me with Hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness and be satisfied; let the bones which You have broken rejoice. Hide Your face from my sins and blot out all my guilt and iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right, persevering, and steadfast spirit within me. Cast me not away from Your presence and take not Your Holy Spirit from me…My sacrifice to God is a broken spirit; a broken and contrite heart, such O God, You will not despise.” Psalm 53:6-17. (Read the entire Chapter).
There is nothing greater than the power of God’s Fierce Love. The depths of God’s Love for us can be measured by the Fierceness of His defense of us. 
