And in that day you will say:
"O LORD, I will praise You;
Though You were angry with me,
Your anger is turned away, and You comfort me." (Isaiah 12:1)
In chapter 12, Isaiah writes a hymn of praise that will be sung by another at a future time. "In that day..." the psalm will begin with gratitude for an escape. The Lord's anger is turned away. What turns the coming wrath? What changes the deserved woe to comforting? Repentance is not mentioned, yet the Lord turns from anger to comforting. What can cause such a change in attitude toward you and me? We may repent but how long will that change of heart last when dependent upon our weakness? Something more must change God's feeling toward this poor sinner.
For this, we must turn to something in God our Father. What in God's word indicates some quality so great that the Lord's anger is turned to comforting? Even during a repentance such as of David or Hezekiah, what is it that turns anger to comfort for the lost sheep? God is always right, and therefore right to be angry with the sinner. Yet, here is this great change. What satisfied the just anger of our Lord? The title of Dr. Jeremiah's devotional keeps reminding me this morning off to the side on my screen; that title is of course, "Christ the Cure".
We know from our study of the Word of God that this man, Jesus, satisfied God's anger and turned it to comforting. At this future date, we can all sing praises to God because His anger was turned by His Son at Calvary. Nothing we did changed God's anger at sin, something greater, the greatest love of all, effected a cure for us. God's great love for His Son splashes all over us while His anger died at the cross. Jesus sent to us the Comforter after He satisfied the anger of His Father, forevermore. Daily we are comforted where once God's anger was our just due. "O Lord, I will praise You!"
Bucky
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