God of lifetime favour
Psa
30:5 For
his anger lasts only a moment, but his favour lasts a lifetime; weeping
may remain for a night, but rejoicing comes in the morning.
In
the meditation yesterday we considered the Lord's anger and so now
we move onto the second thing: the Lord's favour. In families we sometimes
have favourites. These are the children most liked by the parent
and who receive the blessing and goodwill of the parent. You may remember,
Isaac's favourite was Esau and Rebekah's favourite was Jacob (Gen
26:28). Later Jacob (Israel)
was to have Joseph as his favourite (Gen 37:3). Having favourites
always causes problems, but the point is that a favourite is one who
receives the favour of the parent, the blessing and good will of that
parent. This is what favour is all about – blessing and good will.
What is a blessing? It is simply a decree of good, so when we say
favour is about blessing and good will, we're saying that favour is
about decreeing good towards that person.
After
the incident of the golden calf at Mount Sinai, the Lord tested Moses
by suggesting that He destroy all Israel because of what they had
done. We then read, “But Moses sought the
favour of the LORD his God” (Ex 32:11). In other words
Moses approached the Lord with a view to changing the Lord's intent
from bad to good (which, of course, was what the Lord wanted to do
anyway). The way Moses did it is instructive. He appealed to the Lord
on the basis of the Lord's revealed will to Abraham. It was like he
was saying, “Lord you decreed blessing for Abraham and his family.
We are still part of that family, so that decree surely must apply
here and now, not disaster.”
Do
you see that, it's like he's saying, “Lord surely your intent to bless
all peoples of faith lasts a lifetime – for ever?” Yes, a lifetime
here, doesn't just mean for a single person's life; it means for ever.
In that example we catch a hint of something really big: God has a
plan and it's a plan of blessing and it's a plan that will go on and
on and on throughout history. We've seen previously that it's a plan
formulated by the Godhead before history began (Jn 17:24,
1 Pet 1:20
etc.)
In
the second ‘Servant Song' in Isaiah, Isaiah prophesies, “In
the time of my favour I will answer you, and in the day of salvation
I will help you” (Isa 49:8). Paul took this Messianic
reference and applied it: “we urge you not
to receive God's grace in vain. For he says, "In the time of
my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you."
I tell you, now is the time of God's favour, now is the day
of salvation”. (2 Cor 6:1,2). God had been working right
through history up to this point when His Son would come to bring
salvation.
What
is salvation? It is saving out of a place of judgement and bringing
into a place of blessing. God didn't just save us so that we would
not receive His judgement; He saved us so that we would receive an
‘inheritance' (Col 1:12)
a blessing of goodness into our lives that would bring all the benefits
of Sonship (Gal 3:26)
to us. Yes, it's this same thing we've seen more than once in these
meditations: God is good and He decrees good for His people, the blessing
of oneness with Him through His Spirit by the work of Jesus (Gal 3:14).
We live in the era in history that can be called the ear of the fruit
of God's salvation. It is the time when God's favour, God's decree
of good for people is seen and experienced in all of its fullness
this side of heaven. It has been brought by Jesus, applied by His
Holy Spirit and received by us, and it last for a lifetime – for ever!