“I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more…”(Isaiah 43:25) Exodus 19 &20 are well known chapters of the Bible where we read of God preparing the children of Israel to gather round the foot of Mount Sinai while Moses ascends and receives the Ten Commandants. This day was, and still is remembered each year among Jews during the festival of Shavuot. It is also sometimes called The Day of Mattan. ‘Mattan’ is the Hebrew word for ‘Gift’. The Ten Commandments were God’s gift to his people. It was an act of love from a Father who wanted the best for His children. He wanted to guide them, to guard them, to protect them. Mattan is a word that was also linked to the time in ancient Israel of the betrothal, when a bride and groom were living in their separate homes, preparing for their wedding. The groom would send the bride a gift. It was something to help her prepare for her wedding day but, more importantly, it was the sign of the bridegroom’s love for the bride. The mattan assured her that her groom had not forgotten her and that one day soon he would return and take her to his home. We could fill books describing the countless thousands of gifts that God has showered upon us, each one an assurance, a demonstration of his love for us, a reminder that one day He is coming to take us to Himself. But these gifts are not just given in times when we walk closely to Him. He reaches out with his ‘Mattan’ even when we sin. Isaiah 46:12-13 (NLT) speaks of God’s gift to us of forgiveness and reconciliation: “Listen to me, you stubborn people who are so far from doing right. For I am ready to set things right, not in the distant future, but right now!” Are you in need of this gift today? If so, don’t delay in drawing near to the Giver with a soft, repentant heart and discover how graciously he holds out His Mattan to you. “I sin like a man, but He forgives like a God”. C.H.Spurgeon Pauline Anderson
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