We love stories of God’s mercy and grace. We love John 3:16’s notion of divine initiative in the plan of redemption. We love the disjunction “But God” in Eph 2:4 that signals a message of hope for redemption through God’s mercy. We love the story of Jesus forgiving Peter in John 22 after Peter had denied him thrice.

We do not love the stories about God’s judgment and condemnation near as much. We shudder at the story of Pharaoh, where we see God harden
Pharaoh’s heart and take away Pharaoh’s ability to repent (Exod. 9:12; Rom 9:17-18). We wince when we read that God hardens the hearts, eyes, and ears of Israel so that they cannot repent (Isa 6:9, 10). We are troubled when we see that the God, who readily forgave David for his murder and adultery, did not give that same chance to Saul when he sinned by sparing king Agag’s life and sacrificing to God (1 Sam 15). We are disturbed that the God who is, “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression and sin” is also the God who “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished” (Exod. 34:6, 7).

The story of Saul is especially clear. Even though God may anoint us as kings and co-rulers with Jesus and give us his Spirit (Rom 8:17), this does not mean that God does not have the right to take away his Spirit from us. We can lose our salvation (Heb 6:4-8). We are completely dependent upon God’s grace at every moment. When we sin, God can choose to harden our hearts so that we are not able to repent.

While these passages do disturb me, they do not make me anxious. I have learned to live with the constant tension in Scripture that we serve a terrifying and gracious God. If you are sinning against God without thinking about how serious it is, I hope that this has changed your perspective. If you are constantly in fear of God’s judgment, I hope that you can be comforted by the many passages that talk of God’s willingness to forgive.