No Joy in Judgment

My heart weeps for Moab. Its people flee to Zoar and Eglath-shelishiyah. Weeping, they climb the road to Luhith. Their crying can be heard all along the road to Horonaim. Even the waters of Nimrim are dried up! The grassy banks are scorched, and the tender plants are gone. The desperate refugees take only the possessions they can carry and flee across the Ravine of Willows. The whole land of Moab is a land of weeping from one end to the other--from Eglaim to Beer-elim. The stream near Dibon runs red with blood, but I am still not finished with Dibon! Lions will hunt down the survivors, both those who try to run and those who remain behind. Moab's refugees at Sela send lambs to Jerusalem as a token of alliance with the king of Judah. The women of Moab are left like homeless birds at the shallow crossings of the Arnon River. "Help us," they cry. "Defend us against our enemies. Protect us from their relentless attack. Do not betray us. Let our outcasts stay among you. Hide them from our enemies until the terror is past." When oppression and destruction have ceased and enemy raiders have disappeared, then David's throne will be established by love. From that throne a faithful king will reign, one who always does what is just and right. (Isaiah 15:5-9; 16:1-5, NLV).

I have been asked the question many times “Does God enjoy showing His wrath?” Often there are those who tell us that some great catastrophe is the result of God’s wrath. It is almost as if these purveyors of guilt and fear would have us believe that God is some great ogre sitting in His heaven waiting to punish the least misstep with glee. Nothing could be further from the truth of Scripture. From the comments of some non-Christians, you might think that God couldn’t wait to drop the hammer. They aren’t the only ones. Even Christians sometimes wonder where the whole chastening and wrath thing fits in when considering a loving, gracious God.

We can see this in today’s verses. When God revealed to Isaiah the consequences facing the nation of Moab, Isaiah responded much like God. He wept. Twice, when warning them, Isaiah wept for a nation called Moab, who wanted to destroy Israel. Why all the sorrow? Should Isaiah have cheered for the disaster? "Yeah, God, go get ’em!" Probably not, for a couple of reasons.

First, the region of Moab had once been part of the Jewish nation. Many of the cities in Moab had been given to the tribes of Gad and Reuben. Something had not gone according to God’s plan, and the region had been conquered by a nation hostile toward Israel. In the same way, when we stray from God we end up yielding territory to the enemy. What should belong to God is governed by a hostile power. That’s sad. There cannot be joy when anyone, enemy or friend, is under the influence of the enemy. Second, God does not rejoice when we face the consequences of sin. He sees how sin hurts His creation. He longs for all people to repent and follow Him. When they choose their own way, heading for hurt, He does not smugly enjoy it. We create misconceptions of God in our own minds. Our wrong ideas are based more on our limited perspective than on the Bible. When we try to understand God apart from His Word, we are bound to make mistakes. Our God is a God of mercy and grace. Turn to Him today and find forgiveness and peace.