NTC Day 61 - This is scary stuff!

My memory verse this week:
"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." -- Jude 1:20-21

NTC Day 61
Revelation 13-16

WHEW! If I didn't believe and trust in God's promise of salvation, I would be scared to death about the end of the earth! There's a reason there are so many scary movies made about the apocalypse and Armageddon...there is a LOT of scary material in this Book of Revelation...nightmare material!

Four-headed beasts, the mark of the beast, seven more plagues, rivers and oceans turning to blood, 100 pound hail stones...what I still find amazing is that after each of the seven plagues, the people left on earth who are suffering from these horrible things, they curse God and STILL refuse to repent. They acknowledge God, they see that these things are coming from him, but still they refuse to take responsibility for their part in why it is happening. It seems God is STILL giving them a chance...they COULD repent, but they don't. It can't because they are atheists and don't believe there is a God. They see the results of God's wrath all around them...

Even if Revelation is just an allegory and God's wrath and the end times aren't as graphic and as scary as depicted in this last book of the Bible, God placed it in his Holy Word for a reason. Is it that he wanted to "scare" us into belief and repentance? I do not claim to know God's purposes, but for a God who gave his beloved creations the freedom to love him or not to love him, that seems too manipulative. But I do think that God wants us to see that He does have that power...he COULD bring this kind of pain, suffering and destruction to the world. But despite that, he STILL gives us chances to repent...up until the very last second. 

I am still having trouble in my head and in my heart balancing my loving, caring, and forgiving Father God with this vengeful wrath-filled God who destroys his beautiful earth and all that is left upon it. But I think I am seeing that he STILL gives us chances...

Please don't read my blog and think I think I have all the answers. These are just the ramblings of a loving and caring person looking for understanding in what she is reading and trying to grow closer to the God she loves. I am hanging on to my faith, praying to the Holy one, keeping my hope in the loving God who shows mercy to his people...I wait for peace that passes all understanding...