I used to ask seminary students this question, “What is God’s most notable attribute from the ancient Hebrew point of view?”
Nobody ever got it right the first time around!
I got answers that contained wonderful divine attributes and these always included love, mercy, kindness and the sharper ones would chime in with faithfulness. But theologically speaking, these are all subcategories of the one I was looking for.
To the Hebrew, God’s most notable attribute is restraint.
Without restraint, God (and man, for that matter) cannot possess love, mercy, kindness or faithfulness., for each of these things requires restraint. Bear in mind that God is all-
powerful; that He did not use His power to obliterate Adam and Eve when they deliberately rebelled against Him shows tremendous restraint. Truly, if I had that kind of power, and you rebelled against me, you would be toast, and maybe that’s why I didn’t get God’s job!
Of course, my little remark above demonstrates that I don’t think the way the ancient Hebrews did. I am Western in my thought process. To the Greek mindset, and the Western mode of thought that most of us have, God is more notable for His power than for His restraint, and this shows up clearly in much of the Western church tradition, particularly in the Catholic tradition. Not so for the Hebrew…
This is of vital importance for us to recognize today as we study the Scriptures and try to understand them more fully, and it is crucial if we want to understand how God is working both in the church and in the world around us. He is exercising restraint. The very fact that He works through His people to make disciples is a perfect example of this restraint, for since He is all-powerful, all-present and all-knowing, couldn’t He make disciples of every human being by some sort of process like a direct download? Of course He could but He doesn’t.
Restraint!
A couple more examples of restraint that are helpful for Westerners to pick this idea up are these:
1. God has given His revelation to Man in the form of the Bible. The Bible shows us the mind of God in human language and is limited to the rules of human grammar. This puts a limitation to the expression of concepts that are heavenly, for we have no language to communicate those things, so we have passages that are communicated in allegory, metaphors or parables.
2. To establish relationships with humans, God makes covenants with people. A covenant, by its very nature, restricts the actions of both parties in order to reach an agreement. Christians have a relationship with God as a result of entering the New Covenant. The New Covenant requires both Man and God to do or not to do certain things, all of which require restraint.
3. God allows Man to have free will. The fact that we have the ability and freedom to choose either to enter and keep a covenant relationship with God, or to turn our backs and walk away, requires tremendous restraint of God’s part.
There are many other examples, but this is probably enough to think about for one post. Try to remember this the next time you are moved to ask something like…
How could God allow…?
Why doesn’t God just…?
Why does evil persist?
…and so on. The answer to these types of questions is that God is most notable for His restraint, and this is the same restraint that makes it possible for you and I to have our sins forgiven and for us to receive the gift of eternal life.
Life Project Blog 
Excellent : having never been asked the question I have never had to think of the answer. We need to challenge our thinking often. I might well have answered (not necessarily from a Hebrew point of view) “Balance” the holding of all His attributes in perfect order and relationship with each other ! This is a problem that we face as Christians everyday in our life, keeping our use of time in balance, keeping our thought processes in balance, keeping our study in balance, keeping our emotions in balance etc.
I recently posed the question below and received no answers ! * I have been thinking about this and have come to the conclusion that the more Christ like we become the better able we will be to do this and keep the two spiritual responses in balance.
Having Godly, Christ like “restraint” will lead to effective “balance” in all areas of life.
*
“When we sin against God and know His forgiveness.. we are so often, and rightly so, taken up with sorrowful thoughts concerning that sin, that we fail to “ENJOY THE FORGIVENESS OF SINS” as R M M’Cheyne encourages us to.
How do we keep these two things in proper balance ? i.e. Enjoy the forgiveness of our sins with a due sense of Godly sorrow for those sins. Your comments please ! “
Isn’t that an interesting question!
If I were to take a stab at it, I might shock the faint of heart and say something like:
Theologically speaking, sorrow, sadness and guilt over our sins are not productive. We are not commanded to be sorry, we are commanded to repent. Thus, a proper “balance would be to rejoice at His forgiveness and mercy, and redouble our determination to repent from our sinful ways and bring ourselves into obedience… and of course you know I would find myself talking about making disciples for a while after that…
I might be a victim of my training in that answer!
“Theologically speaking, sorrow, sadness and guilt over our sins are not productive.”
2 Corinthians 7:8-11
8 For though I made you sorry with a letter, I do not repent, though I did repent: for I perceive that the same epistle hath made you sorry, though it were but for a season.
9 Now I rejoice, not that ye were made sorry, but that ye sorrowed to repentance: for ye were made sorry after a godly manner, that ye might receive damage by us in nothing.
10 For godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of: but the sorrow of the world worketh death.
11 For behold this selfsame thing, that ye sorrowed after a godly sort, what carefulness it wrought in you, yea, what clearing of yourselves, yea, what indignation, yea, what fear, yea, what vehement desire, yea, what zeal, yea, what revenge! In all things ye have approved yourselves to be clear in this matter.
Don, you might disagree, but I would say that GODLY sorrow is productive according to the above verses. I would agree, mere human sorrow, sadness, and guilt are not, but I did refer to GODLY Sorrow.
If I attempted an answer…. the right balance may be achieved by ….. Godly sorrow leading to repentance, then a recognition of God’s merciful forgiveness and an enjoyment of the new position we are in .. Forgiven, restored… then the productiveness of Godly Sorrow (noted in verse 11) combined with the desire of a continuing enjoyment of the forgiveness of our sins, spurring us on (as you say) to renewed obedience in the future. Thus Godly sorrow and the enjoyment of our forgiveness, work together in our sanctification. Holding onto one, to the detriment of the other, could lead us astray.
ps Unfortunately I feel words and definitions make this seem rather cerebral, whereas these are powerful emotions were are talking about and holding these in balance will never be easy.
jgmtheo you may very well be right; certainly this idea of sorrow for our failings can lead to repentance as Paul said in verse 9 above, but in keeping our balance in such matters we need to ensure that sorrow is not the end game, for that would be losing our “balance” The end game is repentance (again verse 9) and repentance is “turning away from” sin. To put it another way, we lose our balance, going back to your original question, when we focus on our sorrow rather than on repenting and moving forward in Christ… or so it seems to me.
I’m glad you touched upon this. It is most definitely true and also so necessary to help us with a deeper understanding of not only God, but His ways as well (which are obviously so above our own). I look forward, very much, to the day we will truly behold this in beholding Him when we are with Him.
Blessings, my friend,
N
See ya there!
So wonderfully put. Restraint, yes, he practiced that a lot. I try, but sometimes, stress gets the best of me, and I forget to stop and think.
I’m glad I’m not the only one! Thanks
You are definitely not alone. I think God puts us in positions to test our restraint and patience. Sometimes we pass with flying colors, and other times, well, not so much.
Ha! In my case the words “crash and burn” apply every so often! But then we are always works in progress…
If it wasn’t for His restraint…I’d be toast! How thankful I am for this wonderful attribute of our amazing God!
\o/
Thank you so much for this good teaching. I plan to refer to it often, as it is something that I struggle with.
You have a wonderful engaging writing style. Keep up the good work!
Wow. Yes, it has to be a tremendous HUGE force to let things unfold naturally so that we may see the results of sin. Any human father would dive right in without a second thought just to save his child from danger, pain, and death. Thanks so much for following!
Paula
Thanks Paula!
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That is very interesting. I never even thought of ‘restraint’ as one of God’s attributes. Fascinating post, thanks for sharing!
Thank you
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