See two important features of today's reading. First, we notice that the Lord visits his people in his anger. The people of Israel are not able to withstand either. All to often today we try to sanitize God. We take away his teeth. We say that he never has really been angry with sin or that he is no longer angry with sin. This is an unbiblical view. Our Lord, God the Father, is indeed angry about sin and remains angry about sin to this day. The difference is solely that he has poured out his anger on Jesus, God the Son, who died in place of all sinful humans, all who deserve to die, all of us. God's righteous wrath against sin consumes the sin and the sinner alike. Second, we see that the Lord, though dreadfully angry against sin, visits his people with provision. How much do they need to eat? He knows exactly how much they need, and he provides that. But in their sin the people doubt his goodness or his ability to provide. the Lord provides for his people, more than they can imagine, more than they can endure. How much has the Lord provided salvation for his people? He has in fact, saved us more than we can imagine. He has saved us more than we could endure to think about. If we were to realize how terrible sin is and how great salvation in Christ is we would surely drop dead right there on the spot. Our Lord provides so greatly that we cannot even start to imagine it.
The next few days' posts may be very brief or nonexistent as I will be in and out of Internet and computer access. We'll see what happens!
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