Apple of His Eye
“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall bruise your head, And you shall bruise His heel.” Genesis 3:15
Yesterday, I mentioned how this magnificent declaration resounds of God’s redemptive character (To read yesterday’s devotional, click here). But I see yet another wonderful revelation of God’s character in this “Proto-Evangel”. I not only see God’s intervening redemption for the fall, but God’s intensely personal identification with the fallen. God makes the deception perpetrated against man as a personal matter. He takes up the cause of the rebellious man as a father takes up the cause of his child, even when the child is at fault. God puts himself between man and the serpent, and declares “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”
Those whom He made in his image, he does not abandon the moment they shatter that image. The consequences of this shattering are real, painful, long, and costly, but in the midst of it stands God, taking up the cause of the fallen man, and taking on the real and brutal brunt of the fall. When all things justify His distance, we find Him that He is close by.
There is a book of the Bible that is my favorite, and in that book there is a chapter that I love the most, and in that chapter there is a portion of the verse that never fails to give me encouragement. It is the beginning of verse 36 in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. It starts with the words, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God?..” If you read the whole story you realize the impact of these words. This man born blind has experienced the greatest event in his life. Jesus, in passing by, has performed the greatest miracle – the man can now see! This has raised the curiosity of friends, the irk of the religious authorities, the distancing of his own family. Alone he struggles to face this abandonment of family, and the questions of the religious authorities, while trying to make sense of who this Jesus really is. Ultimately he is cast out of the last society he knew as his own, with nothing but the miracle of sight to console him, and the faint understanding of the Man who healed him. And at that moment we read that Jesus hears he has been cast out and, in the midst of a personal peril (as the last part of chapter 8 suggests) goes and finds him! In the midst of the crisis of a complete abandonment, Jesus looks for him and finds him, and makes this a personal matter. In the subsequent verses we read the perhaps some of the most direct words of condemnation to the proud pharisees found in the Gospels - “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Yet, once again, He has taken up the cause of the outcast, and made it a personal matter.
Providing redemption from the fall is an act of the loving God, but personally identifying with the fallen is an act of the loving Father. Brother, Sister, do you feel abandoned? betrayed? under the chastening hand of the Lord? Then can I remind you to take courage, and revel in that limitless grace. If you are a child of God , then you can be assured that the loving Father takes up your cause as a personal matter.
"For thus says the Lord of hosts.... for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. " Zechariah 2:8
Danesh Manik
Yesterday, I mentioned how this magnificent declaration resounds of God’s redemptive character (To read yesterday’s devotional, click here). But I see yet another wonderful revelation of God’s character in this “Proto-Evangel”. I not only see God’s intervening redemption for the fall, but God’s intensely personal identification with the fallen. God makes the deception perpetrated against man as a personal matter. He takes up the cause of the rebellious man as a father takes up the cause of his child, even when the child is at fault. God puts himself between man and the serpent, and declares “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed.”
Those whom He made in his image, he does not abandon the moment they shatter that image. The consequences of this shattering are real, painful, long, and costly, but in the midst of it stands God, taking up the cause of the fallen man, and taking on the real and brutal brunt of the fall. When all things justify His distance, we find Him that He is close by.
There is a book of the Bible that is my favorite, and in that book there is a chapter that I love the most, and in that chapter there is a portion of the verse that never fails to give me encouragement. It is the beginning of verse 36 in chapter 9 of the Gospel of John. It starts with the words, “Jesus heard that they had cast him out; and when He had found him, He said to him, Do you believe in the Son of God?..” If you read the whole story you realize the impact of these words. This man born blind has experienced the greatest event in his life. Jesus, in passing by, has performed the greatest miracle – the man can now see! This has raised the curiosity of friends, the irk of the religious authorities, the distancing of his own family. Alone he struggles to face this abandonment of family, and the questions of the religious authorities, while trying to make sense of who this Jesus really is. Ultimately he is cast out of the last society he knew as his own, with nothing but the miracle of sight to console him, and the faint understanding of the Man who healed him. And at that moment we read that Jesus hears he has been cast out and, in the midst of a personal peril (as the last part of chapter 8 suggests) goes and finds him! In the midst of the crisis of a complete abandonment, Jesus looks for him and finds him, and makes this a personal matter. In the subsequent verses we read the perhaps some of the most direct words of condemnation to the proud pharisees found in the Gospels - “For judgment I have come into this world, that those who do not see may see, and that those who see may be made blind.” Yet, once again, He has taken up the cause of the outcast, and made it a personal matter.
Providing redemption from the fall is an act of the loving God, but personally identifying with the fallen is an act of the loving Father. Brother, Sister, do you feel abandoned? betrayed? under the chastening hand of the Lord? Then can I remind you to take courage, and revel in that limitless grace. If you are a child of God , then you can be assured that the loving Father takes up your cause as a personal matter.
"For thus says the Lord of hosts.... for he who touches you touches the apple of His eye. " Zechariah 2:8
Danesh Manik
posted by Danesh Manik | 12:29 PM
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