The beauty of God’s Condescension
‘The distance between God and the creature is so great, that although reasonable creatures do owe obedience unto Him as their Creator, yet they could never have any fruition of Him as their blessedness and rewards, but by some voluntary condescension on God’s part, which he hath pleased to express by way of Covenant’.
• Westminster Confession of Faith Chapter 7.1
As we go through our series on Covenant theology within the book of Genesis, it seems a good idea to consider to reflect on what a wonderful grace it is to be in covenant with God. For perhaps the whole of human history, philosophers, religions and seekers of all fields have sought to find a way to God and have yet to succeed. For how can one touch the intangible? Reach the transcendent? Understand the inconceivable? Scripture gives us an answer, we cannot find God, we cannot even truly begin to know how to seek Him. There is but one seeker in the world and that is God Himself who seeks the lost and condescends to meet them.
One of the many profound truths of Scripture is that God has condescended to meet humanity, not only to condemn them for their faults, but He in His lovingkindness binds His own name to His people so that they would be blessed by Him and His glory would be made known in them (Ephesians 1).
What does that mean for us today? There is a common fallacy which disciples of Christ fall into which is that our aim in our worship, ministry and theology is to somehow seek God for ourselves. Conversely that our grief, confusion and at times pain is somehow then when the Lord leaves us. Scripture tells us that neither is true, for our faith not built by our works, nor our faithfulness but His (Romans 3)!
If you are anxious, hurt and broken, let us be encouraged as we go through Genesis together that our Lord has covenanted Himself to His people, not to abandon them but to shepherd us into His presence (Psalm 23). If you are growing and flourishing, be reminded that it is not so you would find more of God than others but only so that you may worship more fully the God who has condescended to make Himself known to you.
This week let us praise God for He is the seeker who has found us, without requiring us to first work to find Him.
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神俯就的美麗
「神與受造之物之間的距離是如此之大，以致理性受造物雖然因祂是創造主而當順服祂，卻永遠不能以祂為自己的福樂與賞賜，除非神親自甘願俯就，而祂樂意以立約的方式表達這一點。」
•《西敏信條》第七章第一節
當我們在《創世記》中進行「聖約神學」的系列時，實在值得停下來思想：能與神立約是何等奇妙的恩典。縱觀人類歷史，哲學家、宗教家以及各樣尋求者都試圖找到通往神的道路，卻始終未能成功。人怎能觸摸那無形的？怎能達到那超越的？怎能明白那不可思議的？
聖經給了我們答案：我們無法找到神，甚至無法真正開始知道如何尋找祂。世上真正的尋找者只有一位，就是神自己——祂尋找失喪的人，並且俯就與他們相遇。
聖經中一個極其深刻的真理，就是神俯就來到人中間，不僅不是單單為了定人的罪，反而在祂的慈愛中，將自己的名與祂的子民相連，使他們在祂裡面得福，並使祂的榮耀在他們身上彰顯（以弗所書 1 章）。
這對我們今天意味著什麼？基督的門徒常落入一個錯誤的觀念：以為我們在敬拜、事奉和神學上的目標，是要靠自己去尋找神。相反地，我們也可能以為當我們感到憂傷、困惑甚至痛苦時，就是主離開了我們。
然而聖經告訴我們，這兩者都不是真實的。因為我們的信心不是建立在我們的行為或我們的忠心上，而是建立在祂的信實之上（羅馬書 3 章）。
若你正感到焦慮、受傷或破碎，當我們一起查考《創世記》時，願你得著鼓勵：我們的主已與祂的子民立約，不是要離棄他們，而是要牧養我們，引領我們進入祂的同在（詩篇 23 篇）。
若你正經歷成長與興盛，也當記得，這並不是讓你比他人更「找到」神，而是使你更完全地敬拜那位俯就、向你顯明自己的神。
這一週，讓我們一同讚美神，因為祂是那位尋找我們的主——祂找到我們，並沒有要求我們先努力去找到祂。
