The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Amos 2:6a,
"For three sins of Israel, even for four, I will not turn back my wrath."
As the Lord enumerates the sins and what the consequences will be for Israel and her neighbors, he uses a formula to express himself. Eight times he uses the above phrase inserting the specific nation he is addressing. Damascus, Gaza, Tyre, Edom, Ammon, Moab and finally, Judah and Israel.
In this phrase I notice the Lord informs these nations that he will not turn back his wrath. Where some have a mistaken notion that God is like an unthinking, unfeeling machine that operates according to his predefined will such that there never will be any change in what he might do, the Scriptures reveal him to be otherwise. Here is the great tragedy for Israel and her neighbors.
I am reminded of the passage where the Lord decided to wipe out all of Israel and replace her with Moses' offspring in her stead. When Moses came down from Mt. Sinai he found the nation of Israel engaged in the worship of a golden calf they had made. The Lord said, "'I have seen these people,' the Lord said to Moses, 'and they are a stiff-necked people. Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.'" Moses interceded for them and we are told, "Then the Lord relented and did not bring on his people the disaster he had threatened." Exodus 32:9-14.
Some will read into the text that since things unfolded that way, God intended to relent from the start. That isn't how I read it. It reads to me that God declared what he was going to do, Moses interceded and the Lord changed his mind based on what Moses had to say. It is simply astonishing! The very idea that God might be moved to do something he might not otherwise because of the actions or intercession of a man seems incredible. In the case of Moses and Israel in Exodus 32, the Lord turned from an initial decision he had made regarding Israel. The Lord reveals to us that at times he will respond to the choices we make or actions we take. In Jeremiah 18:7-10 , we read, "If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed, and if that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned. And if at another time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be built up and planted, and if it does evil in my sight and does not obey me, then I will reconsider the good I had intended to do for it."
Here is the urgent need for us all to pray-- God tells us he may be moved to do something if we approach him that he may otherwise not. I am reminded of a fascinating parable the Lord told his disciples on prayer, Luke 18:1-8. "Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: 'In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared about men. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, "Grant me justice against my adversary." For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, "Even though I don't fear God or care about men, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won't eventually wear me out with her coming!"' And the Lord said, 'Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? I tell you, he will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?'"
Unfortunately for Judah and Israel, the Lord had decided because of their intransigence in wandering from him, he would not turn back his wrath. As we learn from history, this is exactly how things turned out. Had they repented, as did Nineveh: "When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.", Jonah 3:10, who knows what might have been different?
What this all reveals to me about God is that he is a real person, not a machine. He can be approached and he will respond if we humble ourselves before him.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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