Peace with God
“I keep it night and day;
I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
Or let them lay hold of my protections,
Let them make peace with me,
Let them make peace with me.†– Isaiah 27:3c-5
As I have been reading through Isaiah, it is hard to miss these two truths about God. One, He is capable of tremendous wrath, even on those He has chosen. Two, He wants the people to know there is great hope.
It is easy to get caught up in thinking much about God and His character as we study this Book, but we must not forget the power of human initiative. My children would often come home and tell me how their teacher would react unreasonably during school. They would say the teacher got too mad about this or that. Occasionally, I would contact the teacher to see what was happening. Then I get the full story.
The teacher’s actions only seemed unreasonable because my children did not really understand. Sure they had only broken a little rule, but it was not a big deal. They never stopped to consider what happens when a great force of children continue to break the rules…judgement eventually comes…or cometh.
In the passage above God speaks about planting a new vineyard and warring against any weed, but He also speaks of making peace. There is human initiative that can be taken towards God. We have a great responsibility to respond to His call and remember the simple reality that God is God, and we are not.
Do you need to make peace with God? How do you do that? What keeps you from making peace with God?
I have no wrath.
Would that I had thorns and briers to battle!
I would march against them,
I would burn them up together.
Or let them lay hold of my protections,
Let them make peace with me,
Let them make peace with me.†– Isaiah 27:3c-5
As I have been reading through Isaiah, it is hard to miss these two truths about God. One, He is capable of tremendous wrath, even on those He has chosen. Two, He wants the people to know there is great hope.
It is easy to get caught up in thinking much about God and His character as we study this Book, but we must not forget the power of human initiative. My children would often come home and tell me how their teacher would react unreasonably during school. They would say the teacher got too mad about this or that. Occasionally, I would contact the teacher to see what was happening. Then I get the full story.
The teacher’s actions only seemed unreasonable because my children did not really understand. Sure they had only broken a little rule, but it was not a big deal. They never stopped to consider what happens when a great force of children continue to break the rules…judgement eventually comes…or cometh.
In the passage above God speaks about planting a new vineyard and warring against any weed, but He also speaks of making peace. There is human initiative that can be taken towards God. We have a great responsibility to respond to His call and remember the simple reality that God is God, and we are not.
Do you need to make peace with God? How do you do that? What keeps you from making peace with God?
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