When the punishment comes

Our God is the Righteous Judge, says Paul in his second letter to Timothy. That fact comfort us many times when we are wronged or something unjust happens. When there is nobody that understands us and we feel lonely. The thought that God is righteous and just and that evil will be punished is a strong one. But there are times when the fact of the righteous judge strikes us down. And that happens when we did something wrong and it's us who deserves the punishment. What do we do then, when we realize that God is not pleased what we were doing and He's about to punish us for our sins?

First of all about the punishment. Does God actually need to punish us? I mean, Christ has been punished in our place and there's no more wrath of God that would remain on us, right? So why would God want to punish us? As I was reading Leviticus 26 I was amazed when I read what all would God bring upon Israel if they would obey His commandments. But after this part God is revealing the other side of the contract: What happens when they don't obey. And God is saying all this hard (and not nice) things He would do to His people. He says over and over ...if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands, and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant, I will... and then He says all this different things how He would punish them. Later He says: I will turn your cities into ruins and lay waste your sanctuaries, and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings. I will lay waste the land, so that your enemies who live there will be appalled. All of those words are strong words if God is telling them to you. He goes so far that They [Israelites] will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.

And you ask: What does He want to do? What is the purpose of this all? And God tells us later to the end of the chapter: then when their uncircumcised hearts are humbled and they pay for their sin, I will remember my covenant with Jacob and my covenant with Isaac and my covenant with Abraham, and I will remember the land. And then God adds to this all saying: Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies, I will not reject them or abhor them so as to destroy them completely, breaking my covenant with them. I am the LORD their God. But for their sake I will remember the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the LORD. Do you see that? The only reason why God is letting the punishment to come upon His people that He loves and has chosen is that they might turn away from their sins and would run back into the arms of their LORD! So that they can see that He is the LORD alone. And we're told in the book of proverbs because the LORD disciplines those he loves, as a father the son he delights in. The only reason why He let this "punishment" to happen to us is just because He loves us and wants us to leave our own ways and run to Him.

So when we realize that we've done something wrong and then we see consequences of our act it's good to try to look at it not that God is bringing His judgment upon us to destroy us but to actually heal us and restore.

But despite all this our God also says about Himself: The LORD, the LORD, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. That's who our LORD really is. Just, abounding in love and with that all as the Righteous Judge.

So when a punishment comes we should rejoice because our Father is calling us back to Him and when we do so then our joy may be full.