The Lord is tender to the humble soul, but harsh against those who set themselves against Him Day 30

“With the merciful You will show Yourself merciful; With a blameless man You will show Yourself blameless; With the pure You will show Yourself pure; And with the devious You will show Yourself shrewd. For You will save the humble people, But will bring down haughty looks.”

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭18:25-27‬ ‭NKJV‬‬

I love to watch shows that have baby animals in them. One of the things I enjoy seeing the most is when a very ferocious animal—like a lion—is dealing with its own young. Consider what a killing machine the lioness can be when hunting her prey. As a matter of fact, did you know that the lioness does most of the hunting for the pride? The male protects the pride and stakes out territory; but it is the faster, more nimble female, that is the ferocious hunter. Yet, it is amazing to see this lioness—with these huge, sharp, teeth, well-equipping her for ripping flesh from bones—dealing so tenderly with her tiny cubs. I watch with great wonder as her huge mouth wraps gingerly around the cub, tenderly moving it from one place to another.

Another amazing thing I have seen is a huge gorilla playing tenderly with a tiny kitten. Here, this massive animal, 4 to 9 times stronger than a human being, delicately holds a kitten in its hands without so much as ruffling the kitten’s fur!

Now think of this, our Heavenly Father is an awesome God Who can effortlessly devastate His creation. And yet, when dealing with His children, He can be very tender, bringing no harm. On the other hand, we see throughout the Bible how the enemies of God can be dealt with very harshly.

God’s way of dealing with people—especially in terms of correction—is illustrated in this passage from Isaiah:

“A heavy sledge is never used to thresh black cumin; rather, it is beaten with a light stick. A threshing wheel is never rolled on cumin; instead, it is beaten lightly with a flail. Grain for bread is easily crushed, so he doesn’t keep on pounding it. He threshes it under the wheels of a cart, but he doesn’t pulverize it. The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is a wonderful teacher, and he gives the farmer great wisdom.”

‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭28:27-29‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Consider Jesus, God made flesh. The prophet Isaiah was quoted in Matthew as saying this about the coming Messiah:

“He will not crush the weakest reed or put out a flickering candle. Finally he will cause justice to be victorious.”

‭‭Matthew‬ ‭12:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

This prophecy referenced the fact that the Messiah would not appear as a warrior, but rather, He would humble Himself, allowing mere mortals to brutally torture and kill Him.

However, we see that Jesus will return to deal harshly with the enemies of God!

“Then the man of lawlessness will be revealed, but the Lord Jesus will slay him with the breath of his mouth and destroy him by the splendor of his coming.”

‭‭2 Thessalonians‬ ‭2:8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

In our passage from Psalms today we see that David—having just extolled the mighty power the Lord demonstrates in defending His own—explains that the Lord deals with different people differently. He is gentle and tender with those who are humble before Him, but can be harsh with those who set themselves against His purposes.

Ultimately it’s up to us as to how we want the Lord to deal with us. I choose to be that “cub” submitting to the tender clutch that holds me fast.

Others, having chosen destruction, will one day see the Lion of the tribe of Judah, roaring before them…

For today let us know and understand what David knew:

The Lord is tender with the humble soul but is harsh against those who set themselves against Him.

#100dayswithdavid