By David Ryser
Three blind mice,
three blind mice. See how they run, see how they run. They all ran after the
farmer’s wife. She cut off their tails with a carving knife. Have you ever seen
such a sight in your life as three blind mice? (Old children’s song)
You are of purer eyes
than to behold evil, And cannot look on wickedness. (Habakkuk 1:13a).
The lady…deceased now for many
years…sitting across from me on the other side of my desk was a friend of mine.
She was sharing with me that she had sinned. While this was difficult for her,
she was hoping to find forgiveness and comfort in her confession. What little
solace she had found to this point came from an obscure scripture from the book
of Habakkuk (quoted above). She said, “I know that God cannot look upon sin.
So, when I was sinning, I believe He was looking away so He wouldn’t see my
sin.”
Hmmm….
People tend to react to this little
piece of a scripture verse in Habakkuk in a couple of different ways. Some fall
into deep condemnation because they interpret this scripture to mean that, when
they sin, God cannot bear to look at them. They are pond scum in His eyes…if He
could see them…and He is thoroughly disgusted with them. Others, like this
woman, believe God turns His face away from their sin so He doesn’t see it lest
He think badly of them. The former view has even affected some preaching
concerning Jesus’ redemptive work on the cross. According to these preachers,
when Jesus uttered the words, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” it
was at this point that the sin of the world was placed on Jesus, and Jesus
became sin (2Corinthians 5:21). The Father could not look at Him because of
that sin and Jesus felt abandoned by the Father because, for the first and only
time, fellowship between the first and second Person of the Godhead was broken.
After sin was judged and the wrath of God against sin was poured out upon
Jesus, the fellowship was restored and Jesus cried out “Father, into Your hands
I commend My spirit” as He passed from this earthy life.
I am embarrassed to admit I preached
this rubbish myself many years ago.
So, which of these two
interpretations of Habakkuk 1:13a is correct?
Does God view us as lower than worms because of our sin to the point
where He cannot even bear to look at us and fleeing from us to get away from us?
Or does He turn His face from our sin so He can continue to deal redemptively
with us without being overly disgusted by us?
Actually…neither.
A reading of Habakkuk 1:13a, in
context, reveals the author of the book has neither of these thoughts in mind
when he wrote it; in fact, quite the opposite is true as Habakkuk goes on to
say that God watches the actions of wicked people who oppress the godly and the
prophet is offended because God seemingly does nothing to correct this
injustice.
Have you ever felt like this? I
have.
So God does, in fact, see our sin
and yet always acts redemptively in our lives to restore the temporary break in
fellowship…not relationship…with Him. Need proof? Let’s go back to the Garden
of Eden.
In the 3rd chapter of
the book of Genesis, the Bible records how Adam and Eve ate of the forbidden
fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Their eyes were opened to
know good and evil. They realized they were naked and felt shame. To cover
their shame, they made aprons of fig leaves to cover their physical nakedness
and hid among some trees in fear when they heard God walking in the garden
during the cool of the day. And then God called out to Adam.
“Where are you?”
This question was not asked for
God’s benefit. God knew where Adam was, and He knew about the ridiculous choice
of evening wear Adam and Eve were sporting. The question was asked for Adam’s
benefit. He wanted both Adam and Eve to know that He was looking for them.
If Adam had believed God could not
look upon him after he had sinned, then why did Adam hide? Why didn’t God hide?
You see, if God cannot bear to look
upon sin…and if Adam has sinned…this story is backwards. God should be hiding
from Adam, and Adam should be looking for God. But that’s not what happened.
Instead of hiding Himself from Adam and Eve, God is actively seeking for
them. He wants to be with them and to
have a conversation with them. This will
be a difficult conversation to be sure, as their sin has dire consequences for
themselves and all of creation, but God is not abandoning them. On the
contrary, God is already setting in place a plan of redemption that will
ultimately restore all of humanity and all of creation to its original state.
God sees our sin. He’s not pleased
by it, but He sees it. And God is bigger than our sin. He is not disgusted by
us to the point of being unable to look upon us. He is not frightened by our
sin. He does not flee in terror and hide quivering from us and our sin; but
rather, He seeks us out and offers forgiveness freely if we simply acknowledge
our sin, confess it, and receive His mercy and cleansing (1John 1:9).
So, what would we be well-advised
to do the next time we sin? And make no mistake about it, there will be a next
time. I can only speak for myself when I say that I have determined not to do
what Adam did when I have sinned and God is desiring to have a conversation
with me about it. Instead of running away from God and trying to hide my sin
from Him…and hide myself from Him…I plan to run toward Him. As fast as
possible. Even though it’s hard. Even though my shame concerning my behavior
makes everything within me want to run as far as I can and hide as well as I
can to avoid the pain of dealing with my sin. Even though I would like to avoid
the upcoming conversation about my sin.
Because God sees me. Yes, He sees
my sin; but, more importantly, He sees me. In all my failures and shortcomings,
He sees me. And He’s seeking me out because He wants nothing more in that
moment than to work redemptively in my life so our fellowship can be restored,
and I will be free once again to enjoy a sense of His love and presence
untainted by a sense of guilt and shame. I have lived for an extended
period…even as a Christian…without a sense of God’s love and presence, and I
never want to live like that again.
God sees me. The triune God is a
Holy Trinity, not the three blind mice. And I’m grateful.
Responses to this article are
welcomed. You may contact the author at drdave1545@yahoo.com
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