Before and After, by Jared Kennedy

You can’t help but love a good before and after photo!  I love watching shows like This Old House or Extreme Makeover: Home Edition, where an old beat-up home is transformed (or demolished and rebuilt) right before your eyes.  I don’t love The Biggest Loser (sorry if you’re a fan) but sometimes I’ll be watching something else and Megan will ask me to flip over to NBC so we can see the “before and after” shot at the end of the show.  Seriously, seeing someone’s health and body size radically change is amazing.  Change for the good is amazing!

In Exodus and Numbers, we see a different kind of “before and after.”  Before the law was given, God showed his love and grace by being patient with Israel’s sin.  After Sinai, God showed his grace through the law by using it to expose and judge Israel’s sin.

Before the law was given, Israel complains and grumbles about food, and God simply provides for their needs (Exodus 16:1-26).  When they complained after Sinai, God sent fire to consume the outskirts of the camp and a plague that killed many (Numbers 11:1-35).

Before the law was given, breaking the Sabbath received a reprimand (Exodus 16:27-20).  After Sinai, breaking the Sabbath led to death (Numbers 15:32-36).

Before the law was given, Israel complained and God gave them water from the rock (Exodus 17:1-7).  After Sinai, God again gave them water, but Moses and Aaron were cursed (Numbers 20:1-13).

Before the law was given, Israel succeeded in their fight against the Amalekites because they trusted in the Lord to fight for them. (Exodus 17:8-16).  After Sinai, Israel stopped trusting the Lord.  They rejected Joshua and Caleb’s good report and were defeated by the Amalekites (Numbers 14:1-45).

After God gave his law to Israel, his attitude toward their sin became much more severe.  But this is God’s grace!  One of the reasons that God gave His law to His people was to show us that He is good and perfect and never does anything wrong.  Before we see ourselves against this standard, we can’t know how evil and ridiculous our sin is.  Yes, this is God’s grace!  We will trust God to change us only after we see both His goodness and His holiness.

How is God showing you His goodness and grace?  How is God showing you His holiness?  What sin does this expose in your own heart?