"Hope Secured"

"If thou, LORD, shouldest mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall stand?" (Psalms 130:3)

  I was reminded of something yesterday, twice actually, that Eve was deceived, but Adam knew full well what he did, and yet, he did it anyways. I seriously doubt that many people actually realize the gravity of what that means, or how much God's love cancels out the rebellion within man's heart. Here we have a God that know only knows what is in our heart, but He knows what we are going to do, before we even think about doing it; and yet, He loves us still! This verse has so much to say about God's powerful grace; grace that gives us what we do not deserve, even knowing full well how much we don't deserve it. The word, "mark," is not just about keeping track of something, it speaks more to the shepherding action, or that of tilling a garden. How can I describe what that actually means? Imagine if you were raising your children, knowing each and every thing they would do against you and your wishes, before they would actually do them; how would you raise them, and what kind of treatment would they get from you? That is the point of this, that He already knows, yet He does not count what He knows towards the way that He raises us. Those that lived before were not the only ones looking forward to the cross of Christ; the Bible says, "Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you," Peter speaking of Jesus Christ and the powerful washing of His blood. (1 Peter 1:20) All along God knew, but also, all along God had redemption available! It looks a little different when you can see the things through a different shade of glasses! The point is that of foreknowledge, not that of things that we have already done. Whether we can see it or not, Adam made a choice to sin, but God already knew beforehand that he was going to do it. Did that stop God from loving Adam? One of the questions that was raised yesterday, was that of Adam eating after Eve because he loved her so much; as if, his love for Eve was greater than his respect for God. Not quite sure how that figures into his blaming God for giving her to him; but he did name her Eve after the fall...

"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst." (John 8:7-9)