There is thunder . . . & then there is thunder . . .

Walking in the Truth

Today's Truth from Scripture

"The Lord will roar from Zion & thunder from Jerusalem; the earth & the sky will tremble. But the Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."  Joel 3:16

Today's Devotional Thoughts

If you keep up with current events, you have to--don't you?!--agree with me that we are living in a world filled with much roaring & thundering . . . much trembling. Not all of it appears to be the doing from the Lord.

Very recently the United States was victimized by an act of terror again . . . & much roaring & thundering ensued from many sources. The massacre [How else could you describe it?] at the nightclub in Orlando engendered widespread finger-pointing, much of it aimed at Christians who have been accused of creating a hateful climate which encourages such outrageous acts . . . because of our hateful words & prejudiced actions against the LGBT community.

Before we drape ourselves in the mantle of a pity-party, I think the honest thing to do is some soul-searching . . . soul-searching as to whether our thoughts, words, & deeds in relation to those who are homosexual & transgender . . . especially those who live an open & active & unrepentant lifestyle . . . are in fact fact hateful & unloving . . . But I digress from my thoughts about today's Truth from Scripture . . . 

Because today's Truth from Scripture is from one of those OT prophets who spoke in God's judgmental voice against His people . . . railing against their many forms of unrighteousness . . . threatening & promising all manner of plagues & other terror because of His wrath . . .

Some quick asides . . . 

• Do you think there were people in Israel who tried to walk the straight & narrow path that led to salvation?
• Do you think they were spared when the terrible hand of God's judgment struck their nation with a crushing blow?
• Would you describe the cultural path that our country has been walking as generally being a straight & narrow path, pleasing God's sense of righteousness?
• Would you say that those who strive to walk God's path of righteousness will find themselves exempt from the consequences that may befall our nation because of our culture's generally perverse wantonness & corruption?

But the roaring & thundering from coming from Jerusalem in the passage above . . . coming from the Lord our God . . . appears to be directed at the nations that have been, are, and/or will be enacting God's judgment on His people . . . 

Let that sink in for a moment . . . 

The nations whom God allows to serve His Will will not be exempt from their own consequences?! God's ways are truly far beyond our ways . . . our reasoning.

And ultimately there is a word of Gospel to be found in what seems to be words that reek only of Law & judgment . . . "The Lord will be a refuge for His people, a stronghold for the people of Israel."

Even as God ultimately delivered His OT people from the hands of their enemies, so He has promised to deliver His NT "people of Israel," the Kingdom of all believers, both Jews AND Gentiles [which includes me & possibly most of you] from an earth of dreary, seemingly, never-ending trembling . . . 

Our Lord & Savior Jesus Christ has defeated sin, death, & Satan. By His grace, our sins are forgiven. We are saved. There will be a resurrection from the dead. There will be eternal life in a new & much better Jerusalem that was conquered, razed, & rebuilt innumerable times in ancient & not-so-ancient history. That's Gospel . . . That is most certainly true!

Today's Prayer Thoughts

• Ask the Lord to grant healing of body, mind, & soul to the survivors of the terrorist attack in Orlando.
• Ask that somehow, someway . . . Jesus' grace & mercy can be spread to the survivors & families of victims of this tragedy.
• Ask that doors may be opened for us to reach out in mercy to the survivors & families of victims of this tragedy.
• Ask that we may have compassion on those whom we find difficult to love . . . those whom our Savior loved enough to go to the cross to save . . . just as He went to the cross to save us.