God's Reaching Hand

God is love!  It is something that is difficult to grasp and something that we often take for granted.  God's hand always seems to be reaching out no matter what has been done.  He is always ready for us to return before we are ready to return to Him!  Vishal Mangalwadi, author of The Book that Made Your World, writes that the ancient Greeks put limits on what God could and could not do.  The Greeks and Romans thought that the gods were separated from humanity.  Humanity was in misery, while the gods were above it.  They thought that the gods had limits, not to mention they weren't very interested in human problems.  God, however, is not limited!  He couldn't be because He created everything!  

God is also interested in our problems, in our misery.  If He wasn't, He wouldn't have let Jesus be crucified in order to lift man up out of his misery and sin, in order to be the bridge between us and God.  Throughout history we see many examples of God caring for mankind when He didn't have to.  Why didn't He have to?  I think it's because often times we bring hardship upon ourselves by making our own mistakes.  People often complain that God isn't fair, but this isn't the case - He is more than fair!  He helps, intercedes, saves when He doesn't have to!  There are many examples in the Bible, and I know God has interceded for me showing that He cares, that He thought of me.  Just look at the nation of Israel in the Bible.  In Exodus 19:1-8 we can see that Israel agreed with the covenant that God laid before them, but they didn't follow it.  They disobeyed and were therefore meant to receive judgement for their disobedience, but God had grace and mercy many times.  Within the same book, the same people who agreed to the covenant blatantly, went against it (the story of the Golden Calf). 

We see this even more in Judges 2:11-17 when God was again angry with the Israelites for their disobedience, but He still helped them and tried to bring them back to the covenant. This happened again and again.  Yes, God got angry.  Yes, He got involved and laid some punishment on the people of Israel. But it's purpose was for them to return!  God always wanted the people of Israel to return to Him!  He was drawing them to Himself by giving them a need for Him!

We often get angry with God for hardships, and we see punishment in the Bible as God being mean and unjust.  But this isn't the case!  I've been learning that those times in the Bible were God punished was actually out of love!  God was reaching out by giving the Israelites an opportunity to need Him! 

So God reaches out.  He reaches out to us in our need.  He is reaching out to us for relationship.  So what are we going to do about it?  Are we going to grab that hand that is reaching out for us, calling for us to come near?  I'll be honest, I have ignored that hand many times and it is time that I grab that hand and hold on for life.