GOD’S JUSTICE INCLUDES GRACE
You know the stories. When God regretted the fact that He created people, He decided to destroy all living things on earth… but then He remembered Noah… and changed His mind. (Gen. 8) When the people of Israel made a golden calf and then attributed their salvation to the calf, God was outraged. He told Moses to stand back because He was going to destroy all of the others, Moses appealed to God’s grace and suggested that such an act would be beneath God. (Ex. 32) When God informed King Hezekiah that he would soon die, it broke Hezekiah’s heart. He cried and pleaded for more years… and God granted him 15 more! (Isa. 38) When God forgave the people of Nineveh because they repented, Jonah threw a fit. He sat under a bush and pouted, telling God that he knew God would be too forgiving and he would just as soon be dead. (Jonah 3) And when Jesus walked the earth, stories of God’s grace continued. Luke tells us that there was a thief who was crucified on a cross next to Jesus. This unnamed man didn’t claim to be particularly good, but he did cry out to Jesus and said, “Remember me.” Remember me when you take your place in heaven, and Jesus said, “Today you will be with me in Paradise!” (Luke 23) When Jesus encountered the Syrophoenician woman, he told her that he could not heal her daughter because he had been sent to the house of Israel. This was true. Jesus didn’t heal everyone, but he was filled with compassion when people were in need and forgotten. So, when the young woman pointed out that “even dogs” get crumbs from their Master’s table… Jesus changed his stance and told the woman that her daughter had been healed! (Mark 7)
And finally, when the three men who visited Abraham finished the meal that he had prepared for them, they got up to leave and Abraham joined them. And as they walked along, one of them asked the others if He should hide from Abraham what He was about to do. (Gen. 18) When it became clear that God planned to destroy Sodom and Gomorrah, Abraham approached his Lord and asked, “Will you sweep away the righteous with the wicked?” Will you really destroy everyone if you can find 50 people who are righteous? “Will not the judge of the earth do right?”
Some people think that God is at a distance. Some people believe that God must be all-knowing and unchangeable. Some people see God as a Santa Claus who keeps score and puts the burden on His people to be good enough to be loved and forgiven. But this is not what the Bible says in either one of our testaments. Oh, it is most certainly true! God’s character never changes. He has always been and always will be… Holy, Just, and Merciful. But God is not unmovable and God always leaves space for relationships, repentance and redemption. God is Holy, but God is also merciful. Our God is not too far away or too disinterested to listen and respond to our prayers. This does not mean that God is our servant.. but the record shows that God invites us to share our struggles with Him.
God is just, of course and He will never applaud our sins or fall for our schemes! But many of Jesus’ miracles stemmed from his compassion and he died with the words “forgive them” on his lips… out of love! God is love, John said… and in the end, when the Great Flood has come and gone, when Israel’s great prophets are silent, when grace is still hard to find and sin still abounds, the Holy Spirit whispers, “Come from your hiding places, come out of the darkness, lay down your masks, and come home… where you belong. Hurry home and feast on the new life that God provides, AMEN!
No comments:
Post a Comment