Obadiah 1:15
There are two responses we can give to this Biblical truth.
- First, if we’ve ever been grievously wronged, we can say “Amen” to however and whenever God expresses his retributive justice.
- Second, if we’ve ever grievously wronged another person or people, we can repent
JUSTICE IS ALWAYS SERVED AND EVIL IS ALWAYS .
Obadiah then ends this paragraph with “For the Lord has spoken.”
God is the Divine Guarantor of Obadiah’s words.
We now transition from The Day of the Lord to The Kingdom of the Lord.
THE GOOD NEWS.
Obadiah 1:19-21
To help set up our understanding of these final verses, the Kingdom of the Lord…or the City of God…will be filled not with perfect people, but instead with people who have been broken and humbled by their sin and have thrown themselves for on Jesus and have come to love him more than anything and any person in the world, because he loved us and gave himself for us. {John Piper}
Here is a distillation of seven lessons that ground us in meaning for life.
1. LIFE HOLDS A POTENTIAL MEANING UNDER ANY CONDITION, EVEN THE MOST MISERABLE ONES.
2. TO LIVE IS TO SUFFER, TO SURVIVE IS TO FIND MEANING IN THE SUFFERING.
“If it should come to losing all you have for Jesus’ sake, be of good courage, for he that loseth his life for Christ’s sake shall find it, and he that becometh poor for the cause of Christ shall be rich eternally. Be of good courage!” – Charles Spurgeon
3. FREEDOM TO CHOOSE ONE’S ATTITUDE.
“Everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one’s own way.”
4. THE SEARCH FOR MEANING IS THE PRIMARY MOTIVATION OF LIFE.
5. LOVE IS THE ULTIMATE AND HIGHEST GOAL TO WHICH A PERSON CAN ASPIRE.
Love is about deeply with others.
6. SUFFERING CEASES TO BE SUFFERING THE MOMENT IT FINDS MEANING.
7. WE MUST NEVER FORGET THAT WE MAY ALSO FIND MEANING IN LIFE EVEN WHEN CONFRONTED WITH A HOPELESS SITUATION.