Isn’t the God of the Universe so amazing and magnificent?
He is one who is so many things. The Redeemer, Healer, Perfecter, Creator, Giver, Lover, Savior, Sanctifier, Restorer. He’s the Alpha and the Omega. And His sovereignty is so hard to grasp.
The ways that He works is a mystery.
As someone who is perfect, He desires that justice happens. That any iniquity or sin that is noticed should be blotted out, because it cannot be in His holy presence. And it is not through decision, but out of His own nature. Holiness and perfection cannot be in the realm of blemishes and scars. That would be imperfect and unfitting.
Perfection and imperfection cannot be one, and so imperfection must be swept away. It must be rid of.
That’s us, the imperfection. We are broken creatures who wrestle with the world for a piece of the temporary crop that can only be ours for a minuscule amount of time. We are black dots in the white canvas God laid out, and unfortunately for us, He is justified to be rid of us. To separate us from perfection and erase us from existence.
To disappear from His presence.
And yet, for Him, it brings no pleasure to Him to do it. Ezekiel 18:32, God says, “For I have no pleasure in the death of anyone… so turn, and live.” He desires for what’s best for us, and He wants us to be free from the death that comes from imperfection.
So He takes action with the power to take imperfection and make it wholly new. He decides to take shame, anxiety, brokenness, and many other parts of the lot that associates to sin, and casts them all out. He does it by sending His One and only Son, Jesus. Jesus comes and pays for our sins so we no longer suffer or need to face suffering.
And we can be with Him.
The veil that prevented us from going to God was torn apart, and we can face the majesty of the Lord our God. We are able to see clearly and hear very distinctly His calling to us. We can turn to Him and cry out in pain or joy, and He will hear us.
Not only does He tear the veil so we may be with Him, but He casts out the sin of ours. What made us unable to stand in His presence, but even more so, He takes our shame and our guilt, and He bears the burden that we should’ve taken. He takes upon death, and suffers through every single suffering we would have gone through, and on that cross, He cries out the finished work that He desired to do, so that we may be free from the chains that sin wraps and holds onto our every being beforehand.
And 3 days later, he resurrects and restores to us not only the promise of freedom from death, but freedom in life. He brings to us a mission and a focus that we should live out in our every moment of our life. That we must deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow after Him. That we must go and love God and love others, with hearts that are fully and genuinely pursuing after Him and his calling to us. And to go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit.
Nothing can bring greater joy than knowing our purpose is to serve Him, and to live out the lives that we never deserved.
For when we recognize that our lives were bought and paid for, and that it was truly a SCANDAL that we are able to live the way we are, then how can we live our daily life knowing that truth and not acting upon it?
How can we chase after pointless and empty dreams that lead to despair? Why do we mindlessly pursue after the many broken pieces in life that are insignificant — like grains of sand that struggle to fill the gaping hole of desire in our hearts — when there is a spring that brings about the living water of life which desires to completely engulf the darkness and fill us with peace, joy, hope, and love?
No, we can no longer live normally. We must live boldly, radically, and fully with our hearts set out towards Him.
We must go, to wherever we’re called, and be the salt and light. To love others unconditionally. To be the broken vessels He uses to bring to Him glory.
The privilege of life was bought for us.
Not just so we can go. Or we need to go. But because we want to.
We have to.
There is no other calling that can satisfy and bring about joy than this one.
So dead heart that somehow beats, wake up. Crawl out of apathy. Away from sorrow. And muster up the courage and boldness to go towards God.
Arm yourself with this knowledge that’s been spoken into you. Know that everything that’s faced in life, as great and small as it all may be, has never been about you. It never was.
You remember what it was like, beforehand, to be joyful and praise God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength.
You’ve tasted that desire of knowing something greater than any of the things that the world has to offer.
So, cast down soul, hope in God. You shall praise Him again.
"As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
My tears have been my food
day and night,
while they say to me all the day long,
“Where is your God?”
These things I remember,
as I pour out my soul:
how I would go with the throng
and lead them in procession to the house of God
with glad shouts and songs of praise,
a multitude keeping festival.
Why are you cast down, O my soul,
and why are you in turmoil within me?
Hope in God; for I shall again praise him,
my salvation"
Psalms 42:1–5