Thursday Devotional - God Is With Us When We're Afraid

Have you ever been really scared, all alone in the dark?

When I lived alone, I came home late one night from Bible study and found my back door open. I was paralyzed in fear. Staying in my car, I prayed and tried calling various family members and friends. No one answered their phone. Then, I prayed again, knowing God is always available and there with me. 

In a state of continual prayer, I scoured the house looking in all the closets, behind every door and under the beds. Finding no one, it appeared I must not have closed the door securely and it blew open. It was quite scary, but I was comforted knowing God was with me no matter what.

Joseph and Mary were in the dark and probably in a greater state of fear much longer than me! Their journey to Egypt was over 100 miles and started in the dark.

Matthew 2:13-16 “When they [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: “Out of Egypt I called my son.” When Herod realized that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi.”   Matthew 2:13-16

God didn’t remove the threat or the fear, but He was with them and directed them through it.

What is your greatest fear right now? Will you and I take comfort knowing God is with us? He has a plan for us, and His plans can’t be stopped. He will give us direction when we’re afraid.

Alice

Aliens Among Them

 Ever know something you simply can't figure out how to explain with - English? Or any language you may know. That feeling of both frustration and wonder with something you can sense, you almost feel or touch, but can't explain. There are no words, only pale metaphors and similes.

If you thought of something, then just imagine how our Creator feels as He tries to explain to simple-minded creatures just how vast is His love for us. And yes, we are simple-minded. It's just the way it is, it's best to get over it. He loves us anyway, so no shame, just smile and thank Him.

We have a few clues as to one of the weirdest part of our life with our Creator, while still trapped here on earth. One of them is found in 2 Corinthians:

Therefore from now on we recognize no one according to the flesh; even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him in this way no longer.  Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. Now all these things are from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation, namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation.
2 Corinthians 5:16-19 NASB

To us has been committed the ministry of reconciliation; the spreading of the message that God is in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting our trespasses against us. So, what we're doing here is spreading a message for our Savior. Okay, but how do we do this? If you've tried, it isn't easy. People want proof. What proof do we have? Well, then there's this passage:

But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED, but sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give an account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence; and keep a good conscience so that in the thing in which you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ will be put to shame.
1 Peter 3:14-16 NASB

There seems to be a responsibility to give an account for the hope that is in us. Fun fact: this world is hopeless. Not so fun fact: Disciples of Jesus seem just as hopeless. Why is that? Are you? Or, in the face of all the pervasive evil of this world, do you persist in hope? Or, as you look at this world, does the hopelessness seep into your bones? Does the evil seem to overwhelm you? It might. There's a lot of cultural and societal pressure to give into the hopelessness. And then God tells us this:

What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him over for us all, how will He not also with Him freely give us all things? Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Just as it is written,
“FOR YOUR SAKE WE ARE BEING PUT TO DEATH ALL DAY LONG;
WE WERE CONSIDERED AS SHEEP TO BE SLAUGHTERED.”
But in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us. For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, will be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.
Romans 8:31-39 NASB (emphasis mine)

We have everything to hope in. And our hope is sure, not an imaginary illusional thing. We have the guarantee of the Spirit of our Savior within us. Okay, yay! We have a hope, but what about this world? As the passage above says, we face a lot of stuff every day. How do we do that, and maintain our hope over time? There are two things we are to do. 

First, we live our lives:

“Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon, ‘Build houses and live in them; and plant gardens and eat their produce. Take wives and become the fathers of sons and daughters, and take wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, that they may bear sons and daughters; and multiply there and do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the LORD on its behalf; for in its welfare you will have welfare.’
Jeremiah 29:4-7 NASB (emphasis mine)

This is about exiles, or those under the punishment of God. We're not here because of judgement. But, like them, we are aliens in a strange land. Like them, we live among foreigners. Unlike them, we are actually here as ambassadors (see 2 Corinthians 5:20). This isn't judgement, it's a ministry. But, like them, we are to live among those around whom our Savior has placed us. Like them, we have hope (see Jeremiah 29:11). But there's more.

