There is a prevailing thought that the living God of heaven is against.... He is seen by many as a God who rejects, a God who is arbitrary, a God who cannot be pleased, appeased, or approached.

The truth is, God is holy, righteous, and just. The term holy is difficult for us, but think about holy as pure, sinless, and without any evil at all. God is not like us; He does not have a dark side. He cannot be tempted by evil (James 1:13).

When God created man and woman, He created them in His image (Genesis 1:27), but He also gave them the freedom of choice. They had the power to choose against God, and they did.

Their initial choice in the Garden of Eden against God and His commands resulted in man becoming a fallen creature, alienated from God and separated from His blessing. But God already had a plan in place to correct that situation and redeem fallen mankind to Himself.

God's system is cause and effect. Adam's sin brought many effects. For the woman, childbearing became exceedingly painful (Genesis 3:16); and for man, work became painful toil (Genesis 3:17).

When Adam's oldest son, Cain, killed his younger brother, Abel, God said, "Your brother's blood cries out to me from the ground" (Genesis 4:10). The murder committed by Cain required retribution. Cain learned that the effect of his action was that he was fair game to be murdered as well (Genesis 4:13-14).

God never intended things to be that way. Redemption was in place. When God pronounced the woes on Adam, Eve, and Satan, He also declared that the Seed of the woman (Jesus Christ) would bruise the head of Satan and destroy evil from the earth (Genesis 3:15).

Jesus Christ, in the mind of God and in the plan of God's redemption, was slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). All of God's plans are centered on redemption.

This is stated well in 2 Samuel 14:14: "God does not take away life; instead, he devises ways so that a banished person may not remain estranged from him." The particular occasion referred to in this verse was the estrangement of Absalom, the son of King David, after Absalom had killed his half-brother, Amnon. Amnon had raped Absalom's sister, Tamar, and thus incurred Absalom's wrath.

Joab, David's general, had brought a "wise woman from Tekoa" to come and talk to King David in an effort to arbitrate the rift between David and Absalom. These words by this wise woman, declaring the redemptive heart of God, moved David's heart to allow Absalom return to Jerusalem.

God is God; we are fallen. We need His redemption. We do have the power of choice, and that power can estrange us from God forever. But that would not be God's plan, because He has always planned redemption.