62
Darkness Before Dawn
up with heavenly light as when Paul and Silas prayed and sang praises
at midnight in the Philippian dungeon.
God’s judgments will be visited upon those who are seeking to
oppress and destroy His people. His long forbearance with the wicked
emboldens men in transgression, but their punishment is nonetheless
certain and terrible because it is long delayed. “The Lord shall rise
[44]
up as in Mount Perazim, He shall be wroth as in the valley of Gibeon,
that He may do His work, His strange work; and bring to pass His
act, His strange act.”
Isaiah 28:21
. To our merciful God the act of
punishment is a strange act. “As I live, saith the Lord God, I have
no pleasure in the death of the wicked.”
Ezekiel 33:11
. The Lord is
“merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and
truth, ... forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” Yet He will “by
no means clear the guilty.” “The Lord is slow to anger, and great in
power, and will not at all acquit the wicked.”
Exodus 34:6, 7
;
Nahum
1:3
. By terrible things in righteousness He will vindicate the authority
of His downtrodden law. The severity of the retribution awaiting the
transgressor may be judged by the Lord’s reluctance to execute justice.
The nation with which He bears long, and which He will not smite
until it has filled up the measure of its iniquity in God’s account, will
finally drink the cup of wrath unmixed with mercy....
The people of God will not be free from suffering; but while
persecuted and distressed, while they endure privation and suffer for
want of food they will not be left to perish. That God who cared for
Elijah will not pass by one of His self-sacrificing children. He who
numbers the hairs of their head will care for them, and in time of
famine they shall be satisfied. While the wicked are dying from hunger
and pestilence, angels will shield the righteous and supply their wants.
To him that “walketh righteously” is the promise: “Bread shall be
given him; his waters shall be sure.” “When the poor and needy seek
water, and there is none, and their tongue faileth for thirst, I the Lord
will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them.”
Isaiah 33:15,
16
;
41:17
.
“Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in
the vines; the labor of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no
meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no
herd in the stalls;” yet shall they that fear Him “rejoice in the Lord”
and joy in the God of their salvation.
Habakkuk 3:17, 18
.