Joy in Judgment

 1 Kings 6; 2 Chronicles 3; Psalms. 97; Romans 1 

“The Lord reigns, let the earth be glad…Fire goes before him and consumes his foes on every side…All who worship images are put to shame…Zion hears and rejoices and the villages of Judah are glad because of your judgments, O Lord. For you, O Lord, are the Most High over all the earth; you are exalted far above all gods.”

Psalm 97:1, 3, 7-9

Do we rejoice when God’s judgments are experienced on earth?

Do we even acknowledge that God acts in human history to restrain sin, sometimes through cataclysmic events such as earthquakes, hurricanes, or tornados?

Do we fear and appease ‘mother earth’, or the Most High?

From whose perspective are we reading the daily news?

Does heaven’s perspective get shouted on earth so that we enter into heaven’s joy; or, do we identify with sinful humanity in shaking our fist at God and shouting, ‘Why’?

The last days will bring another period of God’s judgment of sin on a global level. “Fear God and give him glory, because the hour of his judgment has come…” (Revelation 14:7). When Babylon is judged the world’s merchants will mourn, but the people of God will rejoice (Revelation 18).

“Father God, you alone are the Most High. I rejoice in your judgments in my life, that your glory would be revealed.”