God Suffers the Consequences Of Our Sins

Meditations on Christ in the Psalms

October 21, 2022

God Suffers the Consequences Of Our Sins

 

Help us, O God of our salvation!

Help us for the glory of your name.

Save us and forgive our sins

for the honor of your name.

Psalm 79:9

The setting for Psalm 79 is in Jerusalem after its destruction in 586 B.C. The psalmist is part of the remnant of Israel who was not taken away to exile in Babylon. The psalm reflects the beginning of a major change in God’s relationship with His people. In verse eight, the psalmist pleads for God to not hold the remnant accountable for the sins of their ancestors. At that time, God looked at Israel as a whole. If one member of a family sinned, the whole family was accountable. If one family sinned, all of Israel was held accountable. However, after the exile, the prophet Ezekiel announced he had received a message from the Lord:

“And this is my rule: The person who sins is the one who will die”

(Ezekiel 18:4).

God no longer held Israel accountable for the sins of their ancestors. Each person was accountable for their own life.

This was great news for the people of Israel. However, there is a difference between accountability for sin and the consequences of sin. Even though God is relating to each person as an individual, many people suffer the consequences of the sins of others. This was true for Israel after the exile, and it is true for us today. (In the midst of such suffering, we remember God doesn’t waste anything. He uses everything in our lives for the good purpose of building His Kingdom. See Romans 8:28-29.)

This psalm makes clear that God also suffers the consequences of our sins. Bishop Stephen Neil said of Jesus, “Invulnerable in his person, but vulnerable because of his friends.” (Stephen Charles Neill (1900–1984) was an Anglican missionary, bishop, and scholar from Scotland)

My Takeaway: As followers of Jesus, we are responsible for the way we live our lives. We can either attract people to Christ or repel them away from Christ by our behavior.

Sē’lah

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(Selah is a word that appears in the Book of Psalms that I often use as the Complimentary Closing in my correspondence. Its meaning, as I use the word, is to pause and think about these things.)

 

These meditations are written by Alex M. Knight as he seeks the life in Christ as his way of life.  The meditations are published on the BLOG, http://seekingthelifeinchrist.blogspot.com/ and they are also distributed on the Constant Contact email server. You may subscribe to this email service by sending an email to: amkrom812@gmail.com.

 

Copyright © 2022 by Alex M. Knight

 

Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.