Daily Devotional

A Ministry of the Kerwin Baptist Church

August 13, 2018

by Pastor Hawtree

I AM PERSUADED THAT HE IS ABLE:

TO TURN HIS ANGER AWAY (part 3)

Isaiah 12:1 ……O LORD, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortedst me.

As we close with this verse, I would like to draw this whole thing together. I want to outline this passage, as we pastors often do, so that we can process and understand the message that God is sending.

First, we see the COMMITMENT.
“I will praise thee”. That is not going to happen naturally by the way. You and I have to choose to praise God in the middle of diverse circumstances. It’s a commitment that we have to make in ourselves.

Second, we see CONVICTION.
“Thou wast angry with me”. When you and I have stepped out of God’s perfect path and allowed sin into our life, the Holy Spirit brings conviction. That conviction is what allows you and I to feel and know that God is upset with us. Our conscience should be sensitive, and our hearts should be tender. We should feel when God is mad with us. It is something we should be able to sense. The more we allow sin to go unconfessed, the harder our conscience becomes.

Third, we see God’s COMPASSION.
“Thine anger is turned away”. Only a compassionate God can put up with sinners like us. His compassion never fails.

* Lamentations 3:22 It is of the LORD’S mercies that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.

Last, we are told of God’s COMFORT.
“Thou comfordest me”. Isn’t it like our God that after He has been angry with us, after we deserve for Him to be angry with us, He not only turns His anger away and forgives, but He also comforts us. I mean this is all our fault. We are the ones that have done wrong. We’re the ones that transgressed against God, and yet He comforts us. You would think that God is the one that needs to be comforted. God is the one who had His children mistreat Him. God is the one that gave His only son to die. God is the one who is perfect. God is the creator and we are just the creation. And yet after going through situations that we cause, God loves us so much that He comforts us. If you know you have upset God, ask for forgiveness, and know in your heart that He will comfort you through trials, even if we are the ones that caused them.