Leviticus 26: 40-46, “If they shall confess their iniquity, and the iniquity of their fathers, with their trespass which they trespassed against me, and that also they have walked contrary unto me; And that I also have walked contrary unto them, and have brought them into the land of their enemies; if then their uncircumcised hearts be humbled, and they then accept of the punishment of their iniquity: Then will I remember my covenant with Jacob, and also my covenant with Isaac, and also my covenant with Abraham will I remember; and I will remember the land. The land also shall be left of them, and shall enjoy her sabbaths, while she lieth desolate without them: and they shall accept of the punishment of their iniquity: because, even because they despised my judgments, and because their soul abhorred my statutes. And yet for all that, when they be in the land of their enemies, I will not cast them away, neither will I abhor them, to destroy them utterly, and to break my covenant with them: for I am the LORD their God. But I will for their sakes remember the covenant of their ancestors, whom I brought forth out of the land of Egypt in the sight of the heathen, that I might be their God: I am the LORD. These are the statutes and judgments and laws, which the LORD made between him and the children of Israel in mount Sinai by the hand of Moses.”
This section takes us to the very core of the Lord’s character. It is impossible to understand the Lord without understanding this part of His character. We saw before that the Lord was always working with Israel, in the Old Testament period, to bring them to their knees so that they could be restored to their position as the centre of His plans for blessing all the families of the earth. In spite of what some people say today, the Lord’s character is based on love, grace and mercy. All His activities are guided by those qualities but He will never lose His consistency or His integrity. The Lord gave Adam, and all his descendants, the ability to choose. This was an act of pure grace for the Lord knows that if we receive something that we have chosen then we will enjoy it even more. If we choose to enjoy all the benefits of the Lord’s love and goodness then our appreciation is far greater than if the Lord forced us to enjoy all the benefits of His love and goodness. However, the Lord has perfect integrity and is absolutely consistent. This means that, ultimately, He will give us what we choose. However, until the day we die there is always the option of confessing that we have rejected the Lord’s love and submitting to that love then we will enjoy that love. But, first we must confess our sin and repent. When people try to tell us that the Lord is responsible for the bad things that are recorded in the Old Testament they are displaying a fundamental misunderstanding of the Lord’s character and they way He acts. When people chooses to reject the Lord the Lord hands those people over to the random and arbitrary consequences of their choice. They become prey to all the evil that lies within their own hearts and this evil flows out into the world around them. God did not force them to reject His ways but He allowed them the consequences of the choice that they made. Even in this, the Lord is still gracious because they are experiences the consequences to give them understanding and their is always the opportunity to repent until they finally die and lose that as well.
(The view expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
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