DO YOU VIEW GOD AS A PUNISHER, OR A KIND AND COMPASSIONATE FATHER?

SCRIPTURE:
“In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, 
but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,”
says the LORD your Redeemer.
(Isaiah 54:8)

MEDITATION:
God is slow to anger…. 
‘The Lord is slow to anger, abounding in love and forgiving sin and rebellion. 
Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children 
for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.’ (Numbers 14:18)
...but He is also swift to show mercy, because He has an everlasting kindness.

The wrath is little and the mercies are great; 
the wrath is for a moment, but the kindness is everlasting. 
We should not become dejected and lose confidence under afflictions,
nor should we despair in the belief that there is no hope of any relief.
We worship a merciful God who can help us through any situation.

Some think that if God is all-powerful and all-loving, 
it would seem inconsistent with His nature to allow anyone to be lost. 
However, we cannot rationalize God, because we do not understand His nature. 
We have to remember 
that God cannot go against His own laws and against His own nature.

God is holy, and He cannot tolerate sin in His presence. 
He has His desires for us, but He created us free to choose how we will live. 
He invites us to come His way, but leaves us free to pursue our own ends, 
even when they are filled with tragic and natural consequences. 
Some say, “Surely a loving God 
would not allow a person He loves to be lost. He just wouldn’t allow it”.

Far from allowing it, God has done everything He can to prevent it! 
All the dealings of God with his people, however dark and dismal they seem, 
or even if they appear to be from His wrath and displeasure, 
they do not contradict His everlasting love.

Talk about love! 
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever 
believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16) 
This is good news. 
Because of what God did for us out of a heart full of love, 
we do not have to remain in a state of lostness, doomed to an eternal 
separation from the One who loves us more than anyone could ever imagine.

ACTION:
Have you experienced the mercy of a loving God?
Are you choosing your own paths, 
or have you yielded to God’s desires for you?

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, thank You for Your everlasting kindness and compassion. 
Help me to eliminate anything in my life that prevents me from feeling Your 
magnanimous love in my life. I want to live every day of my life with 
confidence and assurance that I am pleasing You now, and can look forward to 
spending an eternity enjoying a loving fellowship with You. Thank You, Jesus 
for showing the magnitude of Your love through Your sacrifice for my sins.”