Hokey-Pokey
Are you playing Hokey-Pokey with God?
There is this awesome day when we finally get serious about our relationship with God and this whole faith thing begins to make sense to us. We recognize our desperate need for God and gain a sliver of understanding of the love He has for each of us. We accept Jesus and decide to put our whole self in.
The next day, we go to work, go to school, or wake up and live our day like we have always lived it. We may try to see things differently, but the distractions of the day will eventually clog our faith and we put our whole self out.
At some point, we remember God and realize we have things so messed up, we desperately need Him again and we put our whole self in. We are so grateful He is forgiving; we shake ourselves about and really try to turn ourselves around.
Then we do it again because that’s what it’s all about.
Fortunately, we can return to God many times and say the words recorded in Micah 7:18-19.
Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea.
Why should these Old Testament words be important to us today? For one, they illustrate a true difference in our Lord from all other gods worshipped throughout the world, for here He is especially distinguished from the others by His name: the God who pardons. These words reveal our Lord as one who forgives.
We find this unique quality confirmed throughout Scripture. Nehemiah declared in Nehemiah 9:17:
… You are a forgiving God, gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love. Therefore you did not desert them…
When we look back at the Hebrew text on this passage, a more proper translation is “a God ready to pardon” or “a God of forgiveness”.
Moses asked the Lord for a revelation of His glory (should we be as bold?). While Moses wasn’t allowed to see God’s face, the Lord did show Moses a sliver of His glory, as this was all Moses would be able to comprehend or even handle. In the midst of this revelation, the Lord gave Moses a better understanding of His name in Exodus 34:6-7.
The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin…
David gives the same description in Psalm 86:5.
You are forgiving and good, O Lord, abounding in love to all who call to you.
If you are like me, you may be playing Hokey-Pokey with God… Ok, I have to admit it on this one: Yes, I play Hokey-Pokey with God. I would be a fool not to recognize the pattern in my life and my yo-yo faith. If I was the only one, though, I doubt I would find Scripture constantly addressing this situation; I wouldn’t find a steady stream of examples throughout the Old and New Testament of people with the same struggle; nor would I find the comfort of God’s own Word and His name: a God of forgiveness.
I am a recovering heathen. My first step is recognition. My next step is to seek out our forgiving God and put my whole self in, once again.
What about you? Are you tough enough to put your whole self in?
Glenn Sasscer
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