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Topic: God’s Goodness and Severity
[DCLM Daily Manna 9th August 2018 Daily Devotional]
Text: Isaiah 30:27-33 (KJV)
Key Verse: “For through the voice of the LORD shall the Assyrian be beaten down, which smote with a rod” (Isaiah 30:31).
MESSAGE:
God’s love and goodness have always been many people’s focus. Truly, God is “merciful and gracious, longsuffering and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands …[but he] will by no means clear the guilty” (Exodus 34:6,7). The “goodness and severity” of God then, must be juxtaposed to have a balanced picture of who God really is.
In our text, God’s power and glory is seen from a distance with fire and smoke showing His anger. His breath like overflowing stream can carry everything away, sweeping the nations to destruction and putting an end to their evil plans. The Assyrian will be judged and their king cast into “Tophet” – a form of hell fire. Men will feel the force of God’s anger “with the flame of devouring fire…”
It is not the will of God that a sinner should perish. He desires that all men will be saved. But then, men are free moral agents. God says, “I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing, therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deuteronomy 30:19). The choice to hearken, obey and serve God is a good one. To reject His entreaties will amount to self-condemnation
on and eternal loss.
God will judge the wicked by His standards. Assyria may have reigned over nations with terror for years, but judgment came upon her eventually. God is still calling men today so that He can give them rest.
Thought For The Day: Taking God’s love for granted is damning.
Bible Reading In One Year: Jeremiah 7-9
