As I look around me and as I spend time with people I find that this is more than a common phenomenon-but is almost the norm. Lives out of balance. Either we swing from one end of the pendulum to the other, continually reacting to our last state of imbalance, or we live our lives on one extreme of the spectrum, never realizing that there is more to life than what we're experiencing.
As a result, we live life with unbalanced eating habits, unbalanced schedules, unbalanced theology, unbalanced exercise patterns, unbalanced spiritual and devotional lives, unbalanced relationships, and the list goes on and on.
My awareness of lives being out of balance is not necessarily because I'm living in equilibrium and no one else is, but perhaps it is more out of my own need for balance. For instance, one area of imbalance I've noticed in my family's life is our difficulty in trying to balance our understanding
of God.
I've seen and heard the stories about people from my generation growing up in homes where they perceived that "religion" and the law were supreme, and relationship and grace were rarely mentioned. God was portrayed as a taskmaster to be feared. He was seen as one who demanded complete obedience to the entire "to do" list, or else!
Because of this perceived legalism, many have given up on Christianity's ability to provide any relevant meaning in their lives, and they've abandoned the church altogether.
Those who have stuck with the church or have returned to it are seeking a different way to view and relate to God. As a result, we now emphasize God's grace, love, and mercy in an attempt to give our children (and ourselves) what we believe was missing during our formative years. My home is no different. We want Christianity to be a positive influence for our boys, and God to be seen as a Savior to love rather than a taskmaster to fear.
But what I'm now realizing is that I have an 8-year-old son who knows God is love, knows God accepts him, but has little "fear" of Him or any concept of His holiness. Has the pendulum swung to the other end of the spectrum?
God is certainly love, yet He is also a consuming fire. I don't want to teach one facet of God's character to the neglect of another; I must be a faithful steward of the two little lives entrusted to me. They need to know God as He is. A God of grace and mercy, yes. But they also need to know that God is holy, powerful, sovereign, and able to snuff out life with the breath of His nostril. What a discredit to the Father it would be if I raise my children to view the King of the universe as some kind of cosmic pushover!
How do we find balance? How do we maintain equilibrium between magnificence and mercy? While I certainly don't have all the answers, I'm finding that one way to experience and teach balance is in the act of encountering God's presence in worship. It is in the presence of God that we find a perfect balance between gravity and grace.
Grave Situations
If you look in the Bible, every time a sinful human encounters the awesome presence of God (and it happens quite frequently), it usually begins as a terrifying event.
In Genesis 3:8-10 Adam and Eve hid from fear as God came close. They were terrified and ashamed as they realized they were naked in His presence.
After Jacob's dream of the ladder reaching to heaven, "he was afraid and said, 'How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God; this is the gate of heaven'" (Gen. 28:17).*
When God delivered the Ten Commandments to the Israelites, their response was anything but casual. "When the people saw the thunder and lightning and heard the trumpet and saw the mountain in smoke, they trembled with fear. They stayed at a distance and said to Moses, 'Speak to us yourself and we will listen. But do not have God speak to us or we will die'" (Ex. 20:18, 19).
After God spoke directly to Job, Job said that he despised himself and repented (Job 42:6).
In Isaiah's famous appearance before the throne of God, he cried out that he was going to die because of his sinfulness in the presence of God's holiness. "'Woe to me!' I cried. 'I am ruined! For I am a man of unclean lips, and I live among a people of unclean lips, and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord Almighty'" (Isa. 6:5).
Daniel was exhausted, lost all his strength, and lay ill for several days after receiving prophetic visions directly from God (Dan. 8:27; 10:8-17).
Zechariah was "gripped with fear" when an angel of the Lord appeared before him in the Temple (Luke 1:12).
Even John, the one that Jesus loved, when he saw Jesus in His glorified state "fell at his feet as though dead" (Rev. 1:17).
Grace to the Rescue
This is the reality. Sinful man in the presence of a holy God is a scary, normally deadly thing. You may wonder how this provides a balanced view of God. "This all seems very one-sided to me," you may be saying. But as you keep reading, in each of these instan-ces you see that not one of them is left in their state of fear or despair. Each also has an encounter with God's grace.
Adam and Eve were covered. God came down and personally hand-sewed them a tailor-made outfit to remedy their nakedness and shame (Gen. 3:21).
Jacob prospered and was given a new name. "It is because I saw God face to face, and yet my life was spared" (Gen. 32:30).
The Israelites were comforted and provided an intercessor. "Moses said to the people, 'Do not be afraid. . . .' The people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was" (Ex. 20:20, 21).
Job was blessed. "The Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before" (Job 42:10).
Isaiah was cleansed. "Your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for" (Isa. 6:7).
Daniel was strengthened and lifted up. "Again the one who looked like a man touched me and gave me strength. 'Do not be afraid, O man highly esteemed,' he said. 'Peace! Be strong now; be strong.' When he spoke to me, I was strengthened" (Dan. 10:18, 19).
Zechariah and John were both comforted and told not to be afraid (Luke 1:13; Rev. 1:17).
What a beautiful picture of a beautiful God! Great yet graceful. Holy yet willing to heal. Magnificent yet merciful.
In worship we too can experience this balanced picture of God. If we come prepared for His self-revelation, we will be smitten with His bigness and holiness. We will cry with Isaiah, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips." But He won't leave us in that state. Our times of worship, just as the encounters in the Bible, will all end with grace. For if it weren't for His grace, none of us would make it out of His presence alive!
Can we teach our children this balanced view of God? Can we avoid the ditches on each side of the theological road? Can we ourselves know and worship God in such a balanced way? That's what I'm feebly attempting to do at home and in corporate worship. Now, if only I could figure out this checkbook!
* Scripture texts are from the New International Version.
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David L. Kennedy is pastor of the Seventh-day Adventist church in Franktown, Colorado.
ALANCE.
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