XV
Mist
Mist
‘Adam’s sin led to condemnation, but God’s free gift of grace
leads us to being made right with God’ – Romans 5:26
‘I willingly have become what I unwillingly find myself to be’
These words from St. Augustine, written hundreds of years ago are not comfortable words. I’m speculating, but I wonder whether looking back at the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve mulled over words similar to those above, ‘How did we let ourselves get into this situation?’....’how did we get led astray and let anything get in between us and God...?’ If you’re like me – i.e. flawed – then you may well have asked those questions of yourself at times.
I read somewhere that the reason the stories in the bible resonate with us so much is because they are our stories...it happened then and it happens now. I doubt I’m the only to have read a story like the Genesis account and seen myself in it. I think that that is because Adam and Eve’s story is our story.
I know that I have lived that story out. Things are going great, life is good, God is blessing me, we’re communicating, I can see Him, draw strength from Him, and I can see the landscape of His world and my place in it. But then slowly...something enters my mind...something comes along in my day that knocks me off course, gently leading me away from the path I was on...it whispers in my ear, catches my sinful heart and watches as I run eagerly in the opposite direction to God. Adam and Eve don’t seem too far away now.
It’s like a mist slowly descending around me. It obscures the way ahead...things aren’t so clear any more...my defences seem weaker, my judgement is clouded, short-sightedness and fear replace faith and patience. Do any of these feelings sound familiar? Have you been there? Is that a story you’ve lived out?
What does Jesus say in this situation? When the way ahead is cloudy, when we can’t see him face to face, when we’re worried that we might be overcome with temptation or fear?
Praise God for giving us His word, for it gives us the simple loving response. In Hebrews we are told that ‘this High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4v15). Jesus faced it all. He knows what it is like to be human, to be fragile, to be tempted, to be tired, and surrounded. He also knows that God is bigger than all that.
But there is more to come, as Hebrews goes on to say that we can ‘boldly come to the throne of our gracious God...for there we will receive his mercy, and we will find Grace to help us when we need it most’.
What an invitation! What words of comfort and hope! What better answer could we have hoped for?! This grace God offers through Jesus can shine through the oppressive clouds and storms of life; the light of the cross’s victory over sin can blast through the mist that seeks to overwhelm us – God’s love is stronger! Oswald Chambers said that ‘the cross of Christ is the supreme evidence of the love of God’. Today, wherever we are, let us absorb that promise, believe it and know that this redemption, this free grace, this glorious truth is also our story. How does the song go...‘Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound....’
These words from St. Augustine, written hundreds of years ago are not comfortable words. I’m speculating, but I wonder whether looking back at the Garden of Eden, Adam and Eve mulled over words similar to those above, ‘How did we let ourselves get into this situation?’....’how did we get led astray and let anything get in between us and God...?’ If you’re like me – i.e. flawed – then you may well have asked those questions of yourself at times.
I read somewhere that the reason the stories in the bible resonate with us so much is because they are our stories...it happened then and it happens now. I doubt I’m the only to have read a story like the Genesis account and seen myself in it. I think that that is because Adam and Eve’s story is our story.
I know that I have lived that story out. Things are going great, life is good, God is blessing me, we’re communicating, I can see Him, draw strength from Him, and I can see the landscape of His world and my place in it. But then slowly...something enters my mind...something comes along in my day that knocks me off course, gently leading me away from the path I was on...it whispers in my ear, catches my sinful heart and watches as I run eagerly in the opposite direction to God. Adam and Eve don’t seem too far away now.
It’s like a mist slowly descending around me. It obscures the way ahead...things aren’t so clear any more...my defences seem weaker, my judgement is clouded, short-sightedness and fear replace faith and patience. Do any of these feelings sound familiar? Have you been there? Is that a story you’ve lived out?
What does Jesus say in this situation? When the way ahead is cloudy, when we can’t see him face to face, when we’re worried that we might be overcome with temptation or fear?
Praise God for giving us His word, for it gives us the simple loving response. In Hebrews we are told that ‘this High Priest of ours (Jesus) understands our weaknesses, for he faced all the same testings we do, yet he did not sin’ (Hebrews 4v15). Jesus faced it all. He knows what it is like to be human, to be fragile, to be tempted, to be tired, and surrounded. He also knows that God is bigger than all that.
But there is more to come, as Hebrews goes on to say that we can ‘boldly come to the throne of our gracious God...for there we will receive his mercy, and we will find Grace to help us when we need it most’.
What an invitation! What words of comfort and hope! What better answer could we have hoped for?! This grace God offers through Jesus can shine through the oppressive clouds and storms of life; the light of the cross’s victory over sin can blast through the mist that seeks to overwhelm us – God’s love is stronger! Oswald Chambers said that ‘the cross of Christ is the supreme evidence of the love of God’. Today, wherever we are, let us absorb that promise, believe it and know that this redemption, this free grace, this glorious truth is also our story. How does the song go...‘Amazing Grace...how sweet the sound....’
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