Incomprehensible Grace

I often think about grace and God's love and provisions as starting with Jesus. After all, it was His work on the cross that took the place of the punishment we rightly deserve for our sins. Even in English classes in college, we would say things like "He is writing from an 'Old Testament God' perspective."

But the truth is, there is no Old vs. New Testament God. There is just ONE God. And he is unchanging. His love and provision has been there from the very beginning. It is not as if He suddenly decided to cut us a break and send Jesus.

I really began to see this recently as I read through the book of Genesis. And if we look at each situation of people failing God, there is always provision available. Starting with Adam and Eve. They were the very first people on Earth. And they screwed up big time. God could easily have killed them and started over, right? But He didn't. Yes, He punished them. Otherwise He wouldn't be a just God. But look at how He punished them. They had to leave the garden, they had to work for their food, and women would have pain in childbirth. BUT they still got to live, they still got to eat, and they still got to have the incredible blessing of childbirth. Even more wonderful, while childbirth is certainly painful (I can't say first-hand, but I think this is common knowledge!), it's obviously not so awful that it keeps women from continuing to have babies. The blessing in that situation outweighs the curse. And to me, after breaking the ONLY rule they were given by God, that is pretty merciful of Him.

Then look at Cain and Abel. Cain murders his brother. Then to punish him, God exiles him. But again--he still gets to continue living. And Cain even begs God not to send him away because he is afraid he will be murdered by thieves and criminals. God assures him that he will not be murdered and He will protect him. Protect him! Say what?!?

But what about things like Sodom and Gomorrah, right? He destroyed that whole area and everyone in it! But we have to remember that Lot pleaded with the Lord to spare them all if there is but one righteous person among them. God said He would. But there was not one righteous person. These people were committing acts of unspeakable evil. So we have to keep that in mind. They had completely denied God.

And the list goes on and on in EVERY circumstance. As long as those involved still loved God and were willing to repent of their sins, they were given grace. They were still punished or had to pay a price because, again, in order for God to be righteous and just, He must punish the sin. This is why Jesus had to die. Someone had to pay for our sins. Before Jesus they still had to pay for their sins, but they did it through animal sacrifices and offerings to God. There still had to be blood to cover the sin. And we see this time and again in the Old Testament. It is all pointing toward Jesus.

So whether it be Old Testament, New Testament, yesterday or today, His grace is no more or less amazing and wonderful and truly incomprehensible to our small human minds and limited scope of understanding. We all deserve death and separation from God because we ALL fall short of perfection (which is what would be required if we tried to get to Heaven by simply being good, by the way). But since the beginning of time, God has been merciful and given us grace. Now we can rejoice that Jesus already paid that price for us. But we still must love God and be willing to repent of our sins, just like the people from the Old Testament.

I am so, so thankful to have His grace and love! And I'm thankful that He has shown me that He does not change. He has always been this loving and merciful. Which is very reassuring that He will always continue to be.

Thank you, Lord! :)

~Christy