Today, as I was commuting to work, I was on the phone with a great friend and brother in Christ and we were talking about our levels of compassion for others. And frankly it has plagued me all day long. Thus causing this rambling post, so please bear with me.
When God spoke to Adam, He was very clear about the rules in the Garden. Everything was fair game but one tree and that one was off limits. Eating from that particular tree carried the death penalty. What puzzles me is the fact with all the other great things that were there, why Adam allowed himself to be fooled into making a dire choice. It was a choice that should have ended the human story right then and there. God could have confronted Adam and Eve and took them out on the spot, but He didn't.
Talk about an odd way to begin all human history...
As a parent, I have learned that it isn't a good idea to make threats that I am not prepared to follow through on. To be a good father, I have learned that even when it may seem inconvient, you have to stick to your guns and make good on your word. I have learned that you must take the toy away, unplug the tv, go behind to make sure the yard gets cleaned up, turn the car around, or if need be, spank them on their bottoms. If you don't, then your kids will learn to ignore you and the things you say.
So why didn't God kill Adam and Eve? Why am I able to write this blog and you sit there and read it? Why didn't the God of ultimate justice rain down fire and calamity on Adam and Eve and forever wipe them from the planet He created for THEM?
Simply put: My God is a God of mercy and grace. Had God followed through with the "death penalty" there most certainly would have been justice, but then God couldn't teach us an important lesson, to show mercy. On the other hand, He could have ignored their sin and let them eat what ever they wanted and God would have ceased to be God. God can never go against Himself or He ceases to be God. What God showed the day He held back His anger was the ultimate display of patience. He delayed His wrath long enough to see the relationship that was broken by man restored by the Man. In delaying His judgement, God showed us all that justice and mercy could coexist in our world.
The balance between justice and mercy is a difficult thing to follow sometimes. If we lean to heavily on justice, then we are too harsh in our punishment. And it causes our kids to fear us rather than respect us in the proper way. If we are too merciful, our kids turn into entitled brats that most of the civilized world can't stand. I can say that I was raised in a home that had a father that wasn't too heavy handed but he wasn't too lienent either. If I got out of line, he would quickly straighten me out but he always told me he loved me afterwards. The respect I had and still have for him, kept me from a great many troubles as I grew up. That isn't to say I didn't get in trouble a few times, because Lord knows I wasn't easy to deal with between 12-35, but even when I deserved to be cast out or I thought I was deserving of the worst punishment I could imagine, my dad would still it his arm around me and tell me he loved me, right before he busted my tail. My father loved me enough to show me that there are consequences for my actions and reactions. He stood up for me when I couldn't stand up for myself. Was he perfect? Crap no but he was consistent. And that means more to me as I father my own kids.
As I have read God's Word, I found a great example of God's mercy in Genesis 3:21. After God evicted Adam and Eve from the Garden and made them persona non grata, He did a really merciful thing. See, if you didn't already know this, Adam and Eve were naked from the point of their creation. And before the "tree" incident, they had no knowledge that this might be a wrong thing and when God cast them out into the world on their own, they were pretty close to naked so God made them some clothes. He covered and protected them even after they had blatantly disobeyed Him.
For me to be a father like The Father, I have to learn to be compassionate and learn to express it when it is called for. My personal prayer is that God give me the wisdom to be able to be the father that carries with him justice and mercy. A father that will be tender when it is needed and will cast down judgement in a biblical way when necessary. Psalm 147 verse 3 says (and I love this BTW), "He heals the broken-hearted and binds up their wounds."
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