Jeffrey C. Long

Now you were angry when we committed sin and remained in it so long; yet you helped us. (Isaiah 64:5)

This story must always repeat itself: God helps, however great our sins may be. So David says, He will not always find fault, nor will He hold on to His anger forever. He does not deal with us according to our sins nor repay us according to the measure of our evil deeds (Psalm 13:9,10). For this reason we will never give up our confidence in the grace of God. Do not forget that we are children of grace and we must always be made aware that we are children of grace. That is why God often really lets it be seen what we are, so that we learn to cry out for grace. Even when He punishes us for our sins, we must never give up hope, though we are truly guilty of everything. Even when we feel that God is angry with us–and rightly angry —we must not think that He will be angry forever and never be open to reconciliation. Still we will hold fast to grace, and we will still experience help, even when we are truly to blame, as it so often happens. In any case, what we call God’s anger is often pure love, and in the end the Mercy will be so obvious that there will be no room in our hearts for anything but praise and thanksgiving!

Johann Christoph Blumhardt

Translation by Monty Ledford

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