Our second reading for this Sunday focuses on the English word “irrevocable.” The word appears nowhere else in Scripture but here in verse 29.
On one hand, the Scriptures acknowledge that seasons of blessing may be temporary. Rains come and go. Crops boom and bust. Riches can be transient.
But the irrevocable gift of God is here linked to one of his attributes, not merely his actions. Despite disobedience, he still offers his people mercy. “So that he may be merciful to all.”
Perhaps parents can best understand the heart which grants mercy in response to disobedience. It is a heart of love ... despite. A heart that longs for relationship over punishment. A heart that puts more stock in the future than in the past.
Here again this word “irrevocable” comes into play in a different way. The word irrevocable literally means “without regret”; something is given with no claim to do-overs. The only other place the same word appears is in 2 Corinthians: “For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret [‘irrevocable’], but worldly grief produces death.”
Bottom line, perhaps pastor Dennis J. Meaker put it best when he wrote us, saying that what we learn here is that “God does not give up on his commitments simply because they do not seem to be working out as planned.”
And that is good news for the world.
Things may not seem to be working out as planned.
Doesn’t mean that God is giving up on commitments made, promises offered.
God is God.
