5-13-2024

Good Morning All,

      Genesis 15:16; “And they shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”

    Every so often, we come across a verse that makes us stop and wonder what we are reading.  To me, this is one of those verses.  This verse comes from the covenant that God made with Abraham.  God was actually explaining the future to Abraham.  God told him that he would have many descendants but that for a period of 400 years they would be slaves, but that God would free them and return them to this land where Abraham lived, and that God had promised to Abraham and his descendants.  But they would not return until the iniquity of the Amorites is complete.

    This is one of those verses that can cause us to really scratch our head.  We fully understand this verse to mean that God is patient, and he is waiting until the end before he will pronounce judgment.  He is giving the sinner, in this example the Amorite people, every opportunity to repent but there is a limit.  We can see that God is patient and long suffering.  He is willing to give the sinner every opportunity to repent.  We may know it but knowing it doesn’t always make it easier.

    During the time of the Amorites, they practiced all sorts of horrible stuff including human sacrifice.  They practiced sexual depravity as well.  There was a lot of pain and suffering by a lot of people, but God allowed it to go to its completion.  The reason I think of this verse every so often is that I watch the news and wonder.  I watch the news about how we slaughter millions of unborn children every year just because they are inconvenient.  I watch the news and see how we seem to be looking for ways to increase our level of cruelty to one another.  Whether it is halfway around the world or just down the street, callousness toward human life seems to be on the rise and I wonder if the iniquity is almost complete.

    This is another example of why it is so useless for us to question God.  Isaiah describes God as looking down on the inhabitants of earth like grasshoppers.  God’s way is so far beyond us that we really need to live in trust of hid benevolence and mercy.  God has promised to love and redeem those whom he loves.  We may not always see the sense or the logic in the events in our life, but we must trust God’s good grace and favor.  We will never understand everything in this world.  Our vision is clouded by sin and the limitations of being human.  So, we look to the only true source we have; we look to God for his mercy, trusting in his promise to pour it out upon us.

Gracious Father, there are so many times when I wonder about things I cannot change.  Help me to see the things that I can change and give me the courage to change them.  Help me to see that I may not fix the problems of the world but that I can change one person’s life.  Use me in your service.  In the precious name of Jesus we pray, amen.

God’s Peace,

Pastor Bret