Second, we endure:

And working together with Him, we also urge you not to receive the grace of God in vain— for He says,
“AT THE ACCEPTABLE TIME I LISTENED TO YOU,
AND ON THE DAY OF SALVATION I HELPED YOU.”
Behold, now is “THE ACCEPTABLE TIME,” behold, now is “THE DAY OF SALVATION”—
giving no cause for offense in anything, so that the ministry will not be discredited, but in everything commending ourselves as servants of God, in much endurance, in afflictions, in hardships, in distresses, in beatings, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labors, in sleeplessness, in hunger, in purity, in knowledge, in patience, in kindness, in the Holy Spirit, in genuine love, in the word of truth, in the power of God; by the weapons of righteousness for the right hand and the left, by glory and dishonor, by evil report and good report; regarded as deceivers and yet true; as unknown yet well-known, as dying yet behold, we live; as punished yet not put to death, as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing yet possessing all things.
2 Corinthians 6:1-10 NASB

Notice how Paul slips into this paradoxical comparison toward the end? We are considered deceivers, but true. We are unknown, but well-known. And so on Paul goes, what is perceived about us is false, and what is true is richer, deeper, and more real than what can be perceived.

This is why we have a hope to be explained. This is why we have something that marks us as different. While  the world burns itself to ash, we stand untainted by smoke, with another standing with us. We have a hope, and we need to live, to love, to interact, and react in this hope.

I love that last line of 2 Corinthians 6:10, "...as sorrowful yet always rejoicing, as poor yet making many rich, as having nothing, but possessing all things." Live as if that were true. Then we will have something to explain.

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us While Shopping

Have you ever prayed about what gift to buy for someone? I usually do. Sometimes it’s because I’m last-minute shopping or out of desperation for an idea! Either way, I know God knows exactly what the other person needs, could use, would be beneficial or encouraging.

Well, with sick kids the last couple of weeks and several family birthdays, I couldn’t get out and shop. I didn’t have much time to shop online, either. Thankfully, I did find several gifts in my closet that I had pre-purchased for various people and God directed a couple quick store runs. In fact, for James’s birthday, I dug out 2 gifts I had purchased after Christmas last year that were just what he needed and would enjoy (flannel sheets for winter and a craft kit). We wrapped up a pile of books for his third gift and he was thrilled! (God knew last Christmas what would be needed!)

Matthew 7:7-11 ⁷ “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸ For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹ “Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰ Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹ If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 

Will you remember to pray the next time you go shopping? As much as we want to give good gifts to others, God cares even more!  

God cares about the big and small things and is with us even when we’re shopping!  

Alice

Different Similarities

 Once again, back to my typical analytical approach to Scripture, I found something I think is cool. It may bore you to death (or stupor). It was during a sermon yesterday on spiritual gifting, and it was enlightening to me regarding the spiritual gift of "miracles" (as some refer to it). It begins with Paul's opening setup in 1 Corinthians 12:4-6:

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit. And there are varieties of ministries, and the same Lord. There are varieties of effects, but the same God who works all things in all persons.
(1 Corinthians 12:4-6 NASB)

Notice that, in the NASB translation, the word 'varieties' is repeated. That word in Greek is diairesis (Strong's G1243), which refers to distinctly different "distributions", or the idea that not everyone gets the same things or the same amount of the same things. Leave it to the Greeks to have a word for that.

Now notice the different words in each phrase, they are in sets of 2. In the NASB, they are "gifts" and "Spirit", "ministries" and "Lord", "effects" and "God". Notice that in each case, gifts, ministries, and effects are "different", while Spirit, Lord, and God are the same. Side note: if you want a nicely laid out Trinitarian passage, few are neater than this one. Same, same, same.

Don't miss Paul's point here: not everyone gets the same gift, ministry or effect, but the same God works in all of them regardless of differences. Let that be clear, up front, and on top.

"Under the hood", though, I found that "effects" in the NASB was tied to the Greek word, energema (Strong's G1755), where you can actually see our English word, "energy" right there inside it. So, essentially this is energy. But, think about this word for a second. What actually is energy? Well, to answer that, let's compare it where it's compared in Scripture (or, in this case coupled with another, similar, word).

