“For we are brought to an end by Your anger; by Your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before You, our secret sins in the light of Your presence. For all our days pass away under Your wrath; we bring our years to an end like a sigh.” Psalm 90:7-9
Devotional Thought For The Day
We have a natural sense that our troubles and illnesses are in consequence to our sins and iniquities, and that God is orchestrating these dismal experiences. Moses asserts that it is so – that “our days pass away under Your wrath.” Human beings respond to this sense in a variety of ways. First, we are fearful of God; in our sinful nature we are ignorant of His love for us and His real intentions toward us. This usually leads to a posturing of self-defense and distortion; we logic, rationalize, explain, and defend ourselves so that we conclude and argue that our troubles and difficulties in life are unfair, that God is unfair in what He allows to befall us. We are better than what our experiences in life would lead us [and others] to conclude, so the One in charge must be unjust. This leads to rebellion against God, perhaps even a denial of His existence. Many, in choosing to assert their essential and preponderant “goodness,” prefer to look at what befalls them as mere “fate,” meaningless chance.
In our more honest moments, when we are aware of our “secret sins,” what actually goes on in our hearts and minds – our lack of love for others, our selfishness, envy, greed, pride, anger, malice, and hatred of others, then we may be open to considering that we always get far less punishment and discipline, far less trouble, illness, and disaster than we truly deserve. The reality is what Jeremiah observes in the book of Lamentations: “It is because of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” [Lam. 3:22,23] It is for this purpose that God orders and controls the difficulties in our lives – so that we be aware of the real nature of our hearts, the distortion of sin and evil that inheres in our being; but also that we come to consider why it is that we are not immediately annihilated for our sins and wickedness. He grants most of us a fair number of years to consider all of this – so that we might humble ourselves before Him and confess with sorrow that we have so offended His love and goodness, and hurt and harmed our fellow human beings, His most beloved creatures with our sins.
When we do so, if we are so blessed as to be near the ministry of His Word, we receive the precious assurances of His gracious mercy and forgiveness, of the redemption, atonement, reconciliation, and salvation that He has already provided for us fully and completely, once and for all, in the blessed gift of His eternal Son, our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the ministry of His Word we are brought face to face with God, with His love and His real intention for each of us, His will for every human being, that we be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth of His love for us. In this “knowing and believing” there is new life and transformation, as well as a new course for eternity, one that nullifies the direness of death. This knowledge of His love also eases all of the troubles and burdens of this life, for we then know that we are no longer under the wrath of God, but rather have “passed from death to life,” and “will not come into condemnation.” [John 5:24] We have the promises of God, His own assurances, and the obvious proof of His love for us in all Jesus suffered and did for us in His crucifixion and resurrection and ascension. We know that all things, even our troubles, are being worked together for our greatest good and blessedness.
Moses knew the love and mercy of God as well – and presents these realities to us in the verses which follow, for he was faithful in his ministry of God’s Word. He knew God’s will for us, for all of humanity, and so he enlightens us with understanding of all of the exigencies of life, that we too may repent, confess, and grasp onto God’s gracious and merciful love by faith. May we all submit to God’s Word and His loving will, that keeping His Word we receive every blessing that He has promised to us.
Prayer For The Day
Dear Lord Jesus, Your response to Adam’s sin and to all subsequent human sin is remarkable and amazing – that You do not utterly and immediately destroy us, but allow us years to contemplate Your just wrath over our sin and the wondrous salvation that You accomplished for us on the cross. Thank You for denuding death of its darkness, for bringing us into light and salvation, for giving us an eternal future of joy and bliss. Keep us in this faith and blessedness through the ministry of Your blessed Word. Amen.