The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
(a repeat from 2020)
“God, In a Hurry”
Scripture depicts God in a hurry on at least two occasions.
"I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son: make me as one of thy hired servants. And he arose, and came to his father. But when he was yet a great way off, his father saw him, and had compassion, and ran, and fell on his neck, and kissed him" (Luke 15:18-20; emphasis added).
"And suddenly there came a sound from heaven as of a rushing mighty wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit" (Acts 2:2-4; emphasis added).
The prodigal's father did not merely walk to bestow mercy and grace to his returning son, who "was dead, and is alive again… was lost, and is found" (Luke 15:24). He ran. The father outraced his son to the altar, as it were, waiting for him there with forgiveness.
"Thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness" (Nehemiah 9:17).
God loves to forgive far more than we love to be forgiven. "He delighteth in mercy" (Micah 7:18). Of course, we must come in the way He made through the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We must make our approach in honest acknowledgment of our sins and trusting repentance. But as we turn to make our way home, we will find Him quickly expediting His way toward us to establish or restore our fellowship with Himself. "Ready to forgive… slow to anger" - this is the God of Scripture, and this is the Father who through His Son races to forgive.
We find the second depiction of God in a hurry by the Holy Spirit being described as "a rushing mighty wind." In this affirmation, our Lord hurried to enter the hearts of His trusting children. After the death, resurrection, and ascension of the Lord Jesus, the Spirit of God establishes the hearts of believers as His dwellingplace in the moment of our new birth (John 14:17). He rushes to enter therein because God created our hearts to serve as His spiritual home. "I will dwell in them and walk in them" (II Corinthians 6:16). He loves to live within us more than we love to have Him live within us. He therefore makes haste to enliven and inhabit the hearts of converts, and forever thereafter "taketh pleasure in His people" (Psalm 149:4; emphasis added).
God in a hurry, running to forgive and rushing to indwell. This is the Lord who so loves human hearts, and this is the Biblical imagery that must become doctrinal and personal conviction in our hearts regarding our perception of Him. We grow in faith thereby, and "the fruits of righteousness which are by Jesus Christ" far more characterize our walk with our Heavenly Father as we rightly know Him and more consistently respond to God in a hurry.
"Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful."
(Psalm 116:5)
"I will come to you."
(John 14:18)
Weekly Memory Verse
Gracious is the Lord, and righteous. Yea, our God is merciful.
(Psalm 116:5).
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