Alone With God (OPEN HEAVENS Devotional)

OPEN HEAVENS Devotional – Friday October 28^th 2016

TOPIC: GOD GETS ANGRY TOO

Memorize: For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psalms 30:5

Read: Psalms 30:1-5,

¹ I will extol thee, O Lord; for thou hast lifted me up, and hast not made my foes to rejoice over me.

² O Lord my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me.

³ O Lord, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.

⁴ Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of his, and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness.

⁵ For his anger endureth but a moment; in his favour is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

Bible in one year: Zechariah 1:1-6-8, Psalms 86:15-37

MESSAGE

A truth catches one’s attention in today’s Bible reading; God can be angry! If this wasn’t the case, the Bible wouldn’t have said; “For this anger endureth but a moment”. Jeremiah 25:6 further corroborates this fact by saying that the God of love can be provoked to anger:

“And go not after other gods to serve them, and to worship them, and provoke me not to anger with works of your hands; and I will do you no hurt.”

It is only a false teacher or prophet that will teach that God is so lovingly holy, therefore, He can’t be provoked to anger. This type of teaching makes children of God take the love of their heavenly Father for granted.

Having said this, we must also acknowledge the fact that His anger does not last forever. There is a condition though. When you don’t take God and His mercies for granted, and you genuinely turn away from your wickedness, He will deal with you as if you have never sinned before. Proverbs 28:13 says:

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh them shall have mercy.”

When God is angry with an individual, that fellow cannot know joy. Psalms 32:10 says:

“Many sorrows shall be to the wicked: but he that trusteth in the Lord, mercy shall compass him about.”

Going by this scripture, every man born of a woman is doomed for sorrow until Jesus Christ redeems him from the curse of sin. Our trust in the work of redemption without taking the One who made it possible for granted, will bring us unspeakable joy. When our relationship is cordial with God, we can boldly say like the Psalmist; “weeping may endure for a night…” (Due to the variable nature of life) “…but joy cometh in the morning.”

When I first became General Overseer, anytime I returned from my missionary journeys, my wife would be eager to tell me about all the matters that needed my attention. After listening to them all, I would ask for my food and after the meal I would go to bed. My wife kept on wondering about my attitude. I had to explain to her the fact that joy will come in the morning because I was leaving everything to God while I sleep. Faithful is He who has promised us joy in the morning; it shall surely come.

Prayer Point

Father, let my morning of joy come now.