Mercy Without Presumption

The same Lord who delivers also tests; the same Lord who preserves also cuts off the proud. Israel in the days of the judges was not ruined by weakness first, but by forgetfulness. As Tertullian says, “So soon as one of the judges died, they proceeded to transgress more than their fathers had done by going after the gods of others, and serving and worshipping them.” When men cease to fear God, they soon bow to what is near at hand—power, custom, appetite, gain. Then grief follows, as in the lament over Jerusalem: strangers in the inheritance, labor without rest, fathers gone, reproach covering the people.

Yet the lament is still a prayer. It does not excuse sin, but brings misery before God. Origen gives the sharp edge of it: “Why have You spared us so long, not visiting us because of our sins, but deserting us, until our transgressions come to a height?” This is a hard mercy: God may leave a man to taste the fruit of his own way, that he may at last learn repentance. So Paul warns the Gentiles not to boast over the broken branches. If God did not spare the natural branches when they fell through unbelief, neither will He spare pride in us. We stand only by faith working through obedience, humility, and endurance.

Therefore let no one presume because he has once been delivered, nor despair because judgment has begun. God is able to cut off and able to graft in. Let us then remain in His kindness by steadfast repentance, by refusing idols, and by praying with fear and hope until He restores what our sins have wasted.