Yes! There is Good News! 1.7.17

The calendar has just flipped another year for us, and again I ponder the passage of time. It is something that is unstoppable for us humans. It is just one of many things that has been ordained by God Himself. Speaking of God ordaining things, I must wonder just what there may be that God has not ordained. Do you consider God to be in charge of the universe? I do. He is the creator and the sustainer of all things. In the beginning of the Bible, the book of Genesis, God tells us that at the end of each day of creation, He pronounced it as good. And that at the end of the sixth day we read, “God saw all that He had made, and it was very good.”

Soon after, in Chapter 3 of Genesis we see that man (i.e. Adam and Eve) couldn’t keep one commandment. Yes, He has graciously given us 10 commandments, but to Adam and Eve He only brought forth one: “Do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.” They failed the test and that was not good! I believe we know the rest of the story. They chose to take upon themselves the knowledge of what was good and what was evil. And so without God’s guidance in navigation, things went downhill from there. At this point in scripture God puts the Bible on “fast forward” and takes us about 1,650 years in two chapters and so we come to Noah’s day. Genesis 6:5, “The LORD saw how great man’s wickedness on earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that He had made man on the earth and His heart was filled with pain.” My friends, this was not good news. God grieved and His heart was filled with pain! These are strong words that are used for God’s emotions. Have you ever grieved? It is not a pleasurable time. Has your heart ever been filled with pain? Same comment!

Some have wondered how a good God could allow bad things to happen. Let me state right here that the bad things that happen on this earth grieve God and fill His heart with pain. His hand is not here to stop an inebriated person’s car from starting and eventually killing an innocent bystander. But I believe His heart grieves.

I can answer this seeming dilemma in one word; freedom! Adam and Eve chose a certain path and it was not a path of freedom but slavery. And yet God (who “changes not”) still allows us the freedom to go out and get drunk and try to drive home.
But God has now, once again, given us His true freedom through His Son Jesus Christ. In Him we are free. Free to not sin. Free to love Him. Free to walk before Him in true righteousness and holiness. We all know that freedom is not free and Jesus made the ultimate sacrifice. He paid the ultimate penalty for us so that we may once again be truly free.

And friends and brethren, that is good news.