Thursday, June 09, 2005
Promise Keeper
When God confronts unrepentant evil, it is because He must. He cannot tolerate wrong. His love never fails but, in the end, His wrath will be poured out. Sometimes I wonder why He can’t draw all people unto Himself! Here’s the rub: I’m forgetting that He does. He uses every situation to nudge us closer but many ignore the nudges. Then something like 9/11 or a tragedy even closer to home hits us like a ton of bricks, changing some forever. How others ignore it beats me. He can expose our vulnerability to pain and our mortality but His character is all about freedom. Some choose darkness. God blesses goodness and wise choices. He can do no other. This is why Jesus on the Cross stands out in stark contrast! We get confused when God’s blessings are not evident to us. How often is it our first thought after tragedy…why? They don’t deserve this, or what did I do wrong? And we miss the disguised blessings…maybe it’s a “blessing” when God interrupts our plan. We won’t notice the blessing till God reveals where He’s going with it. This is why Paul wrote to the Christians in Rome: “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” ~Romans 8:28
How is God going to bless every nation through Abraham? He already did. Jesus, the Messiah is the blessing. That is it. The Promises given to Abraham and repeated in Genesis 26 for Isaac (v. 4) “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” Jehovah God is a maker and keeper of covenants. Here is a covenant with the nation of Israel and more specifically, Judah, through which a blessing for all the earth did emerge. “And behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” ~Luke 2:10b, 11
How is God going to bless every nation through Abraham? He already did. Jesus, the Messiah is the blessing. That is it. The Promises given to Abraham and repeated in Genesis 26 for Isaac (v. 4) “I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed.” Jehovah God is a maker and keeper of covenants. Here is a covenant with the nation of Israel and more specifically, Judah, through which a blessing for all the earth did emerge. “And behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day, in the city of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” ~Luke 2:10b, 11
