The following student report was submitted by Ambassador League Agent Luke W. during the 2009-2010 League.
Mission: Research on Justice
LORD, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O LORD.
Renew them in our day,
in our time make them known;
in wrath remember mercy.
Habbakuk 3:2
Stronger than any tornado, atomic bomb, or created thing on earth or in heaven is the force of God’s mercy. In order to see the mercy of God we must dare to face what the wrath of God looks like. Isaiah tells of God’s wrath:
See, the Name of the LORD comes from afar,
with burning anger and dense clouds of smoke;
his lips are full of wrath,
and his tongue is a consuming fire.
The wrath of God consumes men:
The LORD is angry with all nations; his wrath is upon all their armies. He will totally destroy them, he will give them over to slaughter.
No one can stand against the wrath of God; no nation can fight him off. The wrath of God is powerful. How can we who are not righteous stand?
There must be something to restrain his wrath. In the midst of the flame of his wrath burns the light of his mercy. We know that the wrath of God pours itself out against sin. The greatest act of God’s wrath came when he poured his wrath out against ALL sin. He did not pour this wrath against those who deserved it. He poured it out on his own Son, who himself was One with the Father. He gave us his son by pouring out his wrath so that we may receive his mercy instead of his judgment. The wrath was on himself and the mercy was for us.
The wrath of God is ready and able to drive us into nothing. The mercy of God will do anything, even die a death on the cross, to prevent that from happening. In his wrath he remembers his mercy. What is the depth of feeling and passion in the heart of God that can feel such complete wrath and mercy at the same time?
I stand in awe with Habbakuk at the deeds of our Lord.
