How does God constantly put up with our wrong-doing and breaking of his commandments? Surely it must be horrific to observe the kinds of behavior that the debase human mind conjures up for torture and malice. Taking the life of an innocent human being foremost in mind, both in the mind of the casual news observer and the good-natured person struggling with the problem of evil. How is this possible? How must this be for God who observes and sees not only the outward actions but the hidden motives and thoughts of the heart?

We see foremost in the ten commandments that we shall have no other god besides God. We also see that the greatest commandment is to love the Lord God with our whole beings. How much more are these commandments, the first and the greatest, broken than those which are perpetrated horizontally, human-to-human such as murder, rape, lying, deceit, and injustice. What of the family who raises their children to not bless the name of the Lord but to curse, blaspheme and disregard not only his name but his person?

The greater question, assuming priority according to the ordering of the Decalogue, is how must it be for God to observe this teaching and disregard for him even from youth?

[Though the above is stream-of-consciousness, I was careful to avoid using “passive” language, not wanting to imply that God is at all overwhelmed by, surprised with, or controlled by “feelings.”]