God of Lovingkindness and Justice
Scripture Passage: Deuteronomy 7:8-11 (NASB)
8 “but because the Lord loved you and kept the oath which He swore to your forefathers, the Lord brought you out by a mighty hand and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. 9 Know therefore that the Lord your God, He is God, the faithful God, who keeps His covenant and His lovingkindness to a thousandth generation with those who love Him and keep His commandments; 10 but repays those who hate Him to their faces, to destroy them; He will not delay with him who hates Him, He will repay him to his face. 11 Therefore, you shall keep the commandment and the statutes and the judgments which I am commanding you today, to do them.
SUMMARY
In today’s passage, God reminds Israel how much He loves her, and kept the covenant He promised with her forefathers. By God’s mighty hand He redeemed Israel from slavery, He was always faithful, and He will show His lovingkindness for generations to those who love Him and keep His commandments. God reminds Israel to fear the Lord, and that He is a good but just God. Hence, it is imperative to keep the commandments that He is giving her.
MEDITATION & REFLECTION
Reading these verses I was reminded of how good God is, how much He loves us, how He keeps all his promises, how He is always faithful to us, how He shows lovingkindness for generations to those who love Him and keep His commandments.
I was reminded of how God brought me out of my own slavery and bondage to my ambition, my greed, my desires, my expectations, my weaknesses, my fears, my worries and my anxieties. Thinking back of the rat race I had lived, the situations and choices in which I was positioned to keep seeking and trying, and endlessly doing and trying with my own strength, how tiring and exhausting it was to constantly try to no avail. I am humbled, relieved and at peace, to know that God is our Deliverer. Because God loves us so much, He chose us, He pursues us, He is good, and we are so blessed by his lovingkindness. He will fight our battles, and He will deliver us just like He did with Israel. The peace I get from this constant reminder truly gives me His peace that transcends all understanding.
In the other half of the passage, God reminds us to be faithful to Him, and to not forget that though He is good, He is also a just God, who repays those who hate him. I pondered upon these seemingly harsh words on “hating” the Lord, and initially I thought what does it mean to “hate” God who is a Lord of love? Why would we “hate” him when He is a good, good Father. It hit me that the meaning of hate, is in essence, lack of love. By not loving God, not demonstrating love by obedience, and by not following his commandments, means to walk away from God, be separated from Him, and being fruitless and empty without God. By understanding the meaning of “hating” God, not being with God, I was reminded that true fulfillment in life, doesn’t come from the things of the world, or the people He has blessed us with, but only by being at peace and being in love with Christ.
Reflecting upon today’s verses, I felt humbled by God revealing the meaning and weight of His love. What does it mean that God loves us, and that He loves us unconditionally? What is the weight of this statement, and what does this look like in our everyday life? God’s love is not dead, but His love is alive, demonstrated daily in actions, just like faith, where God’s love for us is shown actively, constantly in actions, in everything we do and everywhere we are. God makes promises (big and small) and actually delivers on them. I was humbled to remember that God is ALWAYS good, and he always delivers in His promises. The problem is me, my impatience, my lack of understanding of his ways or of his timing, especially when I feel I think I am trusting God, but I am not really trusting in Him, but I am trusting in my expectations of how I want Him to act. So I was humbled to remember that He is in control, that He keeps His covenants, and my job is not to question God in his ability to do his part, but to look at myself and check my heart, to see if I am truly loving God by following his commandments.
APPLICATION
As I keep meditating upon Your words, I am thankful to be reminded of who You are, and how You have always been faithful and present in my life. I will seek to surrender before You, knowing that You love us, and You have a great inheritance for us. I will dedicate more time to get to know You, to remember who You are, what You have done, in the past, in the present, and in the future to come. I will spend more time with You by sanctifying myself in my heart, in my thoughts, in my life, that I can be grateful, that I can be transformed, and that I can see how blessed I am. There is none like You, and the love You have for us, doesn’t compare to anything we could find in creation to replace the fulfillment, the peace, and the love that only comes from You.
PRAYER
God help me seek You, find You, dwell in Your presence, know Your love, and understand Your ways, for I fall so short of Your glory. I always forget who You are, I forget how sovereign and good You are. I am constantly unfaithful, thinking that I know better when it is not the case. Humble me, discipline me, that I may not fall far away from You. Bring me close to You, pursue me that I shall never walk away from You. Fill my cup with Your never-ending unconditional love, that Your lovingkindness reminds me everyday of Your majesty, Your perfect ways, and the deliverance in Your inheritance that I yet do not understand. I thank You for always being faithfully here and present, without letting me go, even when I do not know what I am doing and I feel I want to go my way. I thank You for Your providence and Your paths, for everything You always do is to love me and bless me.
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