We implore you on Christ’s behalf: Be reconciled to God. God made Him who had no sin, to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God. As God’s co-workers we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain. For He says, “In the time of My favor I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.” I tell you, now is the time of God’s favor, now is the day of salvation. 2 Corinthians 5:20-21, 6:1-2.

The Lord watches over all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy. Psalm 145:20.

We love Him because He first loved us. 1 John 4:19 NKJV.

There are Scripture verses that are hard to understand and when I come to those I feel very much a child for whom there are things too big for me to grasp. I can’t understand by leaning on my own understanding but I can put all of my faith and hope and trust in Creator God – Father…Son…Spirit. It also helped to read further in My Utmost for His Highest by Oswald Chambers…”The revealed truth of the Bible is not that Jesus Christ took on Himself our fleshly sins, but that He took on Himself the heredity of sin that no man can even touch. God made His own Son “to be sin” that He might make the sinner into a saint. It is revealed throughout the Bible that our Lord took on Himself the sin of the world through identification with us, not through sympathy for us. He deliberately took on His own shoulders, and endured in His own body, the complete, cumulative sin of the human race. “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us” and by so doing, He placed salvation for the entire human race solely on the basis of redemption…A man cannot redeem himself – redemption is the work of God, and is absolutely finished and complete. And its application to individual people is a matter of their own individual action or response to it.”

That helps as we read further in our chapter, Isaiah 25. Lord, You are my God; I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago…You have been a refuge for the poor, a refuge for the needy in their distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat. For the breath of the ruthless is like a storm driving against a wall and like the heat of the desert. You silence the uproar of foreigners; as heat is reduced by the shadow of a cloud, so the song of the ruthless is stilled. On this mountain the Lord Almighty will prepare a feast of rich foods for all peoples…On this mountain He will destroy the shroud that enfolds all peoples, the sheet that covers all nations; He will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces; He will remove His people’s disgrace from all the earth. The Lord has spoken. v. 1, 4-6, 7-8. People who trusted in God will say, “Surely this is our God; we trusted in Him, and He saved us. This is the Lord, we trusted in Him; let us rejoice and be glad in His salvation.” v. 9. And the hard part? The hand of the Lord will rest on this mountain; but Moab will be trampled in their land as straw is trampled down in the manure…God will bring down their pride despite the cleverness of their hands…v. 10, 11. In the notes below it said, “Moab was a symbol of all who oppose God and are rebellious to the end. Moab was Israel’s enemy for years.”

It’s easy to think others deserve to be trampled, their pride brought down. That brings us back to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, Matthew 5-7, also hard sayings that are difficult to completely grasp as meant for us, and not just for “others”…Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you. Matthew 7:1-2.

Let’s leave the judging to God. For He will remove His people’s disgrace from all the earth…The Sovereign Lord will wipe away the tears from all faces…A group of us last night were watching on Zoom The Chosen and we pause it often so we can talk about what we are seeing. As one of our members said, Scripture is complex. Our discussion left me wondering, long after our Zoom meeting ended, about the impact the appearing of the angelic host had on the simple shepherds as the message came to them that the Messiah had come now. How could they not be changed? Imagine the peace that they experienced knowing God had stepped into the world just as Scripture had prophesied. Scripture is complex and this world is hard and difficult to understand. But you and I can trust that God Is and He knows what is needed in each one of us. We can build our understanding on Him with His help. This I know…Lord, You are my God! I will exalt You and praise Your name, for in perfect faithfulness You have done wonderful things, things planned long ago! How can I not trust this God? Impossible!!