Psalm 99:8

Psalm 99:8

A forgiving God

We have seen how Moses, Aaron and Samuel are singled out here as being men who faithfully interceded for God’s people. They devoted themselves to pleading Israel’s cause and listening for God to make known His will. These men even dared to try and bargain with the Lord, such was their heart for the people that they beseeched Him to be merciful and to hold back on His judgements. 

God answered the pleas of these intercessors who cared so passionately for their fellow countrymen. God forgave the sins of the people, He forgave their law-breaking, their lack of faith, their disobedience and their complaining. However, this verse tells us something more, for while God forgives, that does not mean that He does not punish. Our deeds and words and thoughts carry consequences. Just as we may forgive a child its disobedience and its naughtiness, that child needs to know that sin has consequences, that misdeeds have to be put right, that wrongs must be righted. In fact, to forgive and not expect retribution is usually a recipe for disaster, the child grows up to believe that they can “get away with it.” True parental care involves discipline tempered with love and children grow up best knowing this.

The Lord God knows this and He treated His Chosen People accordingly; they sinned, and He forgave, but His forgiveness did not remove the requirement for punishment. 

The wonder of the Gospel is that our sins are forgiven but the punishment for those sins has been borne by Yeshua. That does not mean that we escape the consequences of our actions in this life, but the eternal punishment of exclusion from God’s presence has been paid by another, we are no longer condemned by our sin, we are redeemed! Hallelujah!

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Psalm 4:1 Smear campaigns

Psalm 4:1    Smear campaigns   The background to this Psalm is so familiar; David is being slandered and maligned by his detractors.  It seems that some calamity has befallen the nation and the king is getting the blame! Lies are being told, a smear campaign has begun, and the reputation of the Sovereign is under threat.  As usual, if something goes wrong, culpability is laid at the feet of the one in charge.  David, quite rightly, turns to the Lord his God and prays for relief and for mercy. The Satan is a master of such campaigns and his emissaries gleefully turn on Christians in leadership positions although the whispering campaign can affect all of us. The whispering starts in our own heads, but it can also come from the lips of our detractors. It goes something like this: - You’re the reason it went wrong You messed up again You should have seen it coming Surely you know better You are not worthy You don’t know what you’re doing Someone else ought to be in c
Read more

Psalm 74:16

Psalm 74:16 God established the sun and the moon “ In  the beginning   God created   the heavens   and the earth.   2  Now the earth was formless   and empty,   darkness was over the surface of the deep,   and the Spirit of God   was hovering over the waters. 3  And God said,   “Let there be light,” and there was light.   4  God saw that the light was good,   and he separated the light from the darkness.   5  God called   the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.”   And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.” These, so familiar, words from Genesis 1 remind us of who is in charge! There would be no light without God. There would be no day or night without God. There would be no earth without God. And there would have been no living things unless God had created order out of chaos. The sun, moon and stars would not be fixed in their orbits without God and you and I would not exist unless He ordered our conception. It is because we see God as glorious, righteous
Read more
Psalm4:8        I will lie down and sleep                Th ere are times, in the life of all believers, when we no longer have control of situations. We can do nothing more. We have given our all, we have tried every possible solution and now it is out of our hands. As someone has wisely said, “It is time to let go and let God.” If we truly trust Him, if our faith will allow us, we can turn our backs on our enemies. We can block our ears to the threats. We can ignore the lies and the deceit and say,  “In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone Lord, make me dwell in safety.” I should imagine that the devil, having sent a hurricane our way is not amused, when we settle in our beds in the midst of it all and drift off into a peaceful sleep! But that is our right and privilege once we let the Lord God Almighty take control. These spiritual attacks are like whirlwinds, they blow with terrifying intensity and threaten to turn us upside down; the disciples witnessed one of thes
Read more