WordLive - Year OneSample

Prepare: Sometimes the Bible is difficult to understand and all we can do is ask God to help us, as with today’s passage.

God’s judgement
I find it hard to preach on some parts of the Old Testament if children are present, although children enjoy the bloodthirsty stories. They don’t question why people were killed; they seem to accept it because God allowed it to happen.

In today’s account God appears not only to sanction but to require the massacre of a whole city and the humiliating public execution of its king. In strictly theological terms I can explain the underlying principles of God’s judgement on sin, even the annihilation of an entire city to prevent the inhabitants’ sins spreading further.

He is God
But it’s hard for me to see love, mercy, forgiveness and grace in such an event. I must accept that I can’t understand some things God does. That doesn’t mean I should accept them blindly but I shouldn’t waste time in trying to justify them fully.

This is key to true Christian discipleship: to know that whatever God does, wherever he leads, he is still God and he is still in control.

Respond: ‘God, there is so much about you that I don’t understand. Help me in my lack of knowledge. Encourage me to trust you and empower me follow you more closely.’

http://www.wordlive.org/Session/Classic/2012-05-24