"RRRRR; I Wanted to Quarrel With You!

This reading is based on Psalm 60, read in accordance with the Revived by His Word initiative of the General Conference of Seventh-day Adventists

Have you ever heard someone making the above statement (the caption), or have you ever made that statement yourself (or the essence of it)? I mean, you go into a room all fumed up and ready to give a blast... but the accused is already submissive, repentant and subdued - rendering all you worked-up drama, pointless. I have heard and/or seen the essence of that scene at time or two. There was even one such recorded in the book of Exodus, where a conversation between God and Moses is recorded.

" Now therefore let me alone, that my wrath may wax hot against them, and that I may consume them: and I will make of thee a great nation." Ex 32:10. This was when Moses went up to Mt Sinai to receive the Commandments from God, but delayed his return. The people, feeling neglected by Moses/God, decided to make themselves a gods. God saw what was happening and was irate - hence the above statement by Him. The marvelous thing about this passage is that by the time we get to verse 14 we read, "And the Lord repented of the evil which he thought to do unto his people."  What an amazing God of Grace!

It is this God of Grace that David, without wasting his words, here appeals to, "O God, You have cast us off; You have broken us down; You have been displeased; Oh, restore us again!"  It is this same God that the woman caught in adultery encountered in Jesus, when He declared, "Neither do I condemn thee."  It is this same God of Grace from whom we are today seeking "Revival and Reformation" as a church - because, like David, we recognize that all our victories; all our conquests over the arch-enemy are accomplished for us by God (verse 12).  What a place of Hope to exist in!

Today Lord we praise You for being more prone to pardon than to punish; more compelled to cleanse than to condemn.  We recognize that we have been wayward and come to You in repentance.  Please don't remain angry with us, but restore us we pray.  Not far hence, may it be said of us, "There goes a people who have been 'Revived by His Word.'"  Amen.

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