Rejoicing in God's Faithfulness

Readings for Tuesday, July 20:
Micah 7:14-15, 18-20
Psalm 85:2-8
Matthew 12:46-50

Couldn't find a picture of God's faithfulness, so here's one of the depths of the sea! ->

“Whoever does the will of my Heavenly Father is my brother, and sister, and mother.”

As we listen to those words I’m sure all of us long to be counted among that number, to be seen as brother, sister, or mother of the Lord because we do the will of His Father. But we must also recognize that this is not always the case, that there are times when we turn away from God’s will and seek to do our own and fall into sin. As much as we try, this will inevitably be the case, but this is not a cause for despair or frustration. Rather, it is an opportunity for us to rejoice at God’s faithfulness.

The reading for the book of the prophet Micah provides us with an image of a God who is faithful to His people, one who longs to have them be joined to Himself. The Lord, it says, delights not in prolonged anger but in mercy. He treads upon our guilt as a sign of His desire for us to be freed of the burden of sin and able to turn always back to Him. With each step of His journey, with each hammer of the nails, with every single one of the sufferings He endured during His passion, Christ had only one thing in mind – the will of the Father, to free us from sin so we might live with Him in eternity. Through His death and resurrection, He frees us of our sins. He takes our sins, as the prophet says, and casts them into the depths of the sea. This imagery evokes the finality of our separation from sins – they are cast into the depths of the sea, where no one could reach them. We are no longer able to be weighted down with our failings but are set free to move forward and to continue to follow after the Lord and to seek to do His will.

When we sin, we must not allow that sin and guilt to weigh us down. We must turn again to God, who is always faithful to us, and ask for His forgiveness. And knowing that He will indeed forgive us, we can find a reason to rejoice at this gift of freedom and at the opportunity to once again experience the faithfulness of God.