To Encourage You

Matthew 26:67 “Then they spit in his face and struck him. And some slapped him.”

What does inner strength look like?  How is it displayed?  Perhaps one of the most magnificent displays of this strength ever seen is in the scene above as Jesus was being led to the cross.  Here is an awesome example of the gracious restraint of God.  Can you imagine having the power to incinerate your enemies with a word and yet having the restraint to be abused by them in the ways mentioned in Matthew 26.  And it didn’t end there.  Jesus was scourged with whips embedded with metal, had his beard ripped out, had a crown of thorns pressed down on his head which was then beaten by rods, had nails driven through His hands and feet, and then was left on a cross to die.    He had the power to end this at any point.  So, why didn’t He? 

The only reason is love.  It was a love so overwhelming with longsuffering grace and restraint towards His enemies that it is too deep to put into words.  He wanted more than anything to save the lives of the very ones who were putting Him to death.  Because God is perfectly just and will punish all sin, only by enduring the ugliness of sin and feeling its full brunt in His own body could Jesus pay its penalty on our behalf.  He became sin for us, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him (2 Corinthians 5:21).  And God’s gracious restraint didn’t end on the cross. Think of how man has sinned against God since that time.  History has been replete with the hatred of men toward other men as well as toward God.  Just read any history book, or any daily newspaper. 

So why does the God, Who could end it all with the fire of His wrath, not act?  What on earth is He waiting for?  The answer?  It is only “because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed”(Lamentations 3:22).  He is waiting, waiting, and waiting some more for men to repent.  While there is still hope for one, He waits. 

An example of this grace is given very early in the history of the Bible, as God promises Abram that his offspring will inherit the land of Canaan.   Why didn’t Abram inherit the land immediately? Why did God wait for the fourth generation after Abram (later Abraham) for Israel to conquer and inherit the Promised Land?  We are told in Genesis 15:16. Here Abram is told that his progeny “shall come back here in the fourth generation, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete.”  In other words, there’s still some hope. They are wicked now, but I will wait for four more generations to bring my judgment on them. 

God’s gracious restraint.  I am so thankful He has showed such restraint towards me – and continues to. Aren’t you?  We know that “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).  And yet, “while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8).  Truly His mercies are “new every morning” (Lamentations 3:23).  And in that mercy, He waits. 

If you don’t know Him, will you respond while there’s still time, while He still extends that gracious restraint toward you?  But if you do know Him, are you following His example toward others?  How quick are you to react to a wrong done to you?  Is the gracious restraint of your Savior demonstrated in your own life?  If not, it will only be because one thing is lacking, for we will love only as an awareness of and gratitude for the love He has toward us is in the forefront of our lives.