For to one is given the word of wisdom through the Spirit, and to another the word of knowledge according to the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit, and to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, and to another the effecting of miracles, and to another prophecy, and to another the distinguishing of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, and to another the interpretation of tongues. But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
(1 Corinthians 12:8-11 NASB, emphasis mine)

The bolded text is what I want to focus on, not that the other isn't important. In the NASB, word "effecting" is the Greek word, energema (a noun, not a verb), and in the Greek text it is plural. The word, 'miracles', in the NASB is the Greek word, dynamis (Strong's G1411), where you can see the English word, dynamo. This word is also plural in the Greek text. That Greek word is normally translated as "power" in English translation. So, together, energies of powers.

Back to my question, what is "energy"? So, let's compare "energy" to "power". Are they synonyms? Let me put it this way, what is the most powerful source of energy in our world today, and I mean in a practical sense, where we get electricity to power anything? Arguably, nuclear power is the most powerful. We harness atomic fission to produce electricity. But how? How does a contained nuclear explosion produce electrical current? 

It's produced in one of the earliest mechanical inventions, the water wheel. Think it through, water over a wheel produces motion harnessed to something else, usually stones grinding wheat or a saw cutting wood, or something. But that's not how a nuclear power plant  works, right? Well, not exactly, but similarly.

Later development of the "water wheel" made it "portable" in the form of a steam engine. Development from that led to the steam turbine, and suddenly we have a lot of power from boiling water, even using nuclear energy. Now, notice how I used those two words, power and energy above?

So, in a sense, power is the application, or harnessing, of energy. That's a gross oversimplification, but the idea relating the two is still expressed. Now to harness the energy of this passage to empower us.

The Spirit of God somehow uses human creatures to harness the energy of our Creator to accomplish powerful  things in this word He created. Let that statement rattle around a bit. Think of the nuclear power plant. Think of the person seated next to you at church. What's the connection?

We, frail, fault-ridden, imperfect creatures are used as "power plants" by our Creator. But for what? We're not producing electricity, and remember, it's not everyone. Different people get different distributions from the same God, Lord, Spirit. But it all is for the same purpose:

But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
(1 Corinthians 12:7 NASB)

But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
(1 Corinthians 12:11 NASB)

Once again, it's not about you. Of course it isn't. Why start now? The power is for our fellow disciples, those people in the pew next to you. Or, if they're the ones the Spirit uses as a "power plant", then it's for you. I suppose then, it would be about you - along with everyone else...

I always thought of this "gift" as something like "signs and wonders", and it may not be. It may be as dramatic as stopping the sun, or as simple as enabling a group of disciples to work through the night in a service project. Could the person delivering coffee at midnight be the "effects of power" person? I don't know, maybe that's "service". Or encouragement, or "helps" (whatever that is).

Or maybe we're looking at it too closely, and should step back. What does our congregation need to do what our Savior has called us to do? What has to happen to meet that need? Where will we find the power to see that happen? Does that make more sense? You may be able to think of better questions. Just ask our Creator and chances are good, He will answer. And answer with POWER.

Thursday Devotional - God is With Us When We're Frustrated

 After all the tragedies of Genesis 34, Jacob listened and turned to God. He recognized God had been with him all the time, through his frustrations, hardship and tragedies. He chose to turn towards God instead of further away.   

Genesis 35:2-3 ² So Jacob said to his household and to all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods you have with you, and purify yourselves and change your clothes. ³ Then come, let us go up to Bethel, where I will build an altar to God, who answered me in the day of my distress and who has been with me wherever I have gone.

Thankfully, I haven’t been through all that Jacob experienced. However, sometimes the small things in life can really frustrate or stress us. I wouldn’t say that’s often the case for me, but this week it was! After the first week of school, the kids snagged a terrible cold (definitely not COVID, with both testing negative). It meant being even more home-bound, than our new COVID normal. James also developed bad asthma, as he normally does with a cold. It meant numerous asthma treatments, horrible non-stop coughing, nightly wake-ups, etc. We also tried to keep the twins healthy, playing separately (and masked if in close quarters). I was praying each day for wisdom, but getting angry quickly about lots of “small” things.

