3 of 3

Certainly one of the most politically incorrect words in the English language today is judgment. And to say that God will judge sin is considered an old-fashioned scare tactic. But Scripture is clear that judgment for sin is certain and will be terrifying for those who are not protected from it. Paul writes in Romans, "There is going to come a day of judgment when God, the just judge of all the world, will judge all people according to what they have done. … He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds" (2:5-6, 8). We would much rather talk about God's love than God's wrath, but isn't it a relief to know that evil in this world will not go unpunished, that justice will be done? At least it's a relief until I look into my own heart and recognize that the evil within me deserves nothing less than judgment.

God knows that you and I need protection from judgment, which is going to fall, flowing out of divine justice. So he sent us a Protector in the form of a vulnerable baby, a Savior who is no less than his own Son. "For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him" (John 3:17). As we hide ourselves in the person and work of Jesus, we find shelter from the sure and certain judgment of the last day.

But Jesus is able to protect us from judgment only because there was no protection for him. As Jesus hung on the Cross, he absorbed judgment in our place so that we might be protected from it. "Since we have been made right in God's sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God's judgment" (Rom. 5:9). When I see him there, no longer can I harbor resentment that he hasn't come through for me in the way I have wanted. I realize he has paid the ultimate price so that I might be protected from the judgment I deserve.

So can I expect God to protect me, and anyone devastated by a tragedy as big as Katrina? Absolutely! I've come to see that his "protection plan" is more vast and far-reaching than my shallow expectations once defined. I see now that God's promises for protection go much deeper than protecting my body or my agenda or my plan for my life. I can rest easy. I'm protected.

Nancy Guthrie is the author of Holding on to Hope: A Pathway Through Suffering to the Heart of God, as well as the newly released One-Year Book of Hope, a daily devotional.

Copyright © 2005 Christianity Today. Click for reprint information.

Nancy Guthrie's Holding on to Hope: A Pathway Through Suffering to the Heart of God and The One Year Book of Hope are available from Christianbook.com and other book retailers.

More about Nancy Guthrie is available from her website.

More information about Holding on to Hope and The One Year Book of Hope is available from Tyndale House Publishers.

Guthrie is also the author of Praying for Hope | What a dying infant taught her mother about God's ways.

The Dick Staub Interview also featured Nancy Guthrie's story of having two babies with the fatal disease, Zellweger Syndrome.

More CT articles about suffering include:

Baptism + Fire | Suffering may build character, but ultimately it's not about us. (Nov. 30, 2004)

Wind of Terror, Wind of Glory | We cannot know God's majesty without his terrible holiness. (Sept. 24, 2004)

Why Suffering? | A young director's documentary is thin on theology but rich with compassion. (June 13, 2002)

CT Classic
The Suffering Church | Increasingly, Christians are harassed, arrested, interrogated, imprisoned, fined, or killed because of their religious beliefs and practices. (May 2, 2002)

first page |  3 of 3

share this page

October 2005, Vol. 49, No. 10