The Joy of Glory

Discovering endless joy in the boundless glory of God…

Tag: anger

February 23, 2015

Lent Devotional: Joshua 9:1-27

Joshua 9:1-27 (click here)
Joshua made peace with them and made a covenant with them, to let them live, and the leaders of the congregation swore to them.

Joshua summoned them, and he said to them, “Why did you deceive us, saying, ‘We are very far from you,’ when you dwell among us?

They answered Joshua, “Because it was told to your servants for a certainty that the LORD your God had commanded his servant Moses to give you all the land and to destroy all the inhabitants of the land from before you—so we feared greatly for our lives because of you and did this thing. And now, behold, we are in your hand. Whatever seems good and right in your sight to do to us, do it.” So he did this to them and delivered them out of the hand of the people of Israel, and they did not kill them. (Joshua 9:15, 22, 24-26)

Reflection
This is one of the more interesting stories in the Old Testament, and it really doesn’t get that much attention because people don’t know what to make of it.

God had commissioned his people to take the land of Canaan. They were not to make peace with any of the lands inhabitants for they were all falling under the just judgment of God for their sin.

However, the Gibeonites deceived the people of Israel into thinking they lived far away. So, Israel made a covenant with Gibeon. They soon discovered the dishonesty of the Gibeonites, but remained true to the covenant they had made.

Covenant is the key.

Grace was extended to the Gibeonites through a covenant. The Gibeonites certainly didn’t deserve it… nor had they earned it. In fact, they were deceivers, liars, and tricksters. Why should Israel be bound to keep it’s word with such people?

Because it was a covenant and there was supposed to be no stronger promise than that.

God’s grace toward us in Jesus is known as the new covenant. It is a promise of God’s unmerited favor toward us, not because of us, but because of Jesus.

We certainly don’t deserve such grace… nor have we earned it. In fact, we could be called deceivers, liars, tricksters, and many other applicable things. Why should God be bound to keep his word with such people?

Because his grace comes to us as a covenant through Christ… and there is no stronger promise than that.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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April 13, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 34-35

Job 34-35 (click here)
Therefore, hear me, you men of understanding: far be it from God that he should do wickedness, and from the Almighty that he should do wrong. (Job 34:10)

Reflection
Is it ever “right” to accuse God of wrong? Is it ok for us to be angry with God?

We must answer these questions carefully and not be overly simplistic. Scripture tells us that God is never in the wrong, he never acts wickedly, he never sins, etc. Therefore, it IS sin to accuse God or be angry with him. There is no such thing as justified anger at God, for he never does anything wrong…he never does anything worthy of our wrath.

Yet…as soon as I say that, people begin to get upset because there are many times in their life they have “felt” wronged by God. Perhaps you have felt this way. Anger towards the Lord has festered in your heart. Are we just supposed to suppress that anger and put on a hypocritical face of love towards the Lord? No.

If we are angry with God, we should be honest about it. He knows anyway. Confess it, pray for comfort, and help… and eventually… repent. He is faithful and just to forgive. When we sin by being angry with the Lord, we don’t sin again by hypocritically hiding that anger.

Ultimately, we need to see that our anger is pointed in the wrong direction. Typically when we are angry at the Lord, it IS because some injustice has taken place, but such injustice should make us angry at sin, death, and Satan! We should not be angry with the only solution to those problems! The Lord is the solution! He has promised to deal, in a real/final way, with sin, death, and Satan. When we are angered by injustices, let us not aim that anger at the only one who has promised to bring us the justice we desire.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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March 23, 2014

Lent Devotional: Job 6-7

Job 6-7 (click here)
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. (Job 7:11)

Reflection
Despair. It has crept into Job’s soul and now spews out his mouth. God is the sole source of his hope, but it seems as though God himself is set against him. He has nowhere left to go. What is a believer to do when despair comes?

We are still to go to the only source of hope we have…God. We take our anguish, our complaints, our bitterness to the Lord. We do not keep everything shut up inside our hearts and wear a happy face like all is ok. No.  Bottled up bitterness is like a stomach full of glass…it will cut you to pieces and kill you from the inside out.

Even though Job feels like God is opposing him, he still goes to God. As a believer, he (and we) has nowhere else to go.  And Job doesn’t hold back, he lets go everything that is in his heart. This doesn’t mean that everything he says or does is right! All too often we mistake it being ok to express our feelings before God as an actual affirmation that our feelings are correct. That is not the case.

As Job will find out, anytime we are angry with God, we are in the wrong…for God never does anything wrong. Yet, it is ok to express what we are feeling to the Lord. He will walk us, as he does with Job, through the situation in his time and his way. He will affirm the feelings that should be affirmed and lead us to repent of those for which repentance is needed.

Don’t sit in the darkness of despair alone…for you are not alone. Cry out to God. Take everything in your heart before him. Hold nothing back. He is the only one who can turn our night to day. He is our only hope.

*The complete SVCC Lenten reading guide is available here.

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