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| Full Photo may be Found at The Break Guide to Tsunamis |
- Free? Sure.
- Undeserved? Well, okay.
- Calling for an admission of guilt before a holy God? No way!
This high handed rejection of mercy puts man in a dilemma.
First - man despises admission of his need. In Eden, after shifting blame to his wife, Adam remained silent
in response to God's rebuke. Cain, when confronted for his act
of murder, scorned any plea for mercy, claimed victim-hood and complained about the severity of his sentence.
Second - man grudgingly acknowledges being at the mercy of the elements. Through history God has used the elements to
confront man with his need for mercy. The first overt demonstration
of that wrath was the catastrophe of Noah’s day. The objection of philosophical science to the model
of a global flood has, at its base, the exposure of needed mercy. No, tsunamis are not the revealed outpouring of God’s wrath; but they do remind us that wrath one day will be out-poured.
Finally - although man raises his fist against any need of mercy from God, he will claim for himself the power to withhold mercy from his fellow man. This, too, is the way of Cain who wrongly confronted Abel, unjustly overpowered him and mercilessly bullied him to death. Scripture's frequent warnings against anger, wrath and malice expose man's desire to browbeat others with his own personal demands for justice.
If we want grace, we must seek mercy. If we acknowledge our need for mercy, it ought to have an impact on our relationships to God and man. This is the point Paul made in Romans 12:1-2. In Jesus' parable of two debtors he identified mercilessness as the unjust use of muscle or authority against another by a person who has forgotten his own need of mercy in the face of deserved judgment.
If we want grace, we must seek mercy. If we acknowledge our need for mercy, it ought to have an impact on our relationships to God and man. This is the point Paul made in Romans 12:1-2. In Jesus' parable of two debtors he identified mercilessness as the unjust use of muscle or authority against another by a person who has forgotten his own need of mercy in the face of deserved judgment.
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