So Where Were We?

Exodus 31:15 "For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest, holy to the Lord."
Exodus 35:2 "For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day shall be your holy day, a Sabbath of rest to the Lord."

What happened between these two verses? Not much - only total rebellion, the golden calf, the threat of destruction, the smashing of the tablets, the intercession of Moses, the plan of God to restart through Moses, the killing of 3,000, the Tent of Meeting, Moses on the mountain (again), the rechiseling of the Law, the radiant face, the veil . . . . in other words, a total mess that had to be fixed.

But what's interesting about this is that after all of this mess - God basically picks up right where He left off. He was talking about the Sabbath, and that's right where He started again. I love this. It tells me volumes about the mercy of God. Sin has consequences - but when all is atoned for, when the dust has settled, God wants us to get right back into the game. Right where we left off.

In other words – after all the wrestling, pleading, waiting . . . when God forgives, He forgives completely. There are consequences – but the position is restored. Think of the Prodigal Son story, or the story of Peter. The position is immediately re-established and God wants to continue to move forward. He doesn’t want to linger on the past anymore. That's the point of forgiveness. It's as if God were saying, "Okay, now that we got through that, where were we?" I mean, come on! Who does that? When someone hurts us, we NEVER pick up where we left off. We may forgive - but with incredibly complex strings attached. God never attaches these strings.

The mess of Exodus 32 - 34 is a pretty good description of my life. But to know that the story can be picked up where it left off? Wow. That's one of the best definitions of grace that is found anywhere in Scripture.