God will come with vengeance and recompence

“Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold, your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you.” (Isaiah 35:3-4)

Hello, my friend…

I am surrounded by fearful people. It seems every phone call I receive, every personal contact I have with someone, everyone seems to be afraid. Either they are afraid of losing their jobs, their homes, their health, or their freedoms. If you pay attention to the media, all they seem to peddle is fear. No more do we see the “feel good” articles or segments – everything they mention seems to drive us to look at the scary, the threatening, the out-of-control. Occasionally, I just have to turn my phone off, lock the door, and stay in my house for awhile to reset. I need to get my head and heart right before I go back out and face the world. And so should you.

Jesus warned us that “…in this world you will have trouble, but fear not for I have overcome the world.” We often quote this verse, we say it to others, we read it – but we don’t seem to remember it very long. We get so caught up in our daily lives that we forget God is watching over us, providing for us, and walking through it all with us. Remember the comforting words of King David in Psalm 23? “Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death I will fear no evil, for thou art with me – thy rod and thy staff they comfort me.” Again, nice words, but we often forget how they relate to our common, everyday lives.

My job, as a pastor, is to bring you encouragement and strength through the Word of God. I catch grief every so often because I have never – and I mean NEVER – used the Bible as an offensive weapon. You know – beaten people up with it. Jesus, we read in John 3:17, didn’t come into the world to condemn the world (although He did condemn sin), but to save it. That is my mission as well. Yes, I will point out something if I feel the Spirit leading me to; however, as the great Billy Graham once said, "It is God's job to judge, it is my job to love." Don’t get me wrong, I can rain down hell-fire and brimstone with the best of them – I was raised Baptist and have attended Assembly of God churches for a large part of my adult life. But my job is to present the gospel (the good news), not heap condemnation, guilt, and shame upon those who are already hurting. Look again at the words of Jesus in Luke 4:18-19: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, Because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, And recovering of sight to the blind, To set at liberty them that are bruised, To preach the acceptable year of the Lord.” I am to reflect the love of Christ.

Reading through scripture (Old Testament AND New), it becomes very evident that God has a love thing for His children. He is VERY jealous over those who believe, who obey His Word and follow His commands. And yes, we DO have commands in today’s modern world. True, Jesus came to fulfill the Law, so we are no longer under obligation to sacrifice animals and splash their blood everywhere; however, you will also recall the lawyer who came to Him, tempting Him by asking which was the greatest commandment of all. Remember Jesus’ answer to him? He didn’t tell him, “This is a new day in God, we no longer have to observe any commandments” (like so many like to proclaim today). Instead, Jesus answered him very simply: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.” (Matthew 22:35-40).

Lastly, as if to drive this point home to His twelve disciples, Jesus reminded them in the Upper Room (just hours before His arrest and crucifixion): “By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another.”

God loves you, my friend. He is not the reason you are suffering whatever situation you are facing right now. He wants to show Himself strong on your behalf. He wants to give every good and perfect gift to you. BUT, I encourage you to spend some time with Him in prayer and contemplation. If you think YOU hate Satan for what he is throwing at you, how much more does your Father in heaven hate what’s going on? After all, God hated the works of Satan and sin so much He gave His only begotten Son, Jesus, that whosoever believes in Him would be saved. That, friend, is a LOT of love if you ask me!

Stop whatever action you are taking right now – the begging, the complaining, the questioning, all the “Why’s” – and get quiet with God. Enter His gates with thanksgiving in your heart – thanksgiving for what you have left. Thanksgiving that you are still alive. Thanksgiving for (if nothing else) His love for you in Christ. Start small if you have to. Just think of one thing for which to be thankful. I can assure you that if you go into this practice with an honest (broken, maybe, but honest and open) heart, you will think of something else. Thank God for the sunshine, thank Him for your loved ones, thank Him for your health, thank Him for your job. Let your thanksgiving flow. The Bible tells us to enter His gates with thanksgiving in our hearts, enter His courts with praise. Just as you wouldn’t expect to be able to barge into the Oval Office of our President unannounced and without either an appointment or an invitation, neither can you expect to barge into heaven. There is a process. There is the need for a relationship, for respect, for a healthy fear of God. If you are a child of God – truly a child (not just in name only) – He will “come with vengeance…with a recompence…and save you.” If you are not, then you must look to YOUR father, the devil for your help. There is no in-between, there are no alternatives. Either you are a child of God or a child of the devil. Whomever your father is, that is where your provision and help comes from.

Run to God today. Look to heaven. Seek His face. Trust in Him. Read His Word so you know His promises to you. Pray to Him so you can learn to hear His voice. Develop this relationship now – before there is a need. Let Him lead you in green pastures and allow you to lie down beside still waters. Do it now.

Be blessed.