I was reading through 2 Samuel when I came across verse 14 of chapter 14:
All of us must die eventually. Our lives are like water spilled out on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again. But God does not just sweep life away. Instead, he devises ways to bring us back when we have been separated from him.Now, the speaker was a woman who had been instructed by David's military commander to challenge David about his refusal to allow Absalom home following Absalom's murder of Amnon. Absalom and Amnon being sons of David. Did you follow that?
Still, I couldn't help but notice the verse. It hit me that the words were (well, are) even truer than the speaker realized. Especially the last bit.
Yesterday, as I was writing this, was Good Friday.
A day on which we remember exactly how far God was willing to go, just what He was willing to do, in order to bring us back after we had separated ourselves from Him.
I can remember asking once, as a child, why do we call Good Friday "good"? After all, the event was not a particularly happy one. The man was being crucified. Even as a child I knew that was good. Now I know it is positively gruesome, at best.
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The answer I was given, the answer I now understand, and the answer I was reflecting on as I read those words written centuries before Jesus was ever born, was simple. It is mind blowing. It is life changing. It is logic defying.
We remember it, we celebrate it, because it was there that God took the punishment that is rightfully ours.
It was there that God died a traitor's death in place of the true traitors: us.
On Good Friday we remember the most remarkable, most extraordinary, most... I really can not think of a word big enough, event that has ever occurred in all of human history.
The impossible happened:
A bridge was made between God and Man. A bridge that spanned the chasm created by sin.
It was the way back. Back to God.
Back to the way the world should be.
It was momentous.
No wonder the apostles preferred death to denying it.
No wonder John Newton penned the words "amazing Grace how sweet the sound".
No wonder Horatio Spafford, mourning the loss of his daughters, penned the words "it is well with my soul".
This was a game changer.
And the question that should be asked every time is this:
Will you step onto this bridge?
Will you return to being in a relationship with God?
Because a bridge is useless if you don't use it, and there is no ferry provided for this chasm.
And if you are on the bridge, if you are back in relationship with God, are you letting it define your life?
Am I letting it define my life?
That was the big challenge for me.
Something so incredible, so personal, so... again, no word quite right, but you understand, don't you? Should not be a Sunday-and-Friday-thing. It should not be a Christmas-and-Easter-thing.
It should be an everything.
Because the truth is, we all die. It is the consequence of our sin.
Death is only natural when you've cut yourself off from life.
But God is not willing to just sweep away life.
Instead, He devised a way to bring us back.
It was drastic. It was insane. It was necessary.
And the challenge this Easter, both for me, personally, and from me to everyone else is this:
Will you take the way back? Will you return to the life-giving presence of God? Or will you continue to remain separate? Will you continue running yourself to destruction?
Happy Easter, everyone.
