Betrayal and Grace

Unedited, from March 30, 2013:

“What have you done?” Genesis 3:13

These are the words of the Lord our God after being betrayed in love and heart broken by the ones he loved the most, His prized possessions, Adam and Eve. Adam and Eve had betrayed their loving creator by turning instead to the Enemy. God was deeply hurt, He was angry, he was betrayed.

Oh, the betrayal.

The Creator created us and gifted us free will so that we would freely love him. But this free will He gives us is not the permission to do whatever we want, but the opportunity to do would we should. And we should love. Yet, instead, we betray Him and reject His love. We spit in His face, tell Him that we’ve found another love and tell Him to leave us alone.

Why do we do that?! It’s because of our rebellious nature. The Enemy gives us thoughts in our mind that lead us from Him that we choose to believe, we forget to trust in God, our lover, and instead doubt His goodness, love, and omnipotence. Satan tells us “You can do whatever you what, you can do better than that. What kind of God is going to keep you from doing whatever you want to do? That’s no fun. Besides, you can love both God and man, anyway.”

However, our merciful God, the groom of the bride, the church, whom we are, has a heart quite unlike man. In the lowest point in our lives, at the most broken point in our relationship…God tells us that He will never leave us or forsake us. He will never abandon us or find another lover. We will seek us out, woo us back, and win us back to him. He will patiently endure and wait on us, no matter how far we run. He will pursue us with love until we come back to him.

“Love never gives up, never loses faith, is always hopeful, and endures through every circumstance.” 1 Corinthians 13:7

This is the love we should have for one another, for those who betray us and hurt us, for those who reject us and leave us and forsake us.

This is grace. This is where grace overwhelms. Grace removes all doubt. His love never fails, never gives up, and never runs out. Let us cling to this love and ask for an outpouring of this love to us from the Father so that we may offer that same love and grace to those who betray us, even in the most broken and dead part of our relationship.

And remember, “For nothing is impossible with God.” (Luke 1:37), and God it is God’s heart to restore and reconcile, and He does and will.