Proverbs 16:2 All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weigheth the spirits.

There is motive behind everything we do, good or bad. We want what we want and motive is the reason behind our approach towards getting what we want. God is no different.

I chose this verse to illustrate motive because in yesterday’s ending I said we might not understand God’s motives for what He does. In this verse we can see the just side of God. Weighing the spirits is the purist form of judgment. It looks to the heart of a man.

If this is your first or perhaps only view of God’s motives, your opinion of who God is in character is skewed towards punishment. You see God as a vengeful God. You would be justified in your hatred of God if that was all that God is in character and personality. Justice is not God’s primary character.

1 John 4:8 He that loveth not knoweth not God; for God is love.

You will never love a God that does not love you first. Love is the first and primary motivation in all that God does in character and performance.

1 John 4:19 We love him, because he first loved us.

God created the universe and all that is in it to provide a place where we could live and love. The primary attribute of love is to share, to have an object of affection to pour out itself upon another that is capable of responding to love by loving in return. True love has an expectation of return on investment.

If you refuse to understand that then your hatred of God is a waste. Our trash is labeled refuse, pronounced a little different but the idea is the same, that which is rejected and cast aside. If you reject God’s love that is on you and it is not God’s intention to reject you. He loves you.

Jonah 4:9-10 And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night:

Are you angry with God? Some people are and to that I say, good for you.

That reply may take some of you by surprise. Let me explain. You cannot be angry with someone who you do not believe exists. Believing there is a God is important in discovering that all important relationship. A love/hate relationship can only exist if there is a relationship. So if you hate God, you are half way there.

Hebrews 11:6 But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him.

Believe that He is God, then come to a proper understanding about why you hate Him. I chose the passage about Jonah’s pity on something which provided him shade from the glaring sun, but the gourd was not a person, was not capable of loving Jonah, it wasn’t a real relationship.

Romans 1:25 New International Version (NIV)

They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

New International Version (NIV)

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There is a wide variety of emotional attachments to nature, things, or institutions, which come before people. It is not meant to be that way.

Explore your anger with people who know God in truth. Hear what they have to say about the God they know. Maybe you just don’t understand God’s motivations.