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 heart and mind in 1 Samuel 5:6,
"The Lord's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors."
The Lord afflicted people with tumors? Yes. But... I thought God was a god of love! Yes, our God is a god of love. How can a god of love afflict people with tumors? Because he is both a god of love and a god of justice and righteousness. His love is expressed or couched within his justice.
Here is something not often mentioned in those booming sermons on the great wrath of our God of hell fire: his judgement of people in this life is often an act of love. Consider a fascinating comment in Psalms 78:34-35, "Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer." There is no better place to be in this life than fleeing to our God of refuge! Here is God's expression of his love, drawing people to himself that they experience his very best. If many may have to suffer to get there, apparently it does not slow his hand. Consider what Paul said, "... the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21.
Our great god of love does not express his love by indulging lost and fallen mankind - to continue wallowing around in their sins, being deceived and deceiving one another. His love does not countenance this world of spiritual darkness and its foolishness. He has something better for mankind: his eternal kingdom with life everlasting spent at the pleasures at his right hand, Psalm 16:11.
God's judgments of mankind, bringing death and destruction, has a way of drawing people to him. Now, the judgment that follows this life is another thing altogether. God is not going to permit sinful mankind to continue as a blemish in his cosmos. All who reject Jesus Christ in this life will be cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8, and that has nothing to do with love, but everything to do with his justice. However, I see it as something he will do with mixed emotions - the same emotions he must have felt as he watched his Son die on that miserable cross (but that is another story...)..
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
"The Lord's hand was heavy on the people of Ashdod and its vicinity; he brought devastation on them and afflicted them with tumors."
The Lord afflicted people with tumors? Yes. But... I thought God was a god of love! Yes, our God is a god of love. How can a god of love afflict people with tumors? Because he is both a god of love and a god of justice and righteousness. His love is expressed or couched within his justice.
Here is something not often mentioned in those booming sermons on the great wrath of our God of hell fire: his judgement of people in this life is often an act of love. Consider a fascinating comment in Psalms 78:34-35, "Whenever God slew them, they would seek him; they eagerly turned to him again. They remembered that God was their Rock, that God Most High was their Redeemer." There is no better place to be in this life than fleeing to our God of refuge! Here is God's expression of his love, drawing people to himself that they experience his very best. If many may have to suffer to get there, apparently it does not slow his hand. Consider what Paul said, "... the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God." Romans 8:20-21.
Our great god of love does not express his love by indulging lost and fallen mankind - to continue wallowing around in their sins, being deceived and deceiving one another. His love does not countenance this world of spiritual darkness and its foolishness. He has something better for mankind: his eternal kingdom with life everlasting spent at the pleasures at his right hand, Psalm 16:11.
God's judgments of mankind, bringing death and destruction, has a way of drawing people to him. Now, the judgment that follows this life is another thing altogether. God is not going to permit sinful mankind to continue as a blemish in his cosmos. All who reject Jesus Christ in this life will be cast into a fiery lake of burning sulfur, Revelation 21:8, and that has nothing to do with love, but everything to do with his justice. However, I see it as something he will do with mixed emotions - the same emotions he must have felt as he watched his Son die on that miserable cross (but that is another story...)..
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share what moved you about him from your Bible reading today. I'd love to hear from you!
If you have someone you would like to receive these ruminations, send me their email address. I'm happy to add them to the list. If you are receiving this and would like to be removed from the list, just respond and let me know.
Trevor Fisk
trevor.fisk@gmail.com
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