God Who Judges (1)
[Psalm 58]
This afternoon, I briefly visited a nursing home and on my way to the church, I turned on the radio. I heard a news report on a Korean broadcast about a pastor from a large church in Los Angeles who had assaulted his wife. I heard the reporter say: “It has been pointed out that we need to reflect on the current state of church members, who blindly follow their pastors simply because of their position... There is a call for church members themselves to have judgment.” I was somewhat shocked when I heard this news. I also wondered if, through such incidents, God's glory would be overshadowed and if evangelism would be hindered. In the midst of this, I found myself agreeing with the statement from the news that “church members themselves need to have judgment.” The reason I agree is that I believe we, as Christians, are losing our ability to make sound judgments. What is the cause of this? I think the cause is that there is a famine of hearing God's word (Amos 8:11). Despite the countless preaching broadcasts and numerous Bibles available, our judgment becomes clouded because we still fail to hear God's word, even though we have ears. Many Christians seem to know God's word very well in their heads, but they don't know it in their hearts. As a result, instead of being led by God's word, we are being led by circumstances or emotions. In the end, our judgment is clouded because of the famine of God's word.
Pastor Hong, in his book "Leader, Have the Heart of a Lion," says: "... Do not interpret God's will based only on the visible circumstances. Instead, interpret the circumstances through God's will. Do not judge God, but allow God to judge you. Do not keep speaking in front of God, but quietly listen to the words He speaks to you” (Internet). We must interpret the situations we face at any given moment based on God's will. And to allow God to judge us, we must remain silent before Him and listen to His voice. In our prayer meeting last Wednesday, through Psalm 57, God spoke to us with the message: “Establish your heart!” When we meditate on verse 7, we learn that we, too, must establish our hearts, as David did when he said, “O God, my heart is steadfast, my heart is steadfast; I will sing and make music” (Psalm 57:7). Even amidst the calamity David faced (verse 1), he established his heart and praised God. However, it would not have been easy for David to come to this point of praise. In other words, before his heart was established, David's heart was not at peace. How do we know this? We know because, as he fled from Saul, David expressed his grief, saying, “My soul is greatly troubled” (verse 6). If you and I were in an unjust situation like David, what would we do? As the text in Psalm 58:11 tells us, even in situations of injustice, we must look to God, the one who judges. In other words, we must rely on God's righteous judgment. Today, under the title “God Who Judges,” I want to meditate on just one aspect of who this God who judges is, and we will consider the other two aspects next week, hoping that this will be an opportunity for us to listen to the Lord's voice.
Firstly, "The God Who Judges" is a God who rebukes the wicked.