East to West

When you see or hear this phrase I'm sure many of us automatically think of the statement in the Psalms.
Psalm 103 as a matter of fact.
Or maybe we think of the song by Casting Crowns.
Or maybe we think of a compass.
Or maybe we think of trying to measure that distance... good luck by the way.
Or maybe we think of........................................... Genesis.
Genesis, particularly one story in Genesis. The story of Cain and Abel.
Adam and Eve had two sons... Cain and then Abel.
Needless to say this very first family... was very dysfunctional.
We know the story.
Cain kills Abel out of jealousy, because God favors Abel's sacrifices more than Cain's.
As a result Cain leaves with his wife.
He leaves.
God tells Him to go.
Cain goes East. He lives East of Eden. East of Paradise.
Genesis 3:24 states that after God had made Adam and Eve leave the Garden, "...He drove out the man; and He placed cherubim at the east of the garden of Eden, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to guard the way to the tree of life.
They were guarding the east exit.
Not allowing anyone to come back in.
Adam and Eve settled east of the garden.
Cain settled even more east.
He built a city.
He settled east.
Genesis 11:2 states, "As people moved eastward, they found a plain in Shinar and settled there"
People are STILL moving east... away from where they ought to be.
Away from where God began this whole journey called creation.
Yes creation is a journey.
A journey of reconciling what we broke all back to perfection... through Christ.
And what happens when we continue moving eastward?
We begin to go West.
Egypt.
Yep this takes us back to Egypt.
God was beginning something when he told Abraham to leave his country... to move westward... back to where God had first intentioned.
And he had Isaac.
And Isaac had Jacob.
And Jacob had... lots of children. Including Joseph... you know that whole Egypt escapade.
How did it happen?

His brothers sold him westward.
Just as Cain killed Abel... and he went eastward.
Do we begin to see this cycle... this journey.
We are always missing the mark... going past... going beyond...
It's like sending astronauts into Space.
The journey up isn't as hard as the journey back.
There is a window that the spacecraft has to hit... they can't enter the Earth's atmosphere to shallow... or they'll miss the mark... skip off.
They can't enter too deep of an angle... there will be too much friction and they'll burn up.
We skip off all the time.
We burn up all the time.

Which brings us to Egypt.
Moses.
Leading God's people back.
Back east.
Back to what God was doing.
Back to the promised land.


But what happened?
Babylon.
And they were sent too far east again.

All this begs the question? Do we still do this?
Jesus came to settle this. To stop this east and west process.
He came so we could come to one place... the cross.
And not miss it.
Just as God blocked the tree of life from the east entrance.
God is showing us a new tree of life... a tree in which a bloody man hangs... a tree that has tasted, seen, engulfed death.
And through the sacrifice upon it... we have life.

Which brings us back to Psalm 103.
Verse 11: "As far as the east is from the west, So far has He removed our transgressions from us."
As many times as we miss the mark. As many times as we go east... he has removed our transgressions from us.
As many times as we go west... he has removed our transgressions from us.
It's not about distance.
It's about total forgiveness.
It's about forgiving... removing. As many times as necessary.

So what does it have to do with suffering?
As many times as we see Israel missing the mark throughout scripture... east and west... God was not concerned with their cries of 'Why this!?' 'Why us!?"
Whether it was God allowing Egypt to enslave them for no reason, allowing other nations to dwell with them and persecute them to test them and judge them, or allowing Babylon to take them away because of their disobedience... God was more concerned with answering the question, "What now?"
Egypt. What now?
Sinai. What now?
Wandering. What now?
Promised Land. What now?
Power through Saul. What now?
Prosperity under David. What now?
Empire with Solomon. What now?
Disobedience. What now?
Babylon. What now?
Freedom and return. What now?
Rome. What now?
Jesus. What now?
Salvation. What now?

Suffering.
What ever suffering we suffer... we need to stop asking why.
Start asking "What now?"
Why?
Because God is inside. He's beside. He's in front of. He's behind.
He's at the other end.
He's Over.
He's Underneath.
He will never leave.
Never forsake you.
Christ spread his arms East to West. So we would stop missing the mark. Everywhere we go... We are within His arm's reach. We can't leave.
Not even suffering.
Not the worst hardship. The biggest decision. The most stress.
Nothing can remove Christ's reach over us.

That, my friends is love.
And for those who are called by His name...
Who accept and follow...
Love always wins.