I Said LIVE

Sometimes life feels like a battlefield we were never prepared for. We wrestle with shame, fear, and the weight of our mistakes. We feel abandoned, overlooked, or even trapped in the consequences of choices and circumstances that seem beyond repair. And yet, even in our helplessness, God is there—not as a condemner, but as a rescuer.

“Then I passed by, and I saw you there squirming in your blood. And as you lay there covered with blood, I spoke over you: ‘Live!’” TPT

Ezekiel 16:6 gives us a striking picture of this truth. Jerusalem is portrayed as a tiny, helpless infant, “kicking about in her blood,” utterly vulnerable and abandoned. And God, seeing her condition, passes by and says, ‘Live!’ There is no accusation, no punishment delivered at that moment—only life-giving mercy. God’s judgment, in this moment, is restorative. It is an intervention of grace, not a retributive strike.

"If a man refuse to come out of his sin, he must suffer the vengeance of love that would be no love if it left him there." George Macdonald

This same principle shines through in John 3:18 and 3:36. Those who “do not believe are condemned already” are not under God’s wrath in the sense of eternal punishment. Rather, they are experiencing the natural consequences of sin, false belief, and separation from the life God offers. Christ enters this human condition, the state of being “already condemned,” to rescue, redeem, and restore. God’s passionate opposition—His “wrath”—is not directed at destroying the sinner, but at destroying what would harm His beloved. And into this brokenness, He says, “Live!”

Here is the beautiful reality of the gospel: our failures, our blindness, and our brokenness are never outside the reach of God’s grace. Even when we are kicking in our own mess, God passes by. He does not stand back waiting to punish; He comes close, breathes life into the situation, and calls us into restoration. In fact He is already there in the midst of your junk, in you! Salvation is not earned; it is given. Life triumphs over death because God’s mercy is relentless.

Take a moment today to hear His voice over your life: “Live!” Whatever circumstances or failures surround you, His word breaks through the darkness. His judgment is mercy. His wrath is love. His intervention is life. And through it all, His promise remains: you are included, cherished, and called into the fullness of His life.