Day 211

         This week’s theme has to do with the justice and wrath of God.  Charles Swindoll wrote the following;
         Surely this phrase, “the wrath of God,” is greatly misunderstood.  Many, invariably think of some sort of peeved deity, a kind of cosmic, terrible-tempered Mr. Bang, who indulges in violent, uncontrolled displays of temper when human beings do not do what they ought to do.  But such a concept only reveals the limitations of our understanding.  The Bible never deals with the wrath of God that way.  According to the Scriptures, the wrath of God is God’s moral integrity.  When man refuses to yield himself to God, he creates certain conditions, not only for himself but for others as well, which God has ordained for harm.  It is God who makes evil result in sorrow, heartache, injustice, and despair.  It is God’s way of saying to man, “Now look, you must face the truth.  You were made for Me.  If you decide that you don’t want Me, then you will have to bear the consequences.”  The absence of God is destructive to human life.  That absence is God’s wrath.  And God cannot withhold it.  In His moral integrity, He insists that these things should occur as a result of our disobedience.  He sets man’s sin and His wrath in the same frame.  (Living Above the Level of Mediocrity)

Jeremiah 2:23-5:19.  “Catch Me, Now!”

         When I was three years old our family was playing in the swimming pool at the trailer court where we lived.  My dad was in the pool catching me as I jumped from the side.  This continued for quite some time until my dad started playing with my younger brother.  Dad had told me he was going to play with Tim, and I had warned me not to jump.  But there I was, and he had his back to me, but somehow, I still figured he would catch me if I jumped in.  He didn’t… but fortunately a long-armed friend was there to pull me up from the bottom of the pool.  When I came up, I was mad.  My dad had abandoned me to die a horrible death (at least that was my perspective).
         That’s the kind of perspective that Israel had.  “Why do you accuse Me of doing wrong?  You are the ones who have rebelled, says the LORD” (2:29).  We often get mad at God because He doesn’t continue to catch us even though we may not be obeying.          If God chose to dedicate a section of Scripture to describing your life how would it read?

General Questions for each day:
Summarize the day’s Bible passage in your own words.
What thoughts, actions, attitudes or beliefs are addressed in the passage?
How is the Holy Spirit leading you to apply this passage to your life today?