In Ladies Bible Study we have been discussing Genesis and
God’s love for us. This evening the
message God gave was simple and yet so deep.
As we were looking at Genesis and the fall of man-kind, God
began to speak to my heart about going back to the beginning. When Adam and Eve sinned, God didn’t scrap
all of humanity and start from the beginning.
Instead He told them what the consequences were for their actions. The first thing we have to understand is that
consequences are not punishments. In
Genesis 3, when God is telling them what will happen, He doesn’t curse
humans. He only curses the serpent (v.
14), and the ground (v. 17b). Everything
else is consequences for their actions.
He even gives them hope that man would crush the serpent’s (satan) head
(v. 15).
The message God gave tonight was this:
When you make a mistake, I don’t start over. I don’t throw it all away and start from the beginning!
When you make a mistake, I don’t start over. I don’t throw it all away and start from the beginning!
We have a lady in Ladies Bible Study that has three
children. Two of them are adopted. They are a beautiful family and she has
shared with us their story of how they adopted their daughter and their
son. As I was praying over this message,
God showed me this family. Their son was
acting up and began misbehaving. At that
time, in the vision God gave, they packed up their van and drove to the
courthouse. Frustrated, they were going
to sign the adoption papers all over again!
When I asked them why they had to sign the adoption papers again, the
mother answered, “Because he was disobedient and now we have to adopt him
again.”
That’s when God began to show me that this is what His
people are doing. Instead of coming to
God to repent and allowing Him to forgive them, they are going back to the
cross to sign adoption papers all over again.
I want to be clear that I am NOT saying that we don’t need
to repent and go to God. I AM saying
that once you are a His child, you do not need to be re-adopted. We simply need to be forgiven. There are plenty of people out there who have
alienated themselves out of guilt and shame, just as the prodigal son did. In shame we remove ourselves from The Father
but, just as Jesus told us, when we return to The Father and ask for
forgiveness, He is faithful to forgive us (1 John 1:9) and restore us to the
family!
The awesome part of God’s forgiveness is that even the
consequences of our actions are no match for our awesome God. Hebrews 13:5 says that He will “never leave
us nor forsake us.” Even in our mess God
wants to be there for us. He doesn’t
promise to take it all away but He does promise to provide for us and walk
through it with us! When we come through
to the other side of it, we will have seen God’s hand upon us, protecting us as
we walked through the consequences. He
loves us so much!
It doesn’t matter how big or small the sin or mistake, God
is greater than them all! His love for
you is infinite.
I pray that as you come to Him and as you allow Him to
reveal Himself to you that you come to Him openly as your Heavenly Father! Hold on to His hope and love and remember
that He died once so that you could live with Him forever! He knows that we make messes but He doesn’t
want us to stay in the mess.
God bless you as you seek and serve Him.
The story of the Prodigal Son can be found in Luke 15:11-31.
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