A Mark of His Mercy

"In appreciation for your years of service..." or something like that. The letter came instructing me how to shop for my retirement gift. There were plenty of gifts from which to choose, but, I couldn't find a thing. Call me high maintenance, but receiving a gift "in appreciation for" seems a little more authentic when I'm not shopping for it myself. And, while some of the selections were pragmatic -- a barbecue grill, a ladder, a wet vac -- I can't imagine, twenty years from now, pointing to a busted old air fryer and telling my grandchildren the story of my retirement. Isn't it the significance behind a token, not the token itself? Perhaps I'm spoiled because my God is a tough act to follow.

From Genesis to Revelation, Scripture reveals to us the tokens God has placed in our hands and in our hearts to remind us of aspects of His character. One such token is the rainbow, the symbol of God's promise He would never again flood the earth. But there is an interesting token recorded a couple of chapters prior. Abel and Cain approached God with their sacrifices, but God Cain's was unsatisfactory. God gently gave Cain the opportunity to repent and offer an acceptable sacrifice, but Cain refused. In his bitterness, he murdered Abel instead. God confronted him and meted out a threefold punishment: a curse on his relationship with the earth, with mankind, and with God. Cain cried out, "My punishment is greater than I can bear!" and expressed his fear that other men would try to kill him. God gave him a marker, a token; the Hebrew word is "ot," the same word used with regard to the rainbow. If I can just pause for a moment and address this whole exchange. Cain lamented his punishment but not his sin. Regardless, God gives Cain a token of His mercy. Let's face it, the "mark" whatever it was, would not keep anyone from killing Cain. God holds the power over life and death. In fact, given the nature of man, such a mark could even provoke some cowboy to try to off Cain just to prove a point. It appears to me, the mark itself was strictly for Cain's benefit: a visible token to Cain of God's merciful protection, a reminder to Cain God was sparing his life, however long He determined and allowing Cain even more time to repent and turn to the Lord. Now, that's personal and merciful.

God has always assured mankind of His character and work via evidence and memorials. In Exodus 12:13, God promised the blood of the Paschal lamb would protect that household from God's final plague when the Israelites were slaves in Egypt. The Holy Spirit is our guarantee, the Bible tells us, of everything God has promised those who trust in the blood of Christ. The sacraments, Communion and Baptism, were instituted to remind us of our union with Christ in death and resurrection. And every answer to prayer, every moment God loves on us and protects us and shows us mercy is a token. He is working in His time, in His way, and He has assured us by His word, represented by signs and manifestations of His character.

So, when did God give you His first token? Romans 5:8, says He proved His love to us by sending Jesus to suffer our punishment in our place "while we were sinners." Like Cain, we were remorseless, refusing to seek God and surrender to His will. He was merciful still. Romans 1:20, says the things that are made testify to the eternal power and divine nature of God. The seasons, coming on cue every year and the sun rising every morning assured us, even when we rejected Him, that God is quite real and He is working, blessing us with beauty and providing further opportunities to come to Him. The symbols of His love for us and His pledges to us have always been everywhere, even when we were unrepentant, so that we would repent. Now that's personal and merciful. 

And LOADS better than a floor stripper.