THE LOVE OF OUR GOOD SHEPHERD

 
God is love:

·       God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. (Romans 5:8-10)

The life of Lot reminds me of God’s love. In many ways, he had been a spiritual failure:

• He chose to dwell in one of the most sinful places.

• He entertained angels but wanted to speed them off early in the morning before they could see his town, Sodom, for what it was.

• He was willing to give his two virgin daughters to a rape mob.

• He allowed his daughters to get him drunk on two successive evenings so they could bring forth babies by him.

However, his sins did not disqualify him from God’s love:

·       and (God) delivered righteous Lot, sore distressed by the lascivious life of the wicked (for that righteous man dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their lawless deeds) (2 Peter 2:7-8)

How are we to reconcile these two apparently opposite portraits of Lot? The same way we reconcile the perplexing portrayals of faith we find in the “Hall of Fame of Faith,” and those found throughout the Bible, like:

·       By faith the people crossed the Red Sea as on dry land, but the Egyptians, when they attempted to do the same, were drowned. (Hebrews 11:29)

By faith? Israel had been in rebellion against their God as they heard the Egyptian chariots approaching them and damned Moses for bringing them out of slavery. However, in the depths of their heart, God perceived a tiny mustard seed of faith, and that was enough . He also perceived the same faith in the heart of Lot.

The same thing pertained to Abraham’s wife Sarah who laughed in disbelief when she heard God’s promise that she would give birth the following year:

·       By faith Sarah herself received power to conceive, even when she was past the age, since she considered him faithful who had promised. (Hebrews 11:11)

By faith? Underneath, God perceived an element of faith in Sarah heart.

Our God graciously and lovingly doesn’t want any of His precious children to be lost. In many cryptic ways, He reassures us that no one will ever pluck us out of His steadfast arms, not even our multitude of failures.

He is the good Shepherd. It is on the love and care of this Shepherd that I meditate daily. How else can we stand!