Genesis 37-39

"But Er, Judah's firstborn, was evil in the sight of the Lord, so the Lord took his life." Gen 38:7

It's pretty shocking when you're just reading along in your Bible and all of a sudden you come across a verse like this one. And only a couple verses further Onan, Judah's second son, experiences an identical fate. Wow, God was pretty extreme!

But this reminds me of two key things. First, God is sovereign over our lives. In His hands are life and death. The Psalmist puts it this way, "And in Your book were written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them." (Psalm 139:16) Jesus calls those listening not to fear Satan, but to be in awe of the truly Sovereign One, "Fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matthew 10:28) The writer of Hebrews adds, "It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God." (Hebrews 10:31)

We are the creation, the work of the Great Potter, as Jeremiah describes (chap 18). He had the power to give life and retains the power to remove it. God molds us into that which He wants, to use us as best achieves His purposes.

We are all gifted and blessed in different ways, all being used to fulfill different functions in creation. And in the Church, Paul describes that believers are fit together into one body, the body of Christ, each spiritually gifted to fulfill the purposes of the Church. Wow, that's a wonderful thought that we have been created (and recreated in Christ) with certain God-given capabilities to fulfill specific purposes. God was sovereign over all of that!

But there is a second idea in those verses, sadly, we deserve judgment. Just as Er and Onan experienced a tragic demise, the Bible is clear that because of sin, we are all due the same sentence.

I was reading recently about a woman who exemplified an understanding of this very thing. As her relatively young believing husband lay dying of cancer, someone asked her how she was coping remarking, "It just doesn't seem fair that God would let this happen to your husband." Yet her response was incredible.

She turned to the gentleman as said, "Oh sir, my husband deserves far worse. In fact he deserves eternal punishment in hell. Yet God has given him heaven instead. How can I argue with God over taking my husband more quickly to reside there?"

What a perspective. It is the perspective of grace! In an age of entitlement, we ought study the doctrine of sin more closely. We are rightfully condemned based on our own merits and personhood. We deserve much worse than any cancer or illness, we deserve hell.

Yet our Lord took on that penalty for us, that we would not have to taste death! Wow. What tremendous grace we have been given.

And everyday, with every mistake and blasphemy we hurl at our God, His grace should be remembered. We are so worthy of Er and Onan's judgments for we have all fallen short. We are not worthy of our next breath and we have no rights over our very existence. But our Creator is a compassionate gracious God who gives to us all mercy, and even the opportunity to fulfill our purpose, sometimes even in spite of ourselves.

Enjoy your graciously given day and don't forget to stop and thank your Creator for it!