Making a Differencewith Pastor Phil Erickson

Aug 30th, 2023 Who Is Laughing Now?

Today’s Passage – Lamentations 4 – 5 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)

(Second Milers also read – 1 Corinthians 9 – 12; Psalms 141 – 145; Proverbs 30)

Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Joshua 1:8

Read the “0830 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.

Read a previous post from this passage – “Hitting Rock Bottom“

“Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, that dwellest in the land of Uz; the cup also shall pass through unto thee: thou shalt be drunken, and shalt make thyself naked. The punishment of thine iniquity is accomplished, O daughter of Zion; he will no more carry thee away into captivity: he will visit thine iniquity, O daughter of Edom; he will discover thy sins.” (Lamentations 4:21)

I do not know for sure if I am interpreting these verses correctly; but it seems to me, without having studied the passage, that the Edomites were rejoicing because of all the judgment that was being afflicted on God’s people. They were ecstatic that their enemy, Judah, was being taken in such a cruel way into captivity into Babylon. However, God says that their rejoicing would be short lived because their day of judgment was coming as well. And remember, God promised His people that He would not make “a full end” of them. I do not think the same promise applies to the Edomites.

God is not pleased when people rejoice when their enemies are falling (Proverbs 24:17). We expect this kind of behavior from the lost world, but are we guilty of the same thing? Have you ever rejoiced (maybe even just a little) when you received word that someone who has hurt you in the past has had some kind of bad thing happen to them. I hate to admit it but I know that I have done it on occasion. Worse yet, I know that my flesh wants to do it every time. God despises that kind of attitude. To think that we who are sinners deserving of judgment, rejoice when another sinner, no more deserving than we, receives it. God must get weary with us and our wicked attitude. Next time you hear about somebody you don’t like (or doesn’t like you) going through a tough time, why not pray for them; why not thank God that you are not facing the same or equally painful situation. Maybe if you will sow a little mercy and compassion, you just might reap a little of the same back when you need it.

By the way, the Calvinists all like to quote the passage from Malachi that says that God loved Jacob (Israel), but hated Esau (Edom). They attempt to prove that God arbitrarily sends some people to Heaven and some people to Hell, without any opportunity for repentance. However, we must remember that when God referred to Esau in Malachi, he was speaking about Edom as a nation, and when he referred to Jacob, he was speaking about Israel. It is also important to consider that God did not say he hated Esau in the Book of Genesis, He said it at the end of the Old Testament, after the history of the Edomites had already been established. According to Malachi, God hated (or rejected) the Edomites. Why? Partially, it was because they rejoiced when the Babylonians were destroying the people of God.