Psalm 79
Well, maybe that blog title needs a little caveat. It’s not that God doesn’t care at all about His reputation; He just cares about other things more than He cares about His reputation. He won’t protect His good name at all costs—especially if the cost is our spiritual development.
Here’s what struck me as I read: “O God, the nations have invaded your inheritance; they have defiled your holy temple, they have reduced Jerusalem to rubble. They have left the dead bodies of your servants as food for the birds of the sky, the flesh of your own people for the animals of the wild. They have poured out blood like water all around Jerusalem, and there is no one to bury the dead. We are objects of contempt to our neighbors, of scorn and derision to those around us… they have devoured Jacob and devastated his homeland.” (vs 1-4, 7)
Photo © Unsplash/Daniel Pascoa
God’s people had rejected Him. And so God gave the Israelites the independence from Him that they had chosen… and they ended up getting whomped on the battlefield. They received such a thrashing from the surrounding heathen nations that they must have run away, crying like little schoolgirls.
In the theological climate of the day, however, this sort of humiliating defeat was not simply a repudiation of the Israelites—it would have been seen as a repudiation of God Himself. Every nation had its god, and the question about which god was the best or strongest was answered on the battlefield. If you won the battle, your god was the true god, and vice versa. If you lost the battle, your god either didn’t exist or he was pretty weak. That’s why Asaph also said, “Help us, God our Savior, for the glory of your name, deliver us and forgive our sins for your name’s sake.” (vs 9)
Thus, for God to allow the Israelites to experience the consequences of their foolish rejection of Him, His own reputation had to take a massive hit. Instead of being exalted through the Israelites to the surrounding heathen nations, He ended up looking like a fraud and a farce when His people were destroyed and taken into captivity.
Photo © shutterstock.com/Jeremiah_Cranach
But, to God, the spiritual welfare of His creatures was far more important than His own reputation. He doesn’t care what He looks like if His looking bad is for the purpose of helping us develop. He cares less about looking like a fraud and more about what’s happening with our eternal destiny.
And that’s why, as gods go, He’s the best!