SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD’S SENDING JUDGMENT

 SOME THOUGHTS ABOUT GOD’S SENDING JUDGMENT

I wrote the paragraphs below as a response to a good friend who was uncomfortable with one of my previous posts dealing with God’s judgment. Please feel free to post a comment or send an email with any questions or thoughts you’d like to share. ---Billy Long (broblong@gmail.com).

The first motivating thought in my post is that there is a God, as opposed to the Atheist who thinks God does not exist and who thinks He is irrelevant to earth’s events, and as opposed to the deist who thinks God simply walked off and left us to ourselves. There is a God who manages the affairs of earth, and we must acknowledge and call upon Him.
When I say “nothing is out of His control” I am saying that nothing is “out of control,” that is, God is not helplessly standing by watching.
I would not make a blanket statement saying bad weather is God’s judgment. The book of Job says that God sends weather for correction and for mercy (Job 37:1). The weather is like everything else in life, some of it is good, some of it is bad, some of it is a blessing from God, some of it is an attack from the devil, some of it is Divine judgment, and some of it is simply mystery. I do not say that people who are experiencing bad things are being judged (We don’t want to be Job’s comforters), although sometimes bad things do indicate reaping and judgment. But I would also add that sometimes bad things happen to innocent people like Job. But we should not be afraid to face the fact that God does at some point send judgment on iniquity.
Life is too complex to blame everything on God or on the devil.
Discernment, revelation, and compassion are necessary before we start making presumptions and judgments about other people. But I do feel that our nation is headed into judgment unless there are enough intercessors and national repentance (Gen 18:16-33).
The Apostle Paul spoke of both the kindness and severity of God. The kindness of God leads us to repentance. That is God’s first approach, and He is patient and longsuffering with His kindness. But when we do not respond to His kindness, there does come a time when He disciplines His children to help them along. Isaiah said, “Let grace be shown to the wicked, yet he will not learn righteousness” (Isaiah 26: 10). There also comes a time when the judgment of God does fall on a nation or people when iniquity reaches its fullness.
We would be a bit arrogant to think that our nation does not deserve judgment. It is this awareness of potentially impending judgment that awakens and stirs the intercessors to arise, pray, and stand in the gap. If we see no potential for judgment, then we see no urgent need to “sigh and cry because of the abominations” as Ezekiel said in chapter 9.
I believe in the “Goshen principal” in which God hides and protects His people. I pray that my household and God’s people will live in “Goshen” in the days ahead. But I think also that there are times that the righteous may suffer to some degree along with the rest when judgments fall on a nation. Daniel and Ezekiel both were taken into captivity with Israel; and there must have been some righteous people in Israel who went into captivity with the others. If an economic crisis hits our nations, we will all feel it, including the church. Although, I think the church should ask for and believe for the “Goshen” experience.
I do see pestilence, sword, famine, wild beasts, etc as instruments of God’s judgment in scripture, and that He used them on Israel and other nations.
I think a “plague” can be a judgment on a nation in a general sense, but not necessarily on the individuals. For instance, an epidemic of AIDS might be judgment on a nation in general because of its rampant promiscuity, but not necessarily a judgment on every individual with AIDs since many innocent people have contracted the disease.
God loves us. His mercy and grace are unfathomable. He does, however, send judgments when our rebellion and unrepentant sin call for it. But I don’t believe everything bad is a judgment of God. I do think the topic is too complex to cover all the bases in a short post.

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