Why, when we constantly offend Him and are so unlovable, does God persist in loving us? 526-2 - 5 - 3

The following are just a few versus that speak to God’s promise to love us even when we constantly offend him.

Hebrews 13:5, “Let your conversation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.”

Conversation figuratively has to do with deportment or character and covetousness with greed. Our character should be without greed. As born-again Christians we should be very content because we have the promise of an eternity with the Lord. “…I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” includes two negatives which implies a very strong statement. What a wonderful statement that we will never be forsaken by God. Family and friends may forsake us or discount us but not our heavenly father.

Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and today, and forever.” Jesus always was, always is and always will be. Micah 5:2, “But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” From old to everlasting…

A few verses from Deuteronomy serve as witness to God as an oath keeper, a faithful God, who keeps His covenants.

Deuteronomy 7:8, “But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” 

Deuteronomy 7:9, “Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;” 

However, there is a warning, Deuteronomy 7:10, “And repayeth them that hate him to their face, to destroy them: he will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.” 

God values His Word above all else, we have Hebrews 13:5 as Israel had God’s Word. Not for Israeli sake, rather for “the sake of my holy name.”

Ezekiel 36:22, “Therefore say to the Israelites, ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: It is not for your sake, people of Israel, that I am going to do these things, but for the sake of my holy name, which you have profaned among the nations where you have gone. 23 I will show the holiness of my great name, which has been profaned among the nations, the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Sovereign LORD, when I am proved holy through you before their eyes.”

Is desire/ coveting the greatest link between lust and hatred? 510-2 - 13 - 2

God is very direct in his prohibition against coveting. In my opinion, desire leading to coveting is the first step in lusting for something/ someone. When desire controls the lust filled person and he cannot have the object of his lust does it not turn into hatred?

This seems to be the case with David's Son Amnon and Amnon's half-sister Tamar. Amnon used trickery to get his half-sister to come to his home and feed him. He then forced himself on her, soiling her virginity. There still might have been Redemption for Amnon had he married his half-sister, allowed at that time by Jewish tradition. However, 2 Samuel 13:15, "Then Amnon hated her exceedingly; so that the hatred wherewith he hated her was greater than the love wherewith he had loved her. And Amnon said unto her, Arise, be gone." Amnon had Tamar forcibly removed from his home further dishonoring her.

In digging into Amnon's behavior via Strong's; Hated, H8135, From H8130; hate; exceedingly, hateful, hatred. H8130, to hate (personally): enemy, foe, be hateful, odious, utterly. No question that what Amnon feel for Tamar was lust, not love. When he had his way with her, he threw her aside.

2 Samuel 13:16, "And she said unto him, There is no cause: this evil in sending me away is greater than the other that thou didst unto me. But he would not hearken unto her". Tamar's brother Absalom would avenge his sister two years later by arranging the murder of his half-brother Amnon.  

CM mentioned Joseph's coat of many colors and the Virgin Tamar's coat of many colors. Both would be stained with blood, one in a fabrication of the death of Joseph and the other due to the rupture Tamar's hymen. We read in Genesis 50:20, "But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive." There was no good in the rape of Tamar by Amnon, rather more as prophesied by Nathan, 2 Samuel 12:10, "Now therefore the sword shall never depart from thine house; because thou hast despised me, and hast taken the wife of Uriah the Hittite to be thy wife."

Coveting/ lust is major tool in Saran’s toolbox. God called King David “a man after his own heart,” however, the sword never departed from his house. Murders and betrayals were legion with the descendants of King David. Very notably were the horrific actions around King Jehoram of Judah and his wife Athaliah.

Is the Demand that the Rich Pay Even Higher Taxes Covetousness? I Say Yes!

  I did a search for the keyword covet in the Holy Bible and found 39 related verses.  God hates covetousness and included it in the Ten Commandments.
Exodus 20:17
Thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's house, thou shalt not covet thy neighbour's wife, nor his manservant, nor his maidservant, nor his ox, nor his ass, nor any thing that is thy neighbour's.Exodus 20:16-18

More to follow on this subject.  Good night and God bless!