Every once in a while I catch a glimpse of her shadow. After spending thirty years counting beans, making certain everyone is in compliance with the laws, she became a lawyer. Me? I went on to become an ordained minister. There you have it. One of us a lawyer, the other a minister.
In theology class, we were constantly reminded of the tension between Law and Grace.
Law seems to be rigid and punitive. Grace is soft and forgiving. Nevertheless, the same God gave us both. How can He be both harsh and forgiving? Could it be that we do not understand something?
It comes down to obedience. When we obey Him, we know his full love and grace, when we disobey Him, we know his wrath. This sounds harsher than it is. He desires our friendship. When we respond to his friendship, things are good. If we reject Him, it is sad.
Recently, I caught her blog. In fact, it was her blog that inspired this one. She had lost her house in the flood. Lost interest in her work. Built a cabin by a lake somewhere in the hills and started writing for nature magazines. This is the girl I knew.
I couldn’t read her books or her blogs at first. It is too painful. I remembered what I once was and all the hopes I had forty-two years ago. But God had a different direction for me. Today, we approach God from different directions.
The law destroys. Or does it? Ray Vander Laan produced a video comparing the giving of the law on Mount Sini to a Jewish wedding. He concluded that the law was not something harsh, but a covenant of love. The marriage vows between God and man.
The first law: You will have no other God except me. Isn’t this the same promise we give each other at our wedding? I will take you and you alone. There will be no one else.
If you were to look at all the laws you will see they fit well into the bonds of marriage. We are married to God. We are His bride. This is a love relationship. The Law is not something harsh, it is a promise of love.
ceg
Written 9/19/17