Ok, I will admit, it has been a long time since I have posted anything. Things have been so hectic and busy lately it is hard to give up time for all these different things that have to be done. The pastor has been out of town at a revival all week, so I have been preaching and making hospital visits, plus my normal youth events and services, plus I had a new seminary class start this week with tons of everyday journal homework. On top of that I have to go to the Missouri Southern Baptist Convention in Springfield this next week so I need to get all my stuff done and prepared in order to be gone for 3 days. I will be leaving Sunday night after I get back home from taking the Youth to Reality House. Hopefully I can get back into the swing of things here soon and begin posting more often again. For right now I would like to share this part of Psalms chapter 5 with you that was part of my reading time tonight.
“You are not a God who takes pleasure in evil; with you the wicked cannot dwell. The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong. You destroy those who tell lies; blood thristy and deceitful men the Lord abhors. But I , by your great mercy, will come into your house; in reverence will I bow down toward your holy temple. Lead me, O Lord, in your righteousness because of my enemies-make straight your way before me. Not a word from their mouth can be trusted; their heart is filled with destruction, with their tongue they speak deceit. Declare them guilty, O God! Let their intrigues be their downfall. Banish them for their many sins for they have rebelled against you. But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them sing for joy. Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you. For surely , O Lord, you bless the righteous; you surround them with your favor as with a shield.”
It is mind boggling to think that God is love. He shows infinite love, a love that I cannot grasp or understand and yet at the exact same time he shows wrath. Not just wrath but infinite wrath and hatred for evil and those who do evil. So at the same time that God is pouring out his infinate wrath upon people for their wickedness he is doing it out of an infinate love for them. When God’s anger burns against his people the Isrealites and he banishes them from their land that he gave them and destroys everything they ever knew, he does so out of his infinite love for them. God is an unchanging God and he deals with his people in the same way! Sin brings destruction and seperation and punishment as God’s wrath and anger burns against us, and yet it is all done because he loves us.
Pressed
Comments
Wrath? But Gods love is unconditional. Are you sure that He doesn’t bless us and open our eyes when we sin against Him? Doesn’t God love us enough to where He would be willing to look past our sins and give us what we think we deserve?
Yeah……sure.
Posted by: Le Renard Subtil on October 24, 2002 10:45 AM
God is sovereign. He is in control of all judgment. Wrath as a result of judgment shows incredible love and mercy (ironic as it may seem). Since we all deserve condemnation anyway, how amazing it is that God would show His wrath in order to remind us of our wickedness. Hopefully this wrath will spur us back onto the right path.
Posted by: erin on October 27, 2002 09:07 PM
I think the problem is that love & wrath seem so diverse to our puny little minds. And, when we try to both love & judge, we fail at it quite miserably. We forget that we are only commanded to love and to let God (who is bigger than the boogieman) handle the judgement/wrath part.
Posted by: sakamuyo on October 28, 2002 03:41 PM
wrath is not the opposite of love — apathy is. Wrath is the manifestation of the holiness of God’s love. Remember, the angels proclaim, ‘holy, holy, holy’ is the Lord God Almighty, not ‘love, love, love.’ God’s love is defined by His holiness, and any love that is devoid of holiness is not love at all. For God to execute wrath against all unholiness is an expression of divine love.
Posted by: Bryan on October 31, 2002 01:30 PM
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