Do you ever worry about displeasing God?

Sometimes it's hard not to.  Of course, as Christians, we know that we are saved by faith in Jesus, and that there's nothing we can do to earn God's favor.  We know that -- but it's not easy to believe it all the time.

There are times for many of us that we are faced with the reality of our own unworthiness.  Sometimes it's just because we've been willfully disobedient, sinning even when we know it's wrong.  But other times we're just not sure what the right thing to do really is, and we worry that God will be angry with us if we make the wrong choice.  Those are the times that we are seeking God, wanting to serve God, yet still paralyzed because we know we're not perfect.  We don't want to screw things up by accident and feel God's wrath.

And yet God is a merciful God.  Notice how God reacts to the people's uncleanness in the following Old Testament passage.  Pay special attention to the last few verses.

2 Chronicles 30:13-20 (NIV)

A very large crowd of people assembled in Jerusalem to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread in the second month.  They removed the altars in Jerusalem and cleared away the incense altars and threw them into the Kidron Valley.

They slaughtered the Passover lamb on the fourteenth day of the second month.  The priests and the Levites were ashamed and consecrated themselves and brought burnt offerings to the temple of the Lord.  Then they took up their regular positions as prescribed in the Law of Moses the man of God.  The priests sprinkled the blood handed to them by the Levites.  Since many in the crowd had not consecrated themselves, the Levites had to kill the Passover lambs for all those who were not ceremonially clean and could not consecrate their lambs to the Lord.

Although most of the many people who came from Ephraim, Manasseh, Issachar and Zebulun had not purified themselves, yet they ate the Passover, contrary to what was written.  But Hezekiah prayed for them, saying, "May the Lord, who is good, pardon everyone who sets his heart on seeking God - the Lord, the God of his fathers - even if he is not clean according to the rules of the sanctuary."  And the Lord heard Hezekiah and healed the people.

Re-read the last paragraph, praying for God's guidance in applying this Scripture to your life.  Remember, this was the state of God's grace before Jesus came.  Just think what it is now!