The Terrible God

Do not ask where God has gone
Do not plead for His presence
You do not know what you ask
You do not know the mercy He is showing

For He is a terrible God

Terrible
Able to incite terror
To make the foundations
Of the earth
Tremble

He will come for you
Be assured of that
He will save you
Romance you
Rescue you

But that is not the end

Know this
You are in rebellion
You are at war with Him
You have taken up every good thing
And every worthless thing
All the delights and treasures
Which it is His joy to bless you with
And placed them upon an altar

So if He comes to save you
He will also come to conquer you
He will not do it any other way
He cannot

So tremble
He is not a genie to grant your wishes
He is not a kindly grandfather
He is not a tame lion
He will take you as you are
But He is not content to leave you there

The sun is rising
And we have lived too long in darkness
Our eyes are dull
And our skin is sickly
The light is good
It is wonderful
But it shall burn
It shall sting and ache
And we must leave our darkness behind
The things made for the night
Must perish
We must let them go
All of them
Without exception
For in the light of day
They will crumble

Our God is a terrible God
He will have no part
In the comfort
And safety
And good repute
Of this dim, rebellious world

He will not stop short
He will not ease up
In His war

His wrath burns bright
Against all that turns us from Him
Whether greed or lust
Or lies
Or ambition
Or relationships
Or the very powers of Hell
He will smash it all to ruins

The love of the Cross is not weak
It does not incite mere "ooh"s and "ah"s
It is a love that convicts
A love that unmakes
The strongholds of the world
A love before which
All pride must perish
It is a terrible love

Our God is a terrible God
And He is all the greater
All the more wonderful
All the joyous
Because of it