Do not hold their sins against them . . .

Judges 3; Jeremiah 16; Mark 2; Acts 7

I’ve been collecting photographs from various sources, lots of quilts because I make quilts, but also pictures from the Hubble telescope because they show the power of Almighty God as do pictures of the incredible recent storms in our area.

Not everyone sees them with God in mind. Some look at the massive storm clouds with terror because of harm that can come with them. Others are extremely excited because something about a storm arouses their emotions. A few think the clouds are beautiful, but I’ve not experienced anyone refer to God regarding what they see.

The OT prophets had the task of connecting the events in peoples’ lives with God. When they sinned and He was angry with them, the prophets declared that those who rose against them were God’s instruments to reveal that anger. He told them, “I will hurl you out of this land into a land that neither you nor your fathers have known, and there you shall serve other gods day and night, for I will show you no favor.” (Jeremiah 16:13) The bottom line:

“Therefore, behold, I will make them know, this once I will make them know my power and my might, and they shall know that my name is the Lord.” (Jeremiah 16:21)

Some seemed to get it, but this kind of treatment and the revelation that God was God didn’t stop them from turning away from Him to do their own thing. In a milder way, those who see storms as fearful or exciting or beautiful are a little bit like that; they interpret the Almighty’s hand as something else.

The religious teachers did the same thing when they saw Jesus doing amazing things. When a paralytic was presented to Him for healing, Jesus first forgave his sin (revealing His priorities!) but . . .

Some of the scribes were sitting there, questioning in their hearts, “Why does this man speak like that? He is blaspheming! Who can forgive sins but God alone?” (Mark 2:6–7)

Instead of the logical conclusion that God was among them, they thought Jesus was a blasphemer. They were quicker to glorify God when Jesus healed the man, but later when Jesus sat and ate with ‘tax collectors and sinners’ they found fault with Him again, as if their God could not possibly associate with riffraff.

Jesus could make lives whole but they accused Him of sin when He allowed His disciples to pluck grain to eat on the Sabbath. In other words, their rules and ideas kept them from realizing that He was Lord even of the Sabbath.

This failure to see God in events also happens to those who follow Jesus. Stephen, who was said to be “full of grace and power” and “doing great wonders and signs among the people” was arrested and those who heard his case “saw that his face was like the face of an angel.” But this did not overcome their own ideas of the value and source of grace in this young man, particularly when he told them:

“You stiff-necked people, uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit. As your fathers did, so do you. Which of the prophets did your fathers not persecute? And they killed those who announced beforehand the coming of the Righteous One, whom you have now betrayed and murdered, you who received the law as delivered by angels and did not keep it.” (Acts 7:51–53)

Those he accused were enraged and ground their teeth at him, but Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. He could see the glory of God and Jesus standing at the right hand of God and told them so, but they cried out with a loud voice and stopped their ears and rushed together at him, casting him out of the city and stoning him to death. Even then, Stephen called out to the Lord to receive him and said, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” These religious people could not see the glory of God in Christ or in Stephen — and killed them both.

Theologians try to explain how salvation is the work of God only, yet sinners must realize their need and repent if they are going to be saved. As I read these stories, I see how God moves to bring people to their knees before Him. Trials often are His method, fearful things, or awe and even beauty. Yet sin is entrenched. Unless His mercy softens hard hearts so they cry out in their need, how can grace move in and change lives?

APPLY: Over the centuries, God’s people have asked Him to soften hard hearts. He is can do that yet in compassion, we fret if His methods seem harsh and sometimes give up if they resist the message of God’s mercy and grace. What does God want from me? Persistence and loving patience. Don’t give up.