Seize the Moment – Day 1164
Meditate on Divine Justice!
Good morning! This is Pastor Jerry Ingalls from New Castle First Baptist Church and today is Thursday, May 25.
Did you know that both the blessings and the curses of the Bible are equally the promises of God? While this is not a popular sentiment to emphasize in today’s church culture; it is an essential truth to the coherency of our Christian faith. You can’t have the one without the other! There can’t be good news if there was never any bad news to hear in the first place. There is a grave danger in accentuating the positives of Christianity until all the bad news of sin, judgment, and Hell are squeezed out, like water being wrung out of a wet towel.
Psalm 58 is a meditation upon the justice of God. There are curses for sin just as certainly as there are blessings for faith. David urged God to manifest His divine judgment in verses 6-9:
O God, shatter their teeth in their mouth; break out the fangs of the young lions, O Lord. Let them flow away like water that runs off; when he aims his arrows, let them be as headless shafts. Let them be as a snail which melts away as it goes along, like the miscarriages of a woman which never see the sun. Before your pots can feel the fire of thorns He will sweep them away with a whirlwind, the green and the burning alike.
As you reflect upon such prayers, you may find your stomach churning. The anxiety caused by the reality of divine justice is intended to open you to the good news. You should fear the Lord and take seriously His righteous judgment for sin. This is the work of the Holy Spirit, according to Jesus’ teaching in John 16:8, “And He, when He comes, will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment.”
Seize the moment and pray Psalm 58, meditating upon the blessings and curses of God’s divine justice – “Surely there is a reward for the righteous; surely there is a God who judges on earth!” (Psalm 58:11).
God bless you!
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YOUTUBE:
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Videos are posted about a week after the devotion appears in the blog.