Two nights ago, Joe and I just stopped and had a longer and more intentional time of prayer. God didn’t immediately remove all the frustration, but He did provide peace. We know He’s with us through it and will guide us as we listen. Yesterday, God gave me a better attitude, even though some things got worse and not better.   

God is always with us, available and ready to help.

What frustration or stress is wearing you down?

Will you take it to God and let Him walk through it with you?

Nothing is too big or too small for Him!

Alice

(a good moment in the midst of the illnesses...)

Lessons From a Wheelchair

 Yesterday, in our city, a couple of churches held a benefit for a young man in our town. He had been paralyzed in a surfing accident, and was now in a wheelchair. Yesterday, hundreds in our small town gathered to contribute to his care, and hear his testimony. We heard worship music, and the testimonies of his family, and finally from him. It was amazing, enlightening, and both difficult and beautiful to be there.

Many common verses and passages were brought up, although I was very pleased someone used John 9:1-3:

As He passed by, He saw a man blind from birth. And His disciples asked Him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he would be born blind?” Jesus answered, “It was neither that this man sinned, nor his parents; but it was so that the works of God might be displayed in him.
John 9:1-3 NASB

While much was said about God allowing rather than causing such an injury, Zac also spoke of it being part of God's plan. And this plan, as Zac understood it, was to glorify God. He had already witnessed how his injury had brought glory to God. 

Clearly, this young man has a rough road ahead of him, and he has barely started on that journey. Regardless, at this point in that journey, he is convinced that this is part of God's plan. If you continue to read the rest of John 9, you find this man-born-blind "schooling" the Pharisees, so confident in his perception of what God has done for him, they cannot shake him. In their frustration, the Pharisees put him out of the synagogue, and he is found by Jesus and worships Him. 

In the end, the man-born-blind sees more clearly than those born with sight. It's one of several rich ironies in the Gospel of John. And that irony is now part of Zac's life. Please join me in praying for this young guy, and all those who will be touched by his testimony. There is a link below to the website about the event and in support of his care.

http://zacshope.com/ 

Thursday Devotional - God is with us when we're doing "firsts"

Sarah often reminds us “God is with you.” In fact, it came up several times the past couple of weeks as many of us faced several “firsts.” We even spoke Sarah’s own words back to her!

The night before the first day of school, Sarah cried as we tucked her into bed. She was nervous to start 1^st grade, thinking it would be quite a bit more difficult than kindergarten. We had already prayed about the first day of school, but she was still nervous and needed the reminder that God was with her. We also reassured her that it would be review at first and then layers of new concepts with a gradual increase in difficulty. I admitted that I understood her apprehension, as I was always nervous for the first day of school!

The next morning we asked Sarah how she was feeling. She shared she was feeling better, especially after she had prayed more on her own in her bed. Then, after school, she said her day was “very very good!”

Later that same week, Sarah was nervous for a little competition she had. Alexis chimed in right away with Sarah’s own advice saying “you don’t need to be afraid, because God is with you and will protect you!” I did jump in to clarify that God doesn’t always protect us the way we expect or give us the outcome we want, but He is certainly always with us. We can always trust God to help us accomplish His purposes.

Psalm 73:23-26  Yet I am always with you;
    you hold me by my right hand.
²⁴ You guide me with your counsel,
    and afterward you will take me into glory.
²⁵ Whom have I in heaven but you?
    And earth has nothing I desire besides you.
²⁶ My flesh and my heart may fail,
    but God is the strength of my heart
    and my portion forever.

What “firsts” are you facing this week, this month, or this year? I pray you not only know God is with you, but feel His strong presence as you embark on what He’s planned for you.  

Alice

Thursday Devotional - Faithful and Right

I’m back! A huge “thank you” to Renae for faithfully, creatively and thoughtfully writing inspiring Thursday devotionals these past 11 months!

It’s been quite a whirlwind of a year! Not only did adding two more children multiply time on meals, baths, laundry, and numerous other things, but I came back to one of the most stressful tax seasons ever. Apparently, it’s still not over, as we have a 2020 update coming out for the Ida disaster relief! 

Anyway, the Lord faithfully helped us through and enabled us to face one day at a time. It’s usually a good thing we don’t know what lies ahead. 😊

Our family memory verse for last week was:

Psalm 33:4 For the word of the Lord is upright, and all his work is done in faithfulness.

