Select a Ring of Truth daily devotion online
Ring of Truth provides 366 daily ‘proofs’ that the Bible is consistent throughout from Genesis to Revelation, and relevant for our lives today!
Select the date to display the devotion for:
Obadiah 15
“The day of the Lord is near for all nations. As you have done, it will be done to you; your deeds will return upon your own head.”
Let your bitterness and baggage go.
Obadiah is a book of only one chapter but we all need to learn its vital message.
In New Zealand, we talk of the ‘tall poppy syndrome.’ If anyone does well or excels in sport, business or achievement, we do all we can to ‘cut them down’ to our level. We don’t like people to do better than us. If we can find fault, we feel even more comfortable.
That is not a God-like characteristic. Nor was the attitude of Edom. Edom is Esau, if you like. The Edomites were his descendants, and as such ‘blood brothers’ of Jacob and Israel. However, they had never got over their ‘father’s’ disgrace.
Remember Esau? He despised his birthright. He traded it for a bowl of stew and in so doing disqualified himself for the firstborn’s blessing, which went to Jacob, albeit through deception (see Genesis 25 & 27).
Esau never forgave him. More than that, he purposed to murder Jacob for getting the blessing, which is why Jacob had to flee to the safety of Laban (see Genesis 27:41-43). Unfortunately, the bitterness carried on as a curse through succeeding generations (and is still evident right up to today).
In Obadiah’s day, the Edomites hid in their seemingly impregnable retreat, like Petra, and sent out marauding bands of thieves, robbers and vandals to destroy the crops, villages and camps of the Israelites.
Worse, these Edomites attacked when Israel was already at war with the Babylonians. They were opportunists of the worst kind. Ever heard “never kick a man when he is down”? That was exactly what they were doing, and doing it to their own ‘blood relatives’.
However, God was watching. They thought their hideout was impregnable – but guess what? God didn’t think so – and would prove otherwise.
God says, “Watch out. You will be accountable for your actions. Just as you treated Israel mercilessly – watch out for Me – I will treat you in just the same way.”
Jesus said, “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged” (Matthew 7:1-2). That is why it is always better to leave it all to the Lord.
The Good News is, whatever people are doing to you – let it go and let God’s promise come to you. “But on Mt Zion will be deliverance; it will be holy, and the house of Jacob will possess its inheritance” (v 17).
You will possess your inheritance. That is what God plans and longs for all of us.
So don’t hold on to grudges – however ‘justified’ they may seem – they rebound on you and your children.
And don’t take revenge into your own hands either, and thereby let Satan rob you.
Let go and…
Let God bring everything to its perfectly timed, awesome conclusion.
Download the above Ring of Truth devotion as a PDF.
Previous Day's Devotion | Next Day's Devotion
To subscribe to this daily devotion by email visit our Daily Email subscription page.
