Perfect in all of His ways

Ezekiel 29 was a difficult one to digest. I know many people, even believers, have a hard time reconciling the disparity between the wrath of God in the Old Testament and the grace of God in the New. This text initially struck me in that way. How can God devastate lands, scatter peoples, and curse nations with no hesitation? He commands these things to come to pass with no remorse. Totally unapologetic and with full swiftness. All for the purpose of letting us know that He is the Lord. Aren’t we being a little rash here, God? Isn’t this a bit extreme? Can we take it down a notch and talk about this?

Here’s the reality – God is holy, and we are not. God is perfect, and we are not. God is just, and we are not. If God had not given these prophesies to Ezekiel to speak over the nation of Egypt, He would be denying Himself because the Lord demands holiness, perfection, and justice. 

Simultaneously, it’s necessary for us to recognize that God must be this way in order for our faith to have real power. We need a God who is holy and demands perfection, not a God with whom we can negotiate terms and then walk all over. At the same time, we need a God who is perfectly loving and gracious, or else being a Christian would be a torturous and fragile race of perfection that we could never finish. 

Thanks be to God for giving us the gift of Jesus as the ultimate sacrifice for all sins past, present, and future. It's only through Jesus -- the Way, the Truth, and the Life -- that being a Christian "works." It's only through Jesus that we can have a relationship with God who is perfectly holy and perfectly loving. Too much holiness, and we will live lives of striving and subsequent failure. Too much love, and we will exploit and cheat the grace of God.

Father, thank you for being perfect in all of Your ways. You demand holiness, and yet your Love abounds even deeper in areas of our lives where sin runs deep. Thank you that your mercies are new every morning, that as far as the east is from the west, our sins have been separated from us because of the sacrifice of Your Son on the cross. We are indebted to you and this day, we choose to praise you. 

Song of the day: Steadfast Love of the Lord!!!