GUEST POST ~ Rethink God's "Wrath"
It is a formidable natural structure and it does not move to accommodate ships. It has a long history of being a navigational edifice. A wise captain will adjust the ships course accordingly.
Wrath is not the opposite of love. It is a category, expression, and remedy of love applied to restore a state of love.
Wrath is a turning point.
With that assumption, I take Psalm 21, verse by verse.
Psalm 21:1 – O LORD, the king rejoices in your strength. How great is his joy in the victories you give!
The truest and noblest kind of joy is always rooted in who God is and what God does. Human victories are inconsequential. Heavenly victories are sources of great rejoicing because they are divine in origin, eternal in duration, and complete in their perfection. Jesus told the disciples to rejoice, not because the demons were subject to them, but because their names were written in the book of life. Rejoice today in the victories that God is working and, by faith, embrace them.
Psalm 21:2 - You have granted him the desire of his heart and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah
God answers prayer. The words have been spoken so often that they constitute and cliché. However, they remain true in every sense. In the case of this king, the desires of his heart have come to fulfillment and the requests of his lips have been granted. To what extent is your heart moved by God that He can trust you with the desires that originate there? How God-directed are the prayers of your lips that each may be granted with confidence by God? As God to change your desires that you may be more effective at prayer.
Psalm 21:3 - You welcomed him with rich blessings and placed a crown of pure gold on his head.
God’s welcome is a magnificent gift. The king so often received official guests – many begging favors. But when he approached the throne of God, it was as a mere mortal. His testimony is as surprising as our own when we meet the generosity and goodness of God. He is amazed. God, the King of the universe, crowned him! God, the Supreme Master, blessed him! Never stop being astounded by the goodness of God and always give thanks..
Psalm 21:4 – He asked you for life, and you gave it to him-- length of days, for ever and ever.
Life is that gift which God most freely gives. He has given it to every man and woman. Eternal life is a treasure that He offers in the same and greater abundance. And it is always just for the asking. Have you received life from God? If not, you are not yet truly alive. If so, you must live it out. It is too precious to take for granted.
Psalm 21:6 - Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.
How about you? Have you taken stock of the enormous storehouse of eternal blessings you have received from the hand of God? Have you responded with joyful thanksgiving? As we approach month’s end, take time to be specifically thankful and lift up your joyful voice to God the Giver in whose presence you stand.
Psalm 21:7 - For the king trusts in the LORD; through the unfailing love of the Most High he will not be shaken.
Trust God. It is the source of life and joy. God’s unfailing love is our stability and confidence. Let not your heart be shaken whatever the circumstances of life. You are encompassed by the goodness and love of God.
Psalm 21:8 - Your hand will lay hold on all your enemies; your right hand will seize your foes.
Trust God to handle His enemies. Let Him fight His own battles and vindicate His own Name. Then let Him have yours as well. He is perfectly capable of handling His business and yours and emerging victorious from any battle. Trust Him!
Psalm 21:9 - At the time of your appearing you will make them like a fiery furnace. In his wrath the LORD will swallow them up, and his fire will consume them.
God’s anger consumes all that wars against His ways and His people. Truth always swallows up lies. Truth makes untruth irrelevant and exalts only the God of truth. To be an enemy of God, one must embrace a lie so tightly and with such adhesion that one is swept away with it. God’s judgment is the process by which He sets all things aright and makes plain what has been distorted. His wrath is not an emotional outburst of a spoiled child, but the energy with which He speaks and restores His reign.
We would be wise to pray for God’s judgment within us that we might be liberated
Psalm 21:10 - You will destroy their descendants from the earth, their posterity from mankind.
Lies perpetuate themselves.
If we are looking at enemies as spiritual forces working inside and all around us, then we recognize that God’s enemies are our enemies – even if they are so intertwined with our personalities and character that we have come to identify them with who we are.
Allow the Word of Truth to pry your soul away from the sin distortion that has erroneously redefined your humanity. Then, cheer as those falsehoods are destroyed and their power to reproduce is obliterated from the face of the earth.
Pray to that end today – ruthlessly. This is about being made free!
Psalm 21:11 – Though they plot evil against you and devise wicked schemes, they cannot succeed;
If it were not so dead serious, the comedy of God’s enemies plotting and devising wicked schemes against Him would be overwhelming. We smugly decry the audacity and, without making the connection to ourselves, try to “pull the wool over” God’s eyes in our own secret sins.
We cannot succeed.
God knows all, sees all, anticipates all, and always has the last word. He is not shocked by our addictive and destructive behaviors, but He calls us to truth and reason. He enables us to see failure as the inevitable outcome of sin and His way as the only hope for real success.
Get real!
Psalm 21:12 -… for you will make them turn their backs when you aim at them with drawn bow.
Sin cannot face truth.
Test it.
Darkness will turn away from the light. It always retreats. Liars are not prone to confront the evidence that discredits them. They run away. It does not require argument or eloquence to expose falsehood or to disarm God’s enemies and those enemies of our souls that are devouring us from within.
It only requires truth. It is your best medicine in the war for healing from negative “self-image,” destructive thoughts, and corrosive behaviors. Take a dose of truth daily. Chase it with Living Water and be refreshed. Watch sin turn away in fear and defeat.
Psalm 21:13 - Be exalted, O LORD, in your strength; we will sing and praise your might.
If you can pray for the exaltation of God, then you are, at the very core of your being, a friend of God. The enemies within you do not constitute the real you. The sin residing in your soul is not your true nature. You desire the things of God at the very depths of who you are. Build upon that desire with the practice of praise.
Do not allow the satan to torment you with insidious notions like, “You hypocrite! You don’t mean it – I saw you …bla, bla, bla...”
Resist those thoughts and praise God with all your might. The Holy Spirit will activate your spirit and God will fight the enemies within you.
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