Am I A Covenant Keeper?

Yesterday my children asked why the God of the Old Testament seems so angry and harsh. We’ve been doing an in depth study of the Old Testament for the past year and have been amazed at the insights we have gained, but have also questioned at times a seemingly “angry, harsh” God.

Last night I spent some time researching this topic and was reminded of some powerful things through the insights of others. This is not gospel doctrine, per se, just something that helped me make sense of some things.

One person (sorry, I don’t have a source) commented,

“Simply put, why does God seem so angry in the Old Testament?

Because He understands the power of and reasons for covenants.

The people He killed (or had killed) were covenants breakers. Although the Bible, as we have it today, does not explicitly identify this, it is apparent that Noah’s people had broken covenants. The peoples of Canaan broke covenants. The Israelites broke covenants. The Jaredites broke covenants. The Nephites broke covenants. We, today, are breaking covenants. I fear the “God of the Old Testament” will have little choice but to remind us of the power and reason for covenants, and that He will do it as He did it in the past.

God is required by His godhood, to punish us for our sins, especially the sin of covenant breaking. His mercy is demonstrated when He ends our rebellion so as to limit the self-inflicted damage we cause, and even more importantly, in a critical area, to damage we could inflict on our children and grandchildren because of that covenant breaking. Covenant breakers are the most unhappy of God’s children—He loves them, and wants them to stop. It is obvious to me, at least, that “killing them on this earth is more an optimal choice than permitting them to continue in their perversions.”

Hence, as my children and I are coming to understand, the God of the Old Testament is not an angry and harsh God after all, but a God full of love and mercy.

1 Nephi Chapter 13 also refers to a covenant-breaking people (the Lamanites, or American Indians), as well as a covenant-keeping people (the Nephites).

It was early this morning that I finally made my way to bed with these thoughts and questions burning in my mind:

“…the sin of covenant breaking…”

“Do I understand the power of and reasons for covenants?”

“Am I a covenant keeper?”