The Great Lover of our Souls 1/11/2018

"The Lord is compassionate and gracious,
    slow to anger, abounding in love.
He will not always accuse,
    nor will he harbor his anger forever;
he does not treat us as our sins deserve
    or repay us according to our iniquities.
For as high as the heavens are above the earth,
    so great is his love for those who fear him;
as far as the east is from the west,
    so far has he removed our transgressions from us." Psalms 103:8-12

It is interesting the impression we have of who and how God is.  Whether he is terrible and vengeful, always watching to catch us in the wrong, or loving and kind, willing to help in a time of need, often has to do with where we are in our lives at that moment.  Are we licking the wounds of consequence from our own actions or have we been doing pretty good in our walk for awhile now?

Beloved, make no mistake, our God is a God of love.  It was with his own loving hands that he created us out of the dust of the earth and blew his breath into us.  It was out of love that we were given mastery over creation, being equipped with everything needed for life.  Even when we fell, it was out of love that he advised that he would pick us up and return us to himself through yet another act of love, the sacrifice of his only begotten.

Just as there were consequences for our progenitors in the Garden for their sin, we should not expect anything less.  Along with being a God of love, he is also a God of righteousness and justice and these things must be observed as well.  They are, however, not inconsistent with one another.  When consequences come, we should not take it as a lack of God's love for us.  In fact, Proverbs 3:12 tells us that the Lord chastens those whom he loves just as a father chastens his son.  In other words, if you are being corrected, it is because of love.  The Lord has no desire to see you violate the commands set in place to protect and preserve you.  He, therefore, takes measures to get our attention.  Further, our chastisement should lead us to godly sorrow which should lead to repentance and repentance to salvation (2 Corinthians 7:10).

If we received due punishment for all of our sins, most miserable we would be.  Let us this and all days pursue lives that are pleasing and acceptable to the great lover of our souls.

Building God's family,

Lee