PRÉCIS ON THE PRICE OF SIN TEMPERED WITH MERCY: COUNTING THE COST

SCRIPTURE. “You answered them, O Lord our God; You were a forgiving God to them, although avenging their evildoing and wicked practices.” – PSALM 99:8, AMPC

KEY TERM: “ANSWERED.” ‘Anah’ [עָנָה]: “From a primitive root meaning ‘to heed or pay attention;’ to respond, to begin to speak; to testify or announce; also, give account, afflict, bring low; bear witness.”

QUOTATION. “‘Divine Justice’ pursued its course; disasters came thick on me: I was forced to pass through the valley of the shadow of death. His chastisements are mighty; and one smote me which has humbled me for ever. You know I was proud of my strength: But what is it now, when I must give it over to foreign guidance, as a child does its weakness? Of late, Jane – only – only of late – I began to see and acknowledge the Hand of God in my doom. I began to experience Remorse, Repentance; the wish for Reconcilement to my Maker. I began to Pray: very brief prayers they were, but very sincere.” ― CHARLOTTE BRONTË, Jane Eyre, 1847; edited

COMMENTARY. “‘Thou wast a God that forgavest them’ – They were not perfect; they were sinners; they often offended Thee, and yet Thou didst answer them, and show them mercy.

‘Though thou tookest vengeance’ – Though Thou didst manifest Thy displeasure at their misconduct; though Thou in Thy Judgments didst show that Thou wast displeased with them; nevertheless, ‘Thou didst answer them.’ Sinners as they were, and often as Thou didst show Thy displeasure at their conduct, yet Thou didst hear their prayers and bless them.

‘Of their inventions’ – The Hebrew word denotes work, deed, doing, conduct. It means here what they did – ‘their sins.’ There is no allusion to any special art or ‘cunning’ in what they did – as if they had ‘invented’ or found out some new form of sin.” – ALBERT BARNES, Notes on the Old and New Testament, 1884; edited

DK. Beloved, I believe this to be another Divine Salvo toward the obliteration of a false teaching in the Church today that somehow God is so very merciful and forgiving, that unforgiven sin has no impact on our lives. God forbid it! Sin destroys and leaves its violent mark on a man, as it has with me.

To this crucial point for the American Christian today.

Sincere, protracted, and fervent REPENTANCE is vital to living a restored Christian life, though we shall often walk away ‘with a limp’ (Gen. 3:25). As it was with Jacob, so shall it be with our own evils, though we still love and serve our God. There is a price to be paid for both ‘following’ Messiah, and ‘forsaking’ Messiah!

The magnanimous part of this otherwise stern warning, is that no matter what abased condition we are in – He hears the voice of the Contrite, but turns His ear away from the Proud and Arrogant. Every single time, beloved.