NOT GUILTY!
the Saving GRACE of God’s Redeeming LOVE
April 17th, 2023
Ignorance is Bliss
Genesis 3:8-9, ‘And they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and Adam and his wife hid themselves from the presence of the Lord God among the trees of the garden. Then the Lord God called to Adam and said to him, “Where are you?”’
All the way back to the beginning of time, we are continuously met with a Father Who is seeking and pursuing His children. I guess it makes sense. Have you ever lost or misplaced your child, or not known where he or she has disappeared to, and had it freak you out? You become frantic; suddenly your kid isn’t where you last left him or her, and panic not only pours through your words but out of your very pores, as the images you envision sicken you.
I wonder if that is what Almighty God, Creator of the Universe, went through; I wonder if that is what He thought. I wonder if, while He was walking through the cool afternoon breeze in the garden toward His creation, if there was a sad, sick feeling in His gut as He considered why they had gone into hiding. Never before had He sought them—He had no need. Her knew right where they would be, because they waited for Him to come be with them. I imagine it was a telltale sign. That’s what we find repeatedly: when someone stops communicating, it’s because they’ve gone silent with shame and they are hiding behind their choices and mistakes, unable or unwilling to talk because their choices and decisions have changed them.
As a matter of fact, the Lord God knew right where they were. He didn’t ask where they were because He did not know—I believe He asked to resolve if they knew where and why they had disappeared. Perhaps, like sand, dozens of thoughts and emotions ran through the Master’s fingers, but the only one that mattered was the one that wrote FORGIVENESS in blood, that spelled GRACE through the lens of a loving Father, that spoke LOVE in an eternal gasp.
There isn’t one thing I wouldn’t do to find my child or grandchild. Sometimes, as parents and grandparents, it means we have to do things that don’t feel right, that hurt. Sometimes, it even means patiently waiting for all the wrongs to be righted, having to watch and love from a distance, with a prayer right on the tip of your tongue. I cannot fathom what the Father must have felt in His heart when He realized the eyes of His children had been fully opened, and forever now, we would see, know and experience all the things from which He had tried to protect us. No matter how great the pain was to the Father, however, out of His great love for mankind, He clothed us to disguise our shame; He gave His Son for our redemption; He rendered us ‘Not Guilty’; and He paid our debt so we could be forever free to fellowship with Him.
God’s Loving Kindness Leads Me to Repentance
