FRIDAY 26th
Psalm 94
NIV – (vv1-2) ‘The LORD is a God who avenges. O God who avenges, shine forth. Rise up, Judge of the earth; pay back to the proud what they deserve.’
ESV – (vv1-2) ‘O LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance, shine forth! Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!’
Yesterday the subject was that God reigned, he will do what he has determined to do, in our psalm today it continues with the theme of God doing what he has decreed by saying ‘O, LORD, God of vengeance, O God of vengeance shine forth!’ Because he is the eternal God who reigns on high, he has the right to judge the earth and the peoples of the earth. He has made the earth, it is his, he has made us, therefore he has the right to deal with us how he sees as right. God is a merciful God, but he is also a God of justice.
We see through Bible history how he has wrought vengeance upon those who refused his rule, who reject him as the Lord who reigns on high, consider the time of Noah, when the wickedness of man was so great that God was sorry that he had made man and he came with vengeance and brought a devastating flood upon the earth to wipe out mankind except for Noah and his family. We see him exacting his vengeance again when man sought to build a tower to reach up into the heavens and God came down and scattered humankind around the four corners of the earth, and confusing their language so that they no longer understood one another, we can think of the Egyptian Pharaoh and his stubbornness towards God and his refusal to let the Children of Israel go, the ten plagues and then the final assault as they sought to follow them through the red sea. The lesson is plainly obvious ‘how dare we refuse to obey God’ and why, because ‘the earth is the LORD’S and the fulness thereof’, he has the right to rule and reign for he is seated above the earth as the Almighty and the all-powerful God. There is no one above him or equal with him, he does what he wants, and he will always do what is right.
Another Scripture says that ‘it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God’ (Hebrews 10:30-31) and what a fearful day it is going to be when God comes to execute his judgement upon the earth and upon the peoples of the earth, then there will be no escape, for what has been will always be, in another Scripture we read, ‘Today if you hear his voice, do not harden your heart as in the day of rebellion . . .’ (Hebrews 3:7-8 also appears in our next psalm 95:7) My devotion today is a reminder to all that God will always act rightly, but more importantly it is a devotion for all who may read it that haven’t as yet received God’s offer of mercy which is being made available to you through the Lord Jesus Christ, this devotion can be the voice of God speaking into your heart, do not harden your heart but open it up to receive the good news of salvation offered to you through the Lord Jesus Christ, for in doing so you will know God coming to you in mercy and forgiveness rather than one day to be standing before him as a God bringing vengeance upon all who have rejected him.