I was going to write about the situation in the middle east this morning, but I find I just cannot.
I walked out into my field to pray as I sometimes do in the morning and I found myself imagining God looking at the world, God’s world view. He loves this creation of his. (I don’t know how else to say it…”his” works even though I know God is neither male nor female) He loves every nook and cranny, the worms under the rock, the algae in the pond, the needles at the tip of the tallest pine, every excited bee, each crawling and walking creature…four legged and two. He also sees the tendencies toward destruction, the will to harm his creation, his beloved creatures. He loves in spite of, around, under and over. He sends healing for each wound as it arrives. He programmed that in at creation.
I cannot fathom such a love. I cannot achieve it within myself. Most of all, to stop at the borders of destruction and see harm that humans do to one another and, yet, God loves all. I don’t get it. I cannot grasp it.
The Lord said, ‘I will never again curse the ground for man’s sake, although the imagination of man’s heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done. While the earth remains, seedtime and harvest, cold and heat, winter and summer, and day and night shall not cease’” (Genesis 8:21).
The flood demonstrates for all time that God hates sin and will bring sinners into judgment. But it also proves that God can and will save those who repent of their sins and lead faithful, god-fearing lives.
I believe that God s giving our sinful world an opportunity to repent before it is too late. “But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the Heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. (2 Peter 3:10, 11).
Just like Sodom and Gomorrah, God’s wrath will come to end the sin, evil and ungodly ways. And it will be swift and sure. But the righteous will be saved by God’s grace.