I’ve heard some people say with horror in their voice, “Whatever you do, don’t pray for God to do His Will in your life or something horrible will happen to you!” And they really believe it! I was totally shocked as I thought that they would know more about the Lord then I did since they’d been saved so much longer. Sadly though, they didn’t understand Him at all. This is our Lord and Savior we’re talking about. Do you really think He would do something horrible to you? He is the one who gave His life for us. He’s the one who told us that if we were weary or burdened to come to Him because He would give us rest! (Matthew 11:28–30)
In describing Him, Isaiah says, —He will not shout or cry out, or raise his voice in the streets. *A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out. In faithfulness he will bring forth justice; (Isaiah 42:2–3) This isn’t speaking of a literal reed that He might have seen laying in the street, or a lamp about to go out. Isaiah is speaking of people here. He’s speaking of people who are heart broken, scared, and who’s spirits are fragile and weak because they’ve been betrayed and hurt. He’s speaking about a person who trembles with fear when they hear a raised voice. We’re told that Jesus won’t alarm or hurt these people, but instead will nurture and restore them to strength and health. Not only that, but it assures us that He will do so softly, gently, tenderly, with love.
Does this sound like the kind of God who would do something horrible to you? But you may say this is true, but what about the Father? Jesus tells Philip in John 14 that if we have seen Him, then we’ve seen the Father. What He’s actually saying is that if we know Him, then we really know the Father too because He and the Father are one. The Father doesn’t act any differently than He does. Remember how often Jesus tells us that everything He says and does are because the Father has told Him to? Jesus was showing us what the Father is like. Therefore if Jesus wouldn’t break a bruised reed, neither will the Father.
This is our God who came to bind up the broken hearted, to set prisoners free. Let’s read the rest of the verse from Matthew 11:28–30 I spoke of earlier —“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. *Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. *For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.” * How often are we told and shown how He searches for the lost to help them, how He binds up our wounds, and heals us, how He carries us close to His heart? Recall the times He’s wept over people’s suffering and helped and comforted them; the times that instead of thinking of His own needs, He spent His time caring for the needs of others. Recall the bruised reed of the woman who was brought before Him, condemned. Did He do something awful to her? No, He set her free physically and spiritually too by forgiving her sins and telling her to go and sin no more. He didn’t come and tell us to love others, even our enemies and not do it Himself. All He commands of us, He also showed us by His life how to do. This is our God my friends, and His plans for us are plans to prosper us, not to harm us, plans to give us hope and a future! (Jeremiah 29:11)
But what about all the verses that talk about Him destroying His enemies and things like that? That is easy to understand if you think for just a moment about it. We aren’t His enemies any longer, we’re His children! Yes, He will destroy His enemies one day soon, but for His children He says there is no condemnation for us and that He will save us and keep us from that time of wrath. Romans tells us that because we’ve been justified by His blood, we will certainly be saved from God’s wrath through Jesus. The wrath of God will be coming against all godlessness, and we have been declared righteous, so have no need to worry about that. In 1 Thessalonians we’re told outright again that Jesus rescues us from the coming wrath and that we were appointed to receive salvation, not His wrath.
I pray that all of this has shown us that our God is a God a love and that as His children we need never fear Him or fear what He will do. Yes, He will stretch us beyond our comfort zones at times to encourage our growth, but no more then a good parent does with their children when encouraging them to do something the parent knows they’re capable of even though the child is concerned they’ll fail, and the good parent never harms the child or pushes them so hard as to make them fearful! Of course, earthly parents aren’t perfect and we do make mistakes; but God is perfect and He never makes mistakes or misjudges anything or anyone. We really can trust Him! Having said we need never fear Him, I should also say that by that I’m not saying we shouldn’t feel a reverential awe of Him and a desire to please Him, which is what the “fear of the Lord” is referring to when it says that the “fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge”.
So let us praise God with Psalm 103, rejoicing in the God who loves us and doesn’t treat us as our sins deserve! May His Will always be done in my life! Thank You Lord!
