Have you ever been through a crisis and thought: "God must be punishing me" ? I have..... and I am in good company. Remember Job's three friends? Their best counsel was that he had sinned and brought all the agony of his present situation upon himself as judgment. Most of the time, I do not need my friends to condemn me because I do just fine all by myself. If I expect the Lord to treat me well because of my absolute obedience and unquestionable spiritual perfection, I am not only delusional, but lost. I always go before the Lord in my imperfection. David's cry in Psalm 6: 1-3 is that God not punish him for his sins.
Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger; do not discipline me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking; my whole being is shaken with terror. And You, Lord - how long?
Two of my best friends died of breast cancer and in my final conversations with them, the lingering question was, of course, why. What had they done to deserve cancer and the subsequent ravaging of their bodies? It took me years to settle this question for myself - why did they die so young and leave families behind? I knew, of course, it was not for their sinfulness else I would have been annihilated alongside them. It was because "our times are in His hands." "Precious to the Lord are the death of the saints..." because they go home. The cancer now eating through the marrow of her bones, one of those friends kept saying: "I did not think it would take this long to die." And You, Lord - how long? When will this be over?
So why, then, does David cry out for the Lord not to punish him in His anger? Obviously we want the Lord to wait until He is not so hot about our sin before He decides what to do about it. Remember the Lord allowed David to choose his own punishment once (2 Samuel 24)? David had sinned against the Lord by taking a census of the people in direct disobedience and had prayed that the Lord would take away his guilt. Angry, God sent the prophet Gad to articulate the choices David had: three years of famine, three months of fleeing from enemies, or three days of plagues. David's reply: "I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord's hands because His mercies are great, but don't let me fall into human hands." As always, David counted upon the graciousness of His God.
When the world falls down around us, perhaps we should not be so quick to ask why. To assume we have so displeased a raging God that catastrophe has befallen us. Even if that is true, we have a God who "removes our sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more" when we confess them to Him. Romans 8: Therefore, no condemnation exists for those who are in Christ Jesus. Great news! I have Jesus to thank for that! I cannot approach God in my own righteousness, but I have ready access to Him because Jesus is my great high priest.
So even if I think I must put my hands in front of my face and shield myself from the wrath of God, my best defense against the wrongs I have committed is to trust in the great benevolence of a God who did not even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.
Lord, do not rebuke me in Your anger; do not discipline me in Your wrath. Be gracious to me, Lord, for I am weak; heal me, Lord, for my bones are shaking; my whole being is shaken with terror. And You, Lord - how long?
Two of my best friends died of breast cancer and in my final conversations with them, the lingering question was, of course, why. What had they done to deserve cancer and the subsequent ravaging of their bodies? It took me years to settle this question for myself - why did they die so young and leave families behind? I knew, of course, it was not for their sinfulness else I would have been annihilated alongside them. It was because "our times are in His hands." "Precious to the Lord are the death of the saints..." because they go home. The cancer now eating through the marrow of her bones, one of those friends kept saying: "I did not think it would take this long to die." And You, Lord - how long? When will this be over?
So why, then, does David cry out for the Lord not to punish him in His anger? Obviously we want the Lord to wait until He is not so hot about our sin before He decides what to do about it. Remember the Lord allowed David to choose his own punishment once (2 Samuel 24)? David had sinned against the Lord by taking a census of the people in direct disobedience and had prayed that the Lord would take away his guilt. Angry, God sent the prophet Gad to articulate the choices David had: three years of famine, three months of fleeing from enemies, or three days of plagues. David's reply: "I have great anxiety. Please, let us fall into the Lord's hands because His mercies are great, but don't let me fall into human hands." As always, David counted upon the graciousness of His God.
When the world falls down around us, perhaps we should not be so quick to ask why. To assume we have so displeased a raging God that catastrophe has befallen us. Even if that is true, we have a God who "removes our sins as far as the east is from the west and remembers them no more" when we confess them to Him. Romans 8: Therefore, no condemnation exists for those who are in Christ Jesus. Great news! I have Jesus to thank for that! I cannot approach God in my own righteousness, but I have ready access to Him because Jesus is my great high priest.
So even if I think I must put my hands in front of my face and shield myself from the wrath of God, my best defense against the wrongs I have committed is to trust in the great benevolence of a God who did not even spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all.
No comments:
Post a Comment