Psalm 30 – God’s Love Lasts A Lifetime
His anger lasts only a moment, but his favor, a lifetime. Weeping may stay overnight, but there is joy in the morning. (Psalms 30:5)
David experienced the same thing as Moses on Mount Sinai, when God said, “The Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin. But he will not leave the guilty unpunished” (Exodus 34:6-7). In other words, “I’m a gracious and forgiving God, but I don’t just clear the guilty. I don’t just wave a magic wand and make your sin disappear. It has to be punished!” And it wasn’t until 1500 years later that we found out how God was going to make that happen.
God always planned to punish all our sin by putting it onto the back of his son, and then putting his son to death on the cross. God’s justice and God’s grace have never been separated. Just look at the cross. There’s never been a moment in all of human history when you could see more justice than the moment Christ died on the cross. Sin was punished. At the same time, there’s never been a moment in history when you could see more love than the moment Christ died on the cross. Sin was forgiven! Even if it feels like we’re experiencing God’s judgment right now, remember that his mercy, favor, and love lasts a lifetime through eternity because of Jesus.