Come . . .

Have you ever wanted to be punished when you’ve done something wrong? Let’s say you’ve sinned against God, and then go to prayer and confess, and then there is nothing, your just forgiven. Or you have greatly and significantly hurt a relationship and they respond with your forgiven and that’s it, everything is back to normal. And then we feel awkward and feel like we need to do something. We need to make it right or at least suffer a little. We want to feel like we have paid for our wrongs. We have this sense of justice that nags us. We know justice needs to be met.

In Isaiah 58, God says,

And let him return to the Lord,
And He will have compassion on him,
And to our God,
For He will abundantly pardon.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts,
Nor are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth,
So are My ways higher than your ways
And My thoughts than your thoughts.

God calls us to come as we are, filthy sinners, and to enjoy the richest of fare. We don’t pay for it with our own pecuniary resources of holiness. We cannot make things right or bring justice. We cannot pay for our wrongs. But through Jesus Christ, God calls . . .

Ho! Every one who thirsts, come to the waters;
And you who have no money come, buy and eat.
Come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without cost.
“Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And delight yourself in abundance.

Cease striving, know that Jesus Christ is God, and behold the works of the Lord. Justice was met through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus took on the punishment we deserved. He filled both our need for justice as well as God’s justice. He has reconciled us to God. He makes wars to cease. And He calls out to us, “Come all who are weary and burdened, come find the justice you are looking for, come find rest from you labor.” He will be exalted and bring a people to Himself among the nations

Psalm 31, is a song describing God’s reaction to the sinner. He states that in the midst of our sin, we should, “Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, which must be curbed with bit and bridle, or it will not stay near you.” Often in our sin, we don’t want to come to Him, we are like a stubborn mule. But in His tender love, He cries out, while it is called Today, “Come.”