This life doesn’t always go smoothly or how we would like, but we can trust everything the Lord says and does. He will be faithful to enable us to do what He’s asked us to do.

The adoption was another fiasco. Packets of paperwork had to be redone several times for various mistakes, pushing the adoption further and further out. Then, we sat, waited and participated in what we thought was the final  adoption hearing, but it had to be completely redone over a month later! In the midst of all the frustration, I kept clinging to God’s Sovereignty, knowing He would still work His plan and accomplish His purposes because He is trustworthy, even when people aren’t.

Another verse we learned this summer was Isaiah 43:1 I have called you by name, you are mine. I’m His, and so are Joe, James, Sarah, Edmund and Alexis! The twins are also finally legally Reas, with official paperwork from a few weeks ago!!!

God is faithful and right, all the time!

How will you cling to these truths this week in your own circumstances?     

Alice

A Whirlwind Relationship

 One of the interesting "appearances" of our Creator in the Hebrew Scriptures is as a "whirlwind". There is a term that is commonly thought of in this way, the Hebrew word, "sa'arah". It's used when Elijah is taken up by Yahweh (2 Kings 2:11), and this is the word for the whirlwind out of which Yahweh speaks to Job (Job 38:1). It isn't always the appearance of Yahweh, sometimes it is an actual storm.

Having said that, it is used in Ezekiel for the appearance of Yahweh to Ezekiel at the River Chebar:

As I looked, behold, a storm wind was coming from the north, a great cloud with fire flashing forth continually and a bright light around it, and in its midst something like glowing metal in the midst of the fire.
Ezekiel 1:4 NASB

Ezekiel goes on to describe an inexplicable sight of the creatures about the throne of Yahweh. Still, all of that happens within this cloud or fiery whirlwind. Which reminded me of the appearance of Yahweh on  Mount Sinai in Exodus:

So it came about on the third day, when it was morning, that there were thunder and lightning flashes and a thick cloud upon the mountain and a very loud trumpet sound, so that all the people who were in the camp trembled. And Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke because the LORD descended upon it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently. When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder. The LORD came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.
Exodus 19:16-20

The same word, sa'arah, is not used in Exodus, but the imagery sure sounds similar. There are other visions of Yahweh which don't involve the whirlwind, so why do some? I'm not sure, and conjecture at this point is probably not helpful. It most likely has to do with the particular people at that particular point in human history, and I don't know enough detail about either.

Yet, I learn something of my Savior from these appearances. I learn things like these:

1. He is willing to come to His people and be seen by them
2. He is powerful, frighteningly so, possibly terrifyingly (yet, see Judges 13:21-23)
3. He reveals Himself to His people in ways that communicate a message we need, at that point in time.

I could go on, but you probably get the idea. The vision of Elisha of the chariots of fire and horses of fire as Elijah is taken by the whirlwind, combined with the vision of Ezekiel of the creatures within the storming whirlwind makes me wonder. What would it be like to see that? What would such an appearance of my Creator be like to experience? Would I, like Ezekiel, be silenced for a week? Would I, like Isaiah, have the presence of mind to volunteer for my Savior's purpose? Or would I blather on like Peter on the Mount of Transfiguration? I suspect I'd blather.

My Creator has not shown up to speak with me like that. I haven't seen Him enthroned with the four creatures around Him. I haven't heard the loud thundering trumpet of His voice. I believe Hollywood cannot reproduce, or even come close, to what Elisha or Ezekiel saw, nor adequately depict the glory of my Creator showing up on Mount Sinai. I want to see it. I want to be so awed I collapse in a quivering heap on the ground, babbling in a fetal position for a week. Bring it on! Sigh, alas, it is not to be. And that's okay, honestly.

The thing is, I can get so caught up in the physical sight that I miss the fact that I have Him with me all the time. It would be cool to see the whirlwind, don't get me wrong. And I would be ecstatic to experience that (and, yes, terrified). Yet, my Savior dwells within me at every moment.

