SCRIPTURE: If only we knew the power of your anger! Your wrath is as great as the fear that is your due. Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Psalm 90:11-12 NIV
THOUGHT: At first it sounds crazy to say, “If only we knew the power of your anger!” Given my own penchant for peacemaking, I might say, “If only we could be perfect and never have to encounter your anger!” But Psalm 90 is a prayer of Moses, and Moses had been with God. He knew a thing or two.
When the people had refused to come nearer so God could speak to them – asking Moses to be the intermediary instead – he was the one who said, “Do not be afraid. God has come to test you, so that the fear of God will be with you to keep you from sinning (Ex. 20:20).”
This morning’s thought is this: if the way toward a heart of wisdom is drawing near enough to have the fear of God with you; if running toward God results in running from temptation by glimpsing the wrath under his great control, let’s run! God’s anger is only as great as the fear that is due him, and there’s no way for us to understand that good, healthy fear and honor unless we come so close that it functions to help us number our days and gain the wisdom that keeps us from sin.
Think about it for a minute: in the Garden of Eden, Satan promised Eve wisdom if only she would sin against God. Moses is promising the opposite: wisdom that will keep us from making the same mistake, hidden inside the appropriate fear of God.
PRAYER: Oh God, teach us to fear you appropriately – and then teach us to number our days, and gain hearts of wisdom.
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Blogger Amy Clemens is the author of Walking When You’d Rather Fly: Meditations on Faith After the Fall. In it she explores childhood sexual abuse and how it impacted her faith (or lack thereof) for four decades. You’ll find not only her story, but better yet, the Big Story of God.
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