Thoughts for another day

Oct. 3, 2012.

Today's verse: 2 Chron. 30:9b. for the LORD your God is gracious and merciful, and will not turn away his face from you, if ye return unto him. (KJV)

(Pls. read the above before you read further. Thanks)

In contemplation some days back, as I sat focusing on God and His attributes, I realised how merciful Yahweh God is to sinners when they return to Him.  I asked Him, 'LORD God, what do You see in us that you welcome us back; we hurt you so grievously.'  My friend you may or may not realise, how much we offend God by our sins…they're in His nostrils like, what example shall I give, putrid and stinking flesh, from which we want to run as far as possible.  Now would you want to go back to that putrid flesh? Ever?

But God, the Full and Holy One, He does not turn His back on us however foul we are to Him.  He forgives and takes the initiative even if the person is a known offender and an outcast in the sight of men.  I remember an instance when a woman of 'ill-repute' came to talk to me.  We stood in our church quadrangle and spoke.  The people seated on the benches lining the boundaries of the quadrangle were looking at me and I could see their stares and felt the heat under my collar. But the woman just wouldn't go, even though in every response, I swung a finale and I just wanted her to go!  How shameful of me to do that; but my friend we do it all the time for we want to be seen as removed from such people – separate from them and their ways, although, if you ask me, we're even more sinful than them.  Our sins are hidden, but they, poor people, are exposed. 

But God, doesn't run away, nor is He bothered about what others think.  Jesus was very categorical when He said, I have come to save the sick and the lost and remember Jesus was ABSOLUTELY PURE.  In this matter, he also quoted the parable of the prodigal son where He wanted us to understand that God the Father is as the father of the son.  Waiting, tears in the eyes, looking in the distance and craving for that lost child.  And when the child comes back, there is rejoicing and celebration just as the father of the son celebrated, much to the dismay of the other son.  But that is God's way and He will do the same for any of His lost children who return.  Because of this, we have hope that no matter how far we go, He is there waiting with arms open wide to welcome us back.