Handiwork

"Jehovah is merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love," Psalm 103:8.

That's not to say that God never gets mad about our stupid stuff. Redemption's not cheap. Not at all. About three months after freedom from Egyptian slavery, remember when Moses went up the mountain to get God's Law? Gone not quite six weeks. When he got back he saw his brother Aaron's handiwork, a gold calf idol, and the whole nation in its worship, an orgiastic mess. God didn't say, I'll just forgive them in my sloppy justice. No. Moses had to talk God out of cursing, hanging them out to dry, destroying, and abandoning them wholesale. Twice. And even at that, terrible consequences resulted. It's mostly in Exodus, the book of liberty. And even more mostly, it's in the Gospel where it tells about Jesus, hung out to dry on a tree, accursed. For them. For us.

So, when we visit with a brother or sister today, we remember together the cost of redemption. Of liberty. And, together, we bow deeply giving thanks for God's unfathomable mercy, grace, and love.