DCLM Daily Manna 2023: DCLM Daily Manna 14 June 2023: God's Wrath Against the Wicked

DCLM Daily Manna 2023: DCLM Daily Manna 14 June 2023: God’s Wrath Against the Wicked

Key Verse:“Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine. …ye shall bear the reproach of my people.” – (Micah 6:15,16)

TEXT: Micah 6:10-16 (KJV)

¹⁰Are there yet the treasures of wickedness in the house of the wicked, and the scant measure that is abominable?

¹¹Shall I count them pure with the wicked balances, and with the bag of deceitful weights?

¹²For the rich men thereof are full of violence, and the inhabitants thereof have spoken lies, and their tongue is deceitful in their mouth.

¹³Therefore also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in making thee desolate because of thy sins.

¹⁴Thou shalt eat, but not be satisfied; and thy casting down shall be in the midst of thee; and thou shalt take hold, but shalt not deliver; and that which thou deliverest will I give up to the sword.

¹⁵Thou shalt sow, but thou shalt not reap; thou shalt tread the olives, but thou shalt not anoint thee with oil; and sweet wine, but shalt not drink wine.

¹⁶For the statutes of Omri are kept, and all the works of the house of Ahab, and ye walk in their counsels; that I should make thee a desolation, and the inhabitants thereof an hissing: therefore ye shall bear the reproach of my people.

Read yesterday’s Daily Manna here

Reenowned Bible commentator, Albert Barnes wrote, “It is clear that when we think of the word ‘wrath’ as applicable to God, it must be divested of everything that is like human passion, and especially the passion of revenge. It is one of the most obvious rules of interpretation that we are not to apply to God, [as our] passions and feelings… have their origin in evil. God’s wrath is the opposition of the divine character against sin; and the determination of the divine mind to express that opposition properly, by excluding the offender from the favours He bestows on the righteous”.

Our passage today shows the anger of God against the Israelites for their sins and progressive disobedience to His word. It expresses His observations concerning the major sins of the people, which include fraud, violence and falsehood. The perpetrators of these evil acts cut across all categories of people, especially among the rich. They use their privileged position to perpetuate evil like the house of Ahab, the notorious king of Israel who led the nation into idolatry, misguided by Jezebel his idolatrous and fiendish wife.

God found the sins of the people offensive and He did not hide His displeasure at their actions. He made them to know that by the law of retribution, their actions would attract disease, desolation, dissatisfaction, disappointment and destruction.

God is equally warning you today if you are yet to repent of your sins genuinely. You must remember that there is the law of retribution; that is, a justly deserved penalty. Scripture forewarns, “Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap” (Galatians 6:7).

THOUGHT OF THE DAY: Man’s wickedness attracts divine retribution.