"Do I take any pleasure in the death of the wicked? declares the Sovereign LORD. Rather, am I not pleased when they turn from their ways and live?"
{Ezekiel 18:23} (NIV)
How many of us are surprised by this truth? How many of us think that God can’t wait to smoke the wicked; that He is itching to get at them? The truth is that the Bible presents the opposite thought.
Genesis presents a God who waits for the sins of the Amorites to reach a certain level before bringing destruction to them through His people (15:16); a God who is very slow and deliberate about the destruction of Sodom. Jonah reveals a God who will go to miraculous lengths to see a wicked and violent nation spared destruction.
Our enemy, Satan, is the one who wants humans to die, God wants them to live! He is the Life-Giver, the Life-Sustainer, and He is the Resurrection and the Life! God is all about Life, and the Bible teaches that repentance is the way to Life.
The Israelites had started to believe a type of fatalism. They believed that our course is determined by sin of our parents. May we not make their mistake, for this type of thinking traps us in sin and death. There is no such thing as fate or destiny; there is only God and you. Today is the first day of the rest of your life. Repent and Live!
Matt Maher, "Hold us Together", via YouTube
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