“‘Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.’”
“Therefore the Lord has kept the disaster in mind, and brought it upon us; for the Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does, though we have not obeyed His voice.”
The “disaster” of this verse is the seventy-year captivity of Israel. God had no other alternative but to bring judgment on the Jews even though He is a God of mercy. If we spurn God’s mercy, discipline is inevitable. God was faithful to keep His Word in both blessing and cursing.
PRINCIPLE:
If we spurn God’s mercy, discipline is inevitable.
APPLICATION:
God is in the business of disciplining those He loves. When the nation Israel got out of fellowship with God, He sent them into captivity.
Le 26:14-17, “But if you do not obey Me, and do not observe all these commandments, 15 and if you despise My statutes, or if your soul abhors My judgments, so that you do not perform all My commandments, but break My covenant, 16 I also will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart. And you shall sow your seed in vain, for your enemies shall eat it. 17 I will set My face against you, and you shall be defeated by your enemies. Those who hate you shall reign over you, and you shall flee when no one pursues you.”
When the believer steps out of fellowship with God in a protracted way, God sends discipline into his life for the purpose of correction but not punishment. God does this because He loves His children.
He 12:5-7, “And you have forgotten the exhortation which speaks to you as to sons:
‘My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
6 For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.’
7 If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?”
God is fair, but we are unfair to Him (“God is righteous in all His works”). He waits to deliver and bless us. We are the only ones standing in the way. Freedom from slavery is useless unless we have an attitude of freedom. Our attitude of freedom comes from the appropriation of God’s truth to experience.
Confession avoids disaster. It turns cursing into blessing.
