Psalm 30:5a: “For his anger is but for a moment, and his favor is for a lifetime…” The Psalmist is making a defining contrast so the readers will get a glimpse into the character of God. Then he finishes this verse by continuing to make a further contrast, 30:5b: “Weeping may last for the night, but joy comes with the morning.” He wants the reader to understand that we may weep because of God's discipline toward His children. Still, just like children with bad dreams, they go through the night with trepidation but wait patiently because they know the morning is inevitable. Some believe God’s default characteristic toward mankind is wrath, but the Scripture appears to contradict that.
We need to be factual when thinking of stories demonstrating God’s discipline. For many, it can have consequences that last a lifetime, but that doesn’t mean that His anger hasn’t ended or His favor hasn’t begun. For instance, Israel’s sin took them into captivity. God limited that captivity for 70 years, which is a couple of generations, but He said they’d be His people forever. Within that 70-year captivity, God favored the remnant of His people who repented and lived according to His moral law in enemy lands. The remnant continued through the consequences of sin, forgiven and experiencing God's favor.
While God is “merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love.” He doesn’t live to discipline us, but when we are rebelling as His children, He does show righteous anger. However, the Scripture says, “Nor will he keep his anger forever.” Why not? It is because His favor is for a lifetime, not his anger. God’s anger and discipline attempt to push us to come face to face with our sin and grieve, so “godly grief” will “produce repentance that leads to salvation without regret.” This part of salvation is called sanctification, the refining process for followers of Jesus. Repentance brings God's favor, but it may not end the consequences of an action.
When Marlon and I were younger and making foolish financial choices, we spent money on a van we could not afford. We entered a lease and knew we would not have the funds to purchase the vehicle. At the end of the lease, an extra $200 plus was added to our payment—two hundred more dollars- which stretched us to the point where we ended up in bankruptcy. We paid for the van, probably more than twice its cost. The point of my sharing this story is when we purchased the van, we both knew in our spirits we could not afford it long-term, but we tested God. We had the credit but not the long-term means, but we wanted what we wanted, knowing God was telling us no, with all the practical information we held. We moved to do what we wanted. Once we realized we were drowning, we repented. We stopped to acknowledge we had moved foolishly, primarily due to our pride, and we paid, and paid, and paid. We knew God’s favor came into our situation after we repented. We were able to refinance the vehicle and pay for the van after five years and three years of lease payments. It was after that, but because of that, we hit a financial pit. The pit was part of our consequences, but we went there in God’s favor. God did not do any miraculous rescue things. We had to go through the mess we made, acknowledging our sins and asking for God's grace. When we filed for bankruptcy, it was important for Marlon and me to pay everyone back, though the interest was removed from our debt. The van was paid for by this time, but it cut deeply into our financial health. The bankruptcy impacted us, most of you know, for seven years. I can say we live with humility in our finances to this day.
God's favor brings a new realization of oneself. You begin to realize God wants us to listen to Him, and when we don't, we get into trouble. Those actions can be forgiven, but the consequences can remain a path we must walk. I'd rather walk through them with God's favor, which is a lifetime than fight against Him in these moments. Even better, I'd rather just listen. Sadly, "We all, like sheep, have gone astray. We, each, have turned our own way."
While we faced the consequences of our sin, that moment and our weeping in this was for a night. Once we repented, things did not change; we had to walk through it, but God's hope was tangible. We learned from folks who offered us financial counsel for free. Our friends anonymously blessed our kids for Christmas when our pockets were empty, paying expensive van notes. We learned how to handle the money God blessed us within that period. We examined our pride and recognized we only need to please God, not live to get the accolades of people. There was so much godly transformation through the consequences, but we knew the night had ended because the heavy-heartedness and depression were removed for joy. God took us through a problem of our making, but we experienced it in the “morning of His favor.”
You might be living with the consequences of a sinful choice. It may be that you’ve had to deal with God’s anger and His discipline. The consequences are not for continued reprimanding you; they are part of the outcome of your actions. They should foment repentance. When you do, they may remain, but you will have stepped into the favor of God. Even with the consequences, the morning has come. God says, “He will not always chide, nor will he keep his anger forever… As high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far does he remove our transgression from us.” If our sin is removed, and our consequences are not, it does not mean God is still angry. It means there are lessons to be learned.
Trust me, Marlon and I have never passed that way again financially. We learned our lesson, and the most significant lesson is what many of you have heard: "We are only managers of God’s resources, not owners.” All you have to do is mention that black van to Marlon or to me, and we grimace and worship. We walked through the anger and the night, faced our sins, repented, then ran right into God’s favor and found joy in the morning, even while remaining in the consequences for another five years. Then, through the seven years of bankruptcy and restoring our financial credibility.
Passages for meditation: Psalm 30:5; 103:8-12; 2 Corinthians 7:10-11
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