Judge and Jury

~~~ 1 Kings 21:17-29 ~~~ Psalm 51 ~~~ Matthew 5:43-48 ~~~

Be merciful, O Lord, for we have sinned.

Yesterday's story continues only now God gets personally involved.

God sends Elijah to render his verdict against Ahab and his wife, Jezebel.

The verdict rendered by God was harsh and far reaching.

The future generations of Ahab would also 

pay for the crime of their parents.

“Because you have given yourself up to doing

 evil in the LORD’s sight,

I am bringing evil upon you: I will destroy you

and will cut off every male in Ahab’s line...

Ahab and Jezebel did not think for a minute

 that they would be judged by God for their crime of murder.

They clearly believed that no one suspected

 the evil plan to kill Naboth had been orchestrated by the king's wife.

Amazingly Ahab came to his senses upon 

hearing God's plan for the future of his family.

We might think Ahab did not deserve to be forgiven by God,

but that is exactly what God did.

God forgave Ahab, but not in the way we might expect.

God spares Ahab, but not Jezebel or his children.

Jezebel's gruesome death is recorded in 2 Kings 9:30-37.

This reality must have been a greater punishment for Ahab

 than being struck down on the spot.

He had to live out the remainder of his days knowing

 that his family was sentenced to make restitution for his crimes.

...you have given yourself up

 to doing evil in the LORD’s sight

There is no way to hide from God.

Whatever good or evil is in our heart he knows.

We cannot deceive the Lord.

...pray for those who persecute you...

This is perhaps one of the hardest things to do.
It is not your first instinct to pray for someone
you are ready to punch out.
Remember, as Jesus was dying on the cross
he prayed for those who pounded the nails into his body.
Forgive them for they know not what they do.

In order to make progress on the road to holiness,
 we must learn how to forgive first rather than as an after thought.

God is the one who decided what is just.
God is the one who administers the judgement and punishment.
God is the judge and the jury.

Dear Lord, please give me the desire
 to quickly forgive those who have wronged me.

Daily Blessings needed to forgive first thing.
~~~Peace~~~

Reaping the Harvest

~~~ Revelation 14:14-19 ~~~ Psalm 96 ~~~ Luke 21:5-11 ~~~

 

 The picture painted in today's reading from Revelation
closely resembles something you might see on a horror movie.
A sickle weilding gold crowned man sitting on a white cloud
floating in the sky.
In the background the voice of an angel can be heard...
"Use your sickle and reap the harvest,
for the time to reap has come,
because the earth's harvest is fully ripe."

Angels come out of the temple with sharp sickles.
Another angel came out who was in charge of the fire crying
out to the one who had the sharp sickle...
"Use your sharp sickle and cut the clusters from the earth's vines,
for its grapes are ripe."

It seems to be a rather extreme measure to rid the earth of ripe grapes.
All that was harvested was thrown into the great wine press of God's fury.

The Lord will come to judge the earth including each of us.
Personally I think it will be more subtle when God
comes to reap the harvest.

The danger for us lies in having the ability to identify the one
actually sent from God.
Luke is warning us with the words of Jesus not to be deceived...

"See that you not be deceived,
for many will come in my name, saying,
'I am he,' and 'The time has come.'
Do not follow them!

 

 

Now I am reminded of the many who have been fooled into believing

a false prophet needlessly ending their lives.

 

When a false prophet entices others to buy in to their lies it is a sad time.

I pray for the wisdom to follow the one true God

no matter how attractive others might appear.

It is only by grace that we can remain faithful until our death.

 

When God is ready to end life on this planet as we know it

there will not be a stone left on top of another stone.

In the end life itself may just evaporate

leaving only the glory of God himself.

When this happens what we think of as an ending

may actually be the beginning.

In dying we become what God created us to be.

We return to him.