November 12 Daily Devotional

Bible Reading

Devotional

This is a very disturbing picture of the day of wrath.

If you are reading this page before the day of wrath has come, you are still living in a world in which it is unclear that Jesus is Lord. Some people honor Christ and suffer for it; others deny him and prosper. As yet there is no real evidence that Jesus is Lord.

As long as the day of wrath has not yet come, the day of grace is still being extended. If the sun is still shining as you read this, if people are still laughing and church bells are still tolling, you are living in the day of grace. God's hands are still stretched out to all people, and God's voice still calls, tenderly but insistently, "Come home."

But even the patience of the Lamb has an end. The holy anger of the One who sits on the throne is reaching the point where it can no longer be contained. The earth will quake, and all temporary footholds will be gone. The blue sky will be ripped open, the stars will fall in a storm like fruit blown from a tree in an autumn gale. And the romantic moonlight will turn into a splash of blood.

Then people will run like frightened animals. Like ants they will hide in the crevices. This will be the day of wrath.

It sounds like a contradiction in terms—the wrath of the Lamb. Maybe that's why it's so hard to believe. Perhaps we are willing to believe that the Lion of Judah was revealed as a Lamb for the slaughter. But we must still be convinced that the Lamb is also the Lion. Even church members tend to lose sight of God's holiness—the perfect purity of his love and the depth of his wrath.

Right now God's grace allows us to know about it. If nothing else can bring us home, then let's be frightened into repentance and faith.

Pity the person who cannot even become afraid anymore.

REFLECTIONS

What place does the wrath of God have in your faith?

Andrew Kuyvenhoven's Daylight, a modern devotional classic, was originally published by Paideia Press in 1977. This updated edition is copyright 2009 by Faith Alive Christian Resources. You can order a copy of this revised version of the book directly from the publisher.

A man of many accomplishments, Andrew Kuyvenhoven is probably best known for his contributions to Today (formerly The Family Altar), a widely-used monthly devotional booklet associated with the Back to God Hour. Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations for this updated edition of Daylight are from the Holy Bible: Today's New International Version copyright 2001, 2005 by the International Bible Society.