Does God love sinners? - Ruminating in the Word of God

The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing,
majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of
him and what came to my mind and heart in Judges 8:33-34,

"No sooner had Gideon died than the Israelites again prostituted
themselves to the Baals. They set up Baal-Berith as their god and did
not remember the Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands
of all their enemies on every side."

How deceitful the human heart! In this case Israel, but Israel is only
representative of all mankind. Just as soon as the man the Lord used
to deliver them from their enemies died, they "did not remember the
Lord their God, who had rescued them from the hands of all their
enemies on every side."

The "did not remember" phrase refers not to memory loss, but to an
intentional abandonment of the One they owed so much to. In Judges 6:6
we read, "Midian so impoverished the Israelites that they cried out to
the Lord for help." Now that the help had come and the Lord had
delivered them from their desperation and they had enjoyed forty years
of peace and tranquility, they turned from their deliverer.

Such is the heart of mankind. "The heart is deceitful above all things
and beyond cure. Who can understand it?" Jeremiah 17:9. All mankind
has an abiding sinful nature that is at the core of his heart. It is
an existential reality that permeates every part of our being. Even
those who have been born in to God's kingdom continue to struggle with
this sin nature in this life. It will remain with us until the day we
experience our resurrection and we are renewed.

In Galatians 5:16-18 we read of the frustration and battle believers
have with this inward sinful nature, "So I say, live by the Spirit,
and you will not gratify the desires of the sinful nature. For the
sinful nature desires what is contrary to the Spirit, and the Spirit
what is contrary to the sinful nature. They are in conflict with each
other, so that you do not do what you want. But if you are led by the
Spirit, you are not under law."

It is against the reality of this sinful condition bound up within our
hearts that I am struck with astonishment as I consider the love our
Lord has for us! How could God our Creator find within his heart, a
pristine heart of flawless character, a character that responds to
sinfulness with horrific judgment, how could he harbor such love for
us that he sent his Son to die a miserable death on that cross to pay
for our sins?! Any, yet, that is exactly what he has done! "God
demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners,
Christ died for us." Romans 5:8. "This is how God showed his love
among us: He sent his one and only Son into the world that we might
live through him. This is love: not that we loved God, but that he
loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins." 1
John 4:9-10.

I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge what our Lord has done in
regard to this for those who love him. For those who have embraced the
Lord in faith, he has provided us help in our struggle with this
sinful condition. Paul makes an interesting observation about this,
"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the
Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have
the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is
in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive
because of righteousness." Romans 8:9-10.

Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share
what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to
hear from you!

Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com