"In Truth"

"These things hast thou done, and I kept silence; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself: but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes." (Psalms 50:21) Yes indeed, God Is the Judge; and because He is, He gets to establish all the rules; including the rules of punishment and His correction upon our lives. We don't get to make the rules, although we might think we do, based upon our own human emotions and feelings; God's ways are not the same as ours, so why do we think He will judge as we might judge? When it comes to the children of Israel, they are God's chosen people, yet they were chosen by God to bless the rest of the world with the perfect picture of God's love; through every story of being taken captive and delivered, from falling away and being reunited, to worshiping idols and coming back to God; they all are the mirror image of each of our lives, and how we struggle in staying true to God. But more than that, they are showing every one that cares to see how God is faithful, even though we may not be, He is, and He keeps on being faithful; why? because He has chosen us! Don't ask me to explain how that all works, because I can't, nor do I really care to know how it all works, because we cannot know the mind of God; but know this, He loves you, and anything that He allows you to go through, He does because He loves you, even those things that seem devastating and unbearable; just look at the picture of Israel if you do not believe me. We look at things in the here and now, in the flesh and blood; but God is not flesh and blood as we are, He is Spirit; but just to make things fair, He did come down and live as we live, and you see how that turned out! I really don't think that anyone could suffer as much as Jesus suffered; He looked towards the cross for many years, knowing how much He would suffer; the closer that day came, the more it most have pressed against His heart, the more He must have anguished that day's arrival. Imagine that for a moment, knowing all that you need to go through way ahead of time, and having to look forward to being beaten and nailed to a cross; let alone the actual suffering through it, even though you could end it all with just a word, He kept silent. I don't think that we really grasp the power demonstrated that day; the ultimate power of the love of God was shown in His humiliation, in that He could have said, "It is enough", yet He looked forward to saying, "It is Finished"... "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee. For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the LORD shall rise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising. Lift up thine eyes round about, and see: all they gather themselves together, they come to thee: thy sons shall come from far, and thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side. Then thou shalt see, and flow together, and thine heart shall fear, and be enlarged; because the abundance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the forces of the Gentiles shall come unto thee." (Isaiah 60:1-5)