God is…Terror

I found this one a bit odd because few of us see God as a terror.  It doesn't fit with the paradigm of God the father.  It doesn't fit with our view of a peaceful and forgiving God. 

Let's take a look at some of the Scriptures.

Genesis 35:5(NKJV)

And they journeyed, and the terror of God was upon the cities that were all around them, and they did not pursue the sons of Jacob. 

God terrified His enemies to keep His people safe.

Leviticus 26:16(NKJV)

    I also will do this to you:     I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart.     And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it.

When His people rebelled God even used terror against His own people.

Proverbs 1:26-27(NKJV)

    I also will laugh at your calamity;     I will mock when your terror comes,

    When your terror comes like a storm,     And your destruction comes like a whirlwind,     When distress and anguish come upon you.

My presumption here is that God is directing this to those who have rejected Him.

Isaiah 2:10(NKJV)

    Enter into the rock, and hide in the dust,      From the terror of the Lord     And the glory of His majesty.

This phrase is used repeatedly by Isaiah.

Ezekiel 32:32(NKJV)

    “For I have caused My terror in the land of the living;      And he shall be placed in the midst of the uncircumcised     With those slain by the sword,     Pharaoh and all his multitude,”     Says the Lord GOD.

Hosea 11:9(NKJV)

    I will not execute the fierceness of My anger;     I will not again destroy Ephraim.     For I am God, and not man,     The Holy One in your midst;     And I will not come with terror.

We serve a multidimensional God.  He can bring terror or he can withhold terror.  The choice is His.  It seems to me that He takes many factors into consideration when deciding which to do.  He isn't totally dogmatic about it. 

An example I can think of meets one of my criteria.  It is confirmed in the OT and the NT.

In the OT it was David and his men eating the showbread.  Technically it was a really bad thing to do.  And yet God decided, I am presuming based on the circumstance, to let it slide. 

In the NT it was Jesus and his disciples walking through the field and his disciples stripping grain of the stems on a Sunday, doing work and harvesting if you will.  And once again if being dogmatic about it, that was wrong.  But just as before, God let it slide.

2 Corinthians 5:11(NKJV)

Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men; but we are well known to God, and I also trust are well known in your consciences.