Theme: Your goodness is running after me.
Let us suppose that after Adam and Eve disobeyed their Creator, God just gave up on them. If He were like us, He likely would have said, “I am so done with these creatures. I am not doing this again and will let these two die out.”
When Adam and Eve disregarded God’s command and fell into sin, God did not say, “What is the use of helping them now? They ate the fruit; they fell into sin; they believed the devil; they dishonored My commandment. What do I need to say to them now? I am done.”
Thank God He is not like us and does not let us lie where we have fallen. John Chrysostom (c. 347–407), Archbishop of Constantinople, wrote of this, “God said none of those things.
Instead, He came at once to Adam, spoke, and consoled him. Again, God gave Adam another remedy—the remedy of toil and sweat. God kept doing everything and exerting Himself until He raised fallen man, rescued him from death, led him by the hand to heaven, and gave him more incredible blessings than he had lost.”
Yes, in God’s holiness, He punished, but He did not destroy nor neglect. God planned to restore us, and He loves us so much that He would go as far to become us and die so we could live again. What kind of love is this that He could see beyond our constant rebellion and save us from the sin that has consumed us?
God does not allow our disobedience to short-circuit His great love and compassion. Adam and Eve hid immediately after eating the fruit of the tree. Like us, they would have continued to run and hide, except for one thing: God pursued them! God pursued them! “Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the garden's trees. But the Lord God called to the man, ‘Where are you?’” (Genesis 3:8-9 NIV). And He pursues men yet today.
And, as Pastor Dan taught us so powerfully this past Sunday, God’s restoration plan was revealed. The war was on! The seed of Eve would, in the future, bring about God’s ultimate example of His relentless pursuit of man and His own incarnation, born of the seed of woman, Jesus Christ. His purpose was not to reign but to serve, not rule but die. However, that death struck the most powerful blow the earth had ever felt. It was God, as a man, destroying the hold of death and crushing Satan’s head. The beachhead was established at Jesus’ birth. “And I will put enmity between you and the woman and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15 NIV)
As the celebration of Jesus' birth approaches, let us remember that His birth resulted from God’s eternal love and relentless pursuit of us who were running from Him. God never left us, never disowned us, and never stopped pursuing us. Jesus is the culmination of that pursuit. As Pastor Dan pointed out, Paul wrote, “But when the set time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem those under the law, that we might receive adoption to sonship.” (Galatians 4:4-5 NIV)
And will He now forsake us when we fall to temptation? As Paul so often wrote, “Mei genoito” the strongest negative he could use. No way! Can we ever thank Him enough? We can only give Him our lives in return. Funny, they were His all along!
Scripture: Nehemiah 9:17 (NIV)
“They refused to listen and failed to remember the miracles you performed among them. They became stiff-necked and, in their rebellion, appointed a leader in order to return to their slavery. But you are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them,”
Prayer:
Lord, how is it that you can love me? I get that you may like me, put up with me, or do not want to admit that you made a mistake in me. But that you love me like you do? That you would constantly pursue me all those years when I ignored you and ran laughingly after sin, is beyond my understanding. You could have just erased me, wiped me out, squashed me. Instead, you blessed me, kept me alive and allowed some successes. What? And now I know why. Now I know your love, and it is greater than anything I have ever known. It far surpasses anything the world could give. And why the successes? It is time to give it all for your Kingdom, and it was mine to hold until you caught up to me. I wish I had more to give you Lord, but I can only give back what you have given me; my life and all I have. Amen
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