Good Morning All,
Psalm
103:8; “The Lord is merciful
and gracious, slow
to anger and abounding in steadfast love.”
I
remember the cartoon character Popeye.
He was always doing battle with either Bluto or Brutus depending on the
age of the cartoon. He was always
defending his girlfriend (goilfriend?) Olive Oyl. Bluto or Brutus would always be trying some
scheme to get Olive Oyl away from Popeye and eventually Popeye would utter his
tag line, “that’s all I can stands; I can’t stands no more!” he would then eat
his can of spinach and the beat the tar out of Bluto or Brutus. Popeye was always a kind-hearted, happy-go-lucky
kind of guy until Bluto or Brutus pushed him too far then he became very angry
indeed.
Maybe you know someone who is like
Popeye. They are calm for the most part
but when they get angry; they really get angry.
It usually blows over fairly quickly but for that time being it is
pretty intense. In some ways this is how
Scriptures describes God. He is “slow to
anger.” It takes a lot for God to get
angry. In Psalm 30:5 we are told that “his
anger is but a moment.” Rather we see
that God, by nature is loving and merciful.
He becomes angry but he is love.
So
what does that mean to us? A Baylor University
study found that half of the Christians in the United States view God as a
wrathful and vengeful being. Nothing is
farther from the truth. It is the very
nature of God; that is this is his make up or essence, to love us. It is his nature to show us his mercy and his
kindness. This is what he wants to show
us. This is evident in the phrasing
where his anger is short but his love is eternal. God by nature loves you.
So as we look at this Lenten season and we
look at the life and crucifixion of Jesus, we don’t do so as someone who is looking
at an angry God who will seek retribution because our sins caused him to kill
his Son Jesus. That is not what we see;
we see a loving God; one who loves you so much that he willingly and lovingly
died for you so you can live. That is
what we see. As now as we carry the
weight of sin, we can go to God willingly and with joy to confess our sin and
be freed of the guilt of sin. God has
forgiven us; it is his nature of love for us.
His love allows us to come to him freely and often with our cries of
sorrow or pain because he loves us and wants us to be healed.
Thus we do not have to timidly and
fearfully approach God, we can do so with the confident knowledge that he
forgives us and wants us back as his dear children. When God called to Adam in the garden, “where
are you?” it was more of a calling to return than a question of
positioning. Because of his love God
calls to you and calls you back to his family and back to the loving grace that
he has for you. God loves you and he
always will. His desire, his nature is
for you to be his child.
Father
of all mercy, your love lifts us and lifts us even higher. Through the wonders of your love you sent
Jesus to redeem us and to bring us back into your family. Give us the great comfort in the knowledge
that it is your love that moves you and that we can find refuge in your
mercy. Guard us by your grace. In Jesus’ precious name we pray, amen.
God’s Peace,
Pastor Bret
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