Therefore, when I am behaving, He is with me. And when I am misbehaving, He is with me. He is with me when I travel, when I am at home, and when I am somewhere else. If I would live that way all the time, I would be different. I would treat others differently, I would see this world differently, I would think differently. And, perhaps, living that way might make it more likely that I will see such a sight. Yet, even if it doesn't, and I don't, I will in heaven. Eventually, we will all of us see Him, in all His glory, and every knee will bow, and every will tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

It will happen, eventually. So, in the meantime, how will I live today?

Wrath, Grace, and Justice

 I get why a lot of people referring to themselves as "Christ-followers" don't particularly like the Hebrew Scriptures. I have changed my term to disciple of Jesus. Not that I am particularly disciplined, or not as much as I should be. I choose it because it is more subordinate in my mind. I need something more intentional and committed, because I don't particularly like what I find in the Hebrew Scriptures either. Yet it's still true about my Creator and Savior.

For instance, when David sins by counting the people, Yahweh is very displeased. After David repents (at least in the order things are recorded), Yahweh gives David a choice of three punishments: 1) Three years of famine, 2) Three months of battle loss, or 3) Three days of pestilence. Pestilence doesn't sound so bad, but here's how Yahweh describes it to Gad, David's seer:

So Gad came to David and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, 'Take for yourself either three years of famine, or three months to be swept away before your foes, while the sword of your enemies overtakes you, or else three days of the sword of the LORD, even pestilence in the land, and the angel of the LORD destroying throughout all the territory of Israel.' Now, therefore, consider what answer I shall return to Him who sent me."
(1 Chronicles 21:11-12 NASB)

David's response is that he would rather fall into the hands of Yahweh than the hands of men, so he chooses three days. The angel of Yahweh goes through the land and 70,000 die from north to south in the land. And then there's this dramatic scene:

And God sent an angel to Jerusalem to destroy it; but as he was about to destroy it, the LORD saw and was sorry over the calamity, and said to the destroying angel, "It is enough; now relax your hand." And the angel of the LORD was standing by the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Then David lifted up his eyes and saw the angel of the LORD standing between earth and heaven, with his drawn sword in his hand stretched out over Jerusalem. Then David and the elders, covered with sackcloth, fell on their faces. David said to God, "Is it not I who commanded to count the people? Indeed, I am the one who has sinned and done very wickedly, but these sheep, what have they done? O LORD my God, please let Your hand be against me and my father's household, but not against Your people that they should be plagued."

(1 Chronicles 21:15-17 NASB)

This is a difficult account of our Savior punishing sin among His people. It's a window into His relationship with David, with Israel, with His human creatures, and, potentially, with us. We don't like it when our Savior get's angry, we're uncomfortable, and squirm in our seats. This is how He dealt with His people, not gentiles, not pagans worshipping other gods, His chosen ones. How, then, will we escape when our Father in Heaven seems so severe?

Our hope is in His grace. Our Savior is just. And, because of His just nature, there is wrath. Yet, there is also grace. Yahweh saw what His angel was about to do to Jerusalem, and "relented" or "was sorry". Our Creator changed His mind. Isn't that what we want from a just God? Do we really want justice? Wouldn't that wipe us out, utterly destroy us? Isn't that a global flood, thorough destruction, maybe with only a single family left?

I want grace. I want my Savior to change His mind about me. I want something to appease my Creator. Eventually, my Creator provided Himself as my Savior. He took away the wrath by taking it on Himself. He appeased Himself, His just nature was settled through Jesus on a cross. And so, grace reigned over my sin, my failure, as David experienced. David saw the angel of Yahweh standing over Jerusalem with sword drawn, ready to destroy there too. And David saw it all stop, in grace. Yahweh changed His mind, relented of the evil about to happen, was sorry for the people of Jerusalem, and stopped it. 

Read the Hebrew Scriptures and discover the grace of our Creator in fresh ways. The accounts of our Creator demonstrating grace among these accounts helps us better appreciate Jesus, and ourselves before His presence. On the threshing floor of Ornan (Arunah in 2 Samuel 24), David makes an altar, and offers an offering to Yahweh. According to tradition, eventually, on that site, David's son, Solomon will build the temple. And, eventually, the Savior will teach in the courts there, teach of the grace of Yahweh.