(Originally posted March 7, 2017)
“God is merciful.”
Perhaps in our time and society the impact and weightiness of that phrase is lost on us. For years it has been something sweet that I’ve heard during all my years of church-going but not really understood to the full measure. It’s only been in recent years that my eyes have been opened more and more to what that phrase really means.
<< I think that because of the insensitivity that our culture has towards sinful lifestyles, it has diminished the understanding of the utter depravity we are in apart from the mercy of God. >>
Sin separates us from God. The punishment for sin is an eternity apart from Him and in the company of Satan and his cohorts in the everlasting punishment of Hell after we leave this life. Sounds pretty harsh - but it’s the truth in a nutshell.
The beautiful thing about it? Even though it was our sin that separated us from Holy God, He loved (and loves) us so profoundly and so deeply, that He made a way for us, through Jesus Christ, to be made whole, to be cleansed from the depravity of sin, and for our relationship to be restored to a sweet love-relationship between God the Father and each of us - His sons and daughters.
I was recently reading through Genesis again. I turned to the first few pages of my bible and began to pour over the familiar words of the account of creation and how God walked with man in the Garden of Eden. Inwardly I cringed as I read for the millionth time about the fall of man -- when Adam and Eve chose to listen to the counsel of the serpent and eat of the fruit that God had warned them not to partake of. Their eyes were opened to their nakedness and they were filled with shame. A couple of verses later, we find them hiding in the bushes from the One who made them and who loved them so.
As with any sin, there were consequences that had to be realized. God spent some verses talking about the ways that their sin would change their lives (and the lives of all future generations after them. Sin reaches and lasts farther than we can imagine). But then, there it was. It hit me for the first time. Perhaps, right there, in verse 21 of chapter 3, was the first display of a Godly mercy.
<< The start of the most beautiful crimson thread of mercy through all of humanity’s tapestry. >>
“And the Lord God made for Adam and for his wife garments of skins and clothed them.”
A sign of forgiveness. A removal of shame. They did the wrong. God gave the consequence. Then God, in His mercy, clothed them to remove the shameful disgrace that was their sin. What love. What mercy.
This is the first picture in a long line of stories to follow in the pages of Scripture that so beautifully depicts God’s patience, mercy, and love towards His children.
I will probably dwell in some of those stories in the coming opportunities that I have to sit and blog. They are beautiful and I think that we all should be reminded of the vast divide between God’s holiness and our sin…and of His beautiful mercy that rescues us from the side of depravity and brings us to rest on the side of forgiveness, mercy, and love.
As children of God, we are blessed. If you do not know whether or not you are a child of God, resting on the side of mercy - contact me. I would be happy to talk with you about it! Until next time - blessings!
