THE INCONVENIENCE OF RELIEF

Brent E. Pollard

Occasionally I am bothered with Restless Leg Syndrome. When such is the case, I typically take acetaminophen to alleviate the symptoms. The other evening, unable to find enough comfort to go to sleep, I sought to take the popular analgesic but found none in my house. For some reason, I had neglected to purchase a new supply from my favorite retailer the last time I had visited the store. What was I to do? Though I do have aspirin in my house, I am unable to take it because of my current anticoagulation therapy. Living as I do in a rural town, there is nothing open after eleven p.m. but fast food restaurants and convenience stores. (Yes, folks, our Wal-Mart actually closes!) Thus, my only option was clear: I had to go a convenience store and pay too much money for a minuscule amount of the brand-name acetaminophen, Tylenol. After making my purchase, I returned home, self-medicated, and eventually drifted off into the "land of recuperative unconsciousness." Certainly, the experience was inconvenient and expensive; yet, it was necessary to find relief.

In like manner, the plan for our salvation was inconvenient and costly but was vital to bring about relief from our sin. Consider the lengths to which Heaven was willing to go in order to bring about a resolution to our sin problem.

1.   First, the Providence of God carefully orchestrated about four thousand years of human history to create a lineage from which the promised "seed of woman" would arise to bruise the serpent's head (Genesis 3:15). To bring about this fullness of time (cf. Galatians 4:4), God had to work around certain variables for which He was not responsible. He had to work around the continuously evil thoughts and imagination of the people living in the antediluvian world (Genesis 6:5-8). He had to work around the hardened hearts of the provocation and allow the carcasses of an entire generation fall in the wilderness (Hebrews 3:15-19). Once cleansed of their idolatrous iniquities through myriad captivities (cf. Ezekiel 36:33), God worked to secure a remnant through which He brought about David's Branch, "THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS" (Jeremiah 23:3-6). Indeed, God's creation was not always cooperative with His eternal plan. Even so, God still worked things out for man's ultimate good (Romans 8:28).