Limits to God's Forbearance

[Daily Devotional]

Limits to God's Forbearance 

It is time for thee, Lord, to work: for they have made void thy law. Ps.
119: 126. 

During a vision of the night, I stood on an eminence, from which I could see
houses shaken like a reed in the wind. Buildings, great and small, were
falling to the ground. Pleasure resorts, theaters, hotels, and the homes of
the wealthy were shaken and shattered. Many lives were blotted out of
existence, and the air was filled with the shrieks of the injured and the
terrified. 

The destroying angels of God were at work. One touch, and buildings, so
thoroughly constructed that men regarded them as secure against every
danger, quickly became heaps of rubbish. There was no assurance of safety in
any place. . . . The awfulness of the scenes that passed before me I cannot
find words to describe. It seemed that the forbearance of God was exhausted
and that the judgment day had come. 

The angel that stood at my side then instructed me that but few have any
conception of the wickedness existing in our world today, and especially the
wickedness in the large cities. He declared that the Lord has appointed a
time when He will visit transgressors in wrath for persistent disregard of
His law. . . . God's supreme rulership and the sacredness of His law must be
revealed to those who persistently refused to render obedience to the King
of kings. Those who choose to remain disloyal must be visited in mercy with
judgments, in order that, if possible, they may be aroused to a realization
of the sinfulness of their course. . . . While the divine Ruler bears long
with perversity, He is not deceived and will not always keep silence. His
supremacy, His authority as Ruler of the universe, must finally be
acknowledged and the just claims of His law vindicated. 

There are limits even to the forbearance of God, and many are exceeding
these boundaries. They have overrun the limits of grace, and therefore God
must interfere and vindicate His own honor. . . . 

When the Lord comes forth as an avenger, He will also come as a protector of
all those who have preserved the faith in its purity and kept themselves
unspotted from the world. 

>From God's Amazing Grace - Page 50