The Hand of Man
This morning in my unhurried time while I was doing my reading through the Bible, the Lord led me to an unusual memory verse for today. It was I Chronicles 21:13. The context is important to understand this verse. David sinned by taking a census of the Israelites with out God's blessing. At the end God sent His punishment because of David's sin. This time David could choose the punishment from 3 options: 3 years of famine, 3 months of being swept away by their enemies, or 3 days of pestilence from the Lord. David chose the last option, not because it was shorter, but because of the mercy of God. He told the prophet, Gad, who came to him with God's command that he would rather fall into the hand of God, for His mercies are great, instead of falling into the hand of man. That is a profound statement. I have found it to be the truth over the years.
God has punished me for my sins, because He loves me. Often, He has been merciful to me. He punished me, but not as much as He might have. I know I can always trust God to be loving and fair. However, when it comes to people, I have not found that to be the case. Often, they are not loving, and they want to extract as much flesh as possible. I wish it were not that way. If anything we should be more forgiving and merciful than God, because we have been forgiven so much by the Lord. We should follow His example.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Chronicles 22-24 and John 8:28-59.
God has punished me for my sins, because He loves me. Often, He has been merciful to me. He punished me, but not as much as He might have. I know I can always trust God to be loving and fair. However, when it comes to people, I have not found that to be the case. Often, they are not loving, and they want to extract as much flesh as possible. I wish it were not that way. If anything we should be more forgiving and merciful than God, because we have been forgiven so much by the Lord. We should follow His example.
Tomorrow, I intend to read I Chronicles 22-24 and John 8:28-59.