In the ways of God people are dealt with in the spirit of love and dignity and forgiveness and acceptance. Human wisdom says that people should get what they deserve. God says, there is a different and better way. When God speaks into the human situation it is out of a position of holiness and righteousness, as well as of grace and mercy. So it is God says to His unfaithful people, “You will know that I am the LORD when I have dealt with you for My name’s sake, not according to your evil ways or according to your corrupt deeds” (vs. 44).
I, for one, am thrilled that God does not give me what I deserve. If God gave me what I deserve, I would be desperately lost for all time and eternity. Instead, God works in my life, and yours, from the holy character of His own name. In the New Testament it is expressed this way, “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:8). When God could have written us off, He included us. God isn’t screaming, “Get in our get out.” God is reaching out into our lives saying to us, “Get in. Get in.”
In ancient Israel, and for us today, God is proving Himself to be holy. In the end, the nations will know that God is the LORD God of the universe. To that end God is doing what needs to be done in the world. He will see to it that justice prevails. Love will not be defeated. Righteousness will win. Evil, which is everywhere seen in the world, will come to an end. Truth will win out. Good news will emerge.
In many ways, it seems that the visions and dreams of God for His creation are nowhere to be seen. Yet, in the midst of a hurting and broken world, God has a people, a people like king David of old, who would write, in the midst of great personal pain and suffering and evil and wrongdoing against him, “As for me, I trust in You, O LORD, I say, ‘You are my God. My Times are in Your hand” (Psalm 31:14-15).
People of faith know to whom they belong. They know their Savior. This led Edward Mote to include these words in his song, “The Solid Rock,”
His oath, His covenant, His blood,
Support me in the whelming flood;
When all around my soul gives way,
He then is all my hope and stay.
(ca. 1834)
“When all around my soul gives way, He then is all my hope and stay.” When everything that can fall apart is falling apart, we followers of Jesus hold fast to this One who is our “Solid Rock.” Rest assured, the enemy is at work, but the enemy is not God, and he is on a collision course with ultimate and entire defeat. Until then, trust in the LORD. Your times are in His hands.
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