Be angry with the nations that do not know You and with the kingdoms that do not honor You. They have gobbled up the people of Jacob and destroyed their land. Don't punish us for our past sins. Show Your mercy to us soon, because we are helpless! (Verses 6-8)
There is a young man who lives down the street from us who is bipolar. Occasionally he yells obscenties at his mother. The outbursts come suddenly and are very loud. Call the police loud. A couple we have known for a long time has two children who are completely out of control, telling their parents what to do instead of the other way around. I don't interfere in their lives because they are not my family. I have no control over the lives of those who don't belong to me. I pray for these people because I love them, but they aren't mine.
When I read these verses this morning, I heard whining. Why are You so mad at us? What about them? They don't belong to Him. The standard by which they are judged is completely different from ours, as Christians. As a mother, I can't expect the next door neighbor's kids to follow all of my rules. As our Father, God doesn't exact obedience from those who don't care about Him and don't belong to Him. But, God won't let the godless go on hurting His dear children. There is a cap on His patience with the "neighbor kids."
I know our God has an agenda for this earth. He knows how it all plays out in the end, and He's told us the story in advance. It involves some of us being martyred and beheaded. We will need to know about the rise in earthquakes, wars and famines. His children need to acquaint themselves with the signs of the times. Heads up about events in the Middle East. My point is we live on this earth in times that may require our lives. They conquered by the blood of Jesus, the word of their own testimony and they didn't love their lives so much they were afraid of death. Revelation 12. We can't misunderstand our need to trust Jesus when it looks like all is lost because we think God is displeased with us. I don't know that that's what is happening to Asaph as he writes this psalm, but I know it could happen to us in these times we live in. They are hard to navigate and we must have a compass. We will perish along with our faith if we don't know who we are in Christ. If we can't say, "My Father told me this would happen" instead of "Why is God doing this to me?"
I know God punishes sin, past and present. What Asaph didn't have, though, was the blood of Jesus covering his sin. We do. God has already paid the price for our foolish rebellion with His Only Son. We don't have to cry out to God to forgive our past sin if we have already confessed it. It has been removed from us as far as the east is from the west and He forgot it! So if we are living our lives based on what we think is His great anger toward us over forgiven sins, we will do the stupidest things. It is our high privilege as children of our Father to live like beloved children who are loved because we are His very own not because we are always such great kids. We mess up. We get it right. Neither of these things makes our God love us more or less. We are loved. Period. Because He decided to love us.
I know God will see us through. But we can't distrust His motives in these times. We can't think He is punishing us for something we've done when we watch our world deteriorate. That destroys faith. And faith is what we will need in abundance as the end times play out. We must know Him so well that when fire comes from weapons of war or out of the sky, our faith in His love for us doesn't waver. We don't feel punished. Because God will be dealing with the nations that don't know or honor Him. The whole earth will feel the effects of it, including His children. We are not and won't be helpless, though. The same Spirit Who raised Christ from the dead lives in us to power us through to the end. To give us the courage to speak the word of our testimony, covered by the blood, knowing that death is gain. Our hearts must be so glued to His that we get it. We aren't crying out, "Why do you hate us, God?" Instead we will raise our hands and say, "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus, come!"
Jesus, the One Who says these things are true, says, "Yes, I am coming soon.
Amen, Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22
There is a young man who lives down the street from us who is bipolar. Occasionally he yells obscenties at his mother. The outbursts come suddenly and are very loud. Call the police loud. A couple we have known for a long time has two children who are completely out of control, telling their parents what to do instead of the other way around. I don't interfere in their lives because they are not my family. I have no control over the lives of those who don't belong to me. I pray for these people because I love them, but they aren't mine.
When I read these verses this morning, I heard whining. Why are You so mad at us? What about them? They don't belong to Him. The standard by which they are judged is completely different from ours, as Christians. As a mother, I can't expect the next door neighbor's kids to follow all of my rules. As our Father, God doesn't exact obedience from those who don't care about Him and don't belong to Him. But, God won't let the godless go on hurting His dear children. There is a cap on His patience with the "neighbor kids."
I know our God has an agenda for this earth. He knows how it all plays out in the end, and He's told us the story in advance. It involves some of us being martyred and beheaded. We will need to know about the rise in earthquakes, wars and famines. His children need to acquaint themselves with the signs of the times. Heads up about events in the Middle East. My point is we live on this earth in times that may require our lives. They conquered by the blood of Jesus, the word of their own testimony and they didn't love their lives so much they were afraid of death. Revelation 12. We can't misunderstand our need to trust Jesus when it looks like all is lost because we think God is displeased with us. I don't know that that's what is happening to Asaph as he writes this psalm, but I know it could happen to us in these times we live in. They are hard to navigate and we must have a compass. We will perish along with our faith if we don't know who we are in Christ. If we can't say, "My Father told me this would happen" instead of "Why is God doing this to me?"
I know God punishes sin, past and present. What Asaph didn't have, though, was the blood of Jesus covering his sin. We do. God has already paid the price for our foolish rebellion with His Only Son. We don't have to cry out to God to forgive our past sin if we have already confessed it. It has been removed from us as far as the east is from the west and He forgot it! So if we are living our lives based on what we think is His great anger toward us over forgiven sins, we will do the stupidest things. It is our high privilege as children of our Father to live like beloved children who are loved because we are His very own not because we are always such great kids. We mess up. We get it right. Neither of these things makes our God love us more or less. We are loved. Period. Because He decided to love us.
I know God will see us through. But we can't distrust His motives in these times. We can't think He is punishing us for something we've done when we watch our world deteriorate. That destroys faith. And faith is what we will need in abundance as the end times play out. We must know Him so well that when fire comes from weapons of war or out of the sky, our faith in His love for us doesn't waver. We don't feel punished. Because God will be dealing with the nations that don't know or honor Him. The whole earth will feel the effects of it, including His children. We are not and won't be helpless, though. The same Spirit Who raised Christ from the dead lives in us to power us through to the end. To give us the courage to speak the word of our testimony, covered by the blood, knowing that death is gain. Our hearts must be so glued to His that we get it. We aren't crying out, "Why do you hate us, God?" Instead we will raise our hands and say, "Maranatha! Come Lord Jesus, come!"
Jesus, the One Who says these things are true, says, "Yes, I am coming soon.
Amen, Come, Lord Jesus! Revelation 22
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