ALPHA MAAMA (A.M.)

 TU’APULELULU ‘EPELELI 30, 20226

1 KALONIKALI 5-9; SELEMAIA 31:16-20

We should be thankful that woven into the gospel is the promise of fresh starts and new beginnings.

‘Oku taau ke tau fakafeta’i ‘i hono fatu ‘i he koosipeli ‘a e palomesi ‘o e faingamalie mo e kamata fo’ou.

One of my favorite verses in all of Scripture is Jonah 3:1: "Then the word of the LORD came to Jonah the second time...." God's patience and grace toward Jonah surprise me every time I read this book. In the face of God's call, Jonah ran in the other direction, not only to disobey God but to escape God's presence. I probably would have told Jonah that I was done with him, that I didn't need him because I had plenty of prophets to send in his place. But our God is a God of inexhaustible patience and grace. He pursued Jonah, rescued Jonah from himself, and then called him again to his mission to Nineveh. Jonah was granted a fresh start and a new beginning, even in the face of his rebellion, because God's grace is amazing. Once God has chosen you as his own, you

cannot outrun his grace.

The history of the children of Israel was a chronicle of commitment, followed by rebellion and idolatry, followed by repentance, with the cycle repeating-but each time with a deeper falling away and deeper evil, until the sins of Israel were as great as those of the surrounding pagan nations. Because God loved his children, he could not sit by and dispassionately watch their wanton idolatry and immorality. Just as a father who truly loves his children will discipline them because of that love, God moved to discipline his own. This discipline was not a final condemnation. God was not turning his back on his own. He was not forsaking his covenant. He was not turning from all his promises. God was not casting his children away from his presence.

God raised up Babylon not as a tool of his final judgment against Judah, but as a tool of his purifying discipline. The captivity in Babylon would not be the final chapter for Judah because God is a God of inexhaustible patience and grace. There would be more chapters, culminating in the coming of the Son of David, Jesus Christ-the Lion of the tribe Judah.

So the words of 1 Chronicles 9:1-2 are heartening:

All Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith. Now the first to dwell again in their possessions in their cities were Israel, the priests, the Levites, and the temple servants. 

Judah was exiled because of their wholesale breach of faith, but it wasn't the end, because woven into God's grace is the promise of fresh starts and new beginnings. Judah returned to the promised land, led by those who would reestablish the centrality of the worship of God. Be thankful that, in spite of our sin, his grace offers us hope for a new day.