Ps 76

Devotion 1 of 1: Ps 76

This is another psalm by Asaph. I thought v.10a was interesting: “Surely the wrath of man shall praise You.” How can the wrath of man praise God or reveal His glory? I’m sure many people have read this verse and wondered what does this mean?
I believe it can happen because God takes the curses of Satan and turns them into blessings for His people! (Gal 3:13-14). One example of this is the Communist takeover of China in 1949. Communism is atheistic, so they unleashed their wrath against all religions, including Christianity. Many pastors and believers were arrested, persecuted and some were killed.
Lukewarm Christians stopped going to church and left the faith out of fear. To survive, true believers met in house churches in secrecy. This caused the church to become pure and totally committed to Christ. They went through much persecution and, when caught, received torture and even death. But they prayed fervently, memorized Scriptures because Bibles were scarce, and witnessed boldly, even when imprisoned, often leading fellow inmates and prison guards to Christ!
But years of persecution have resulted in the greatest revival in Christian history! It is estimated that true believers number as many as 130M in China! That’s 9% of the population!
I believe this is one amazing example of “the wrath of man shall praise you.” So when people do horrible things, instead of falling into despair, let’s look for how God can be praised in that horrible situation!

1 PET 4: Free sharing!
V.6 says, “For this reason the gospel was preached also to those who are dead, that they might be judged according to men in the flesh, but live according to God in the spirit.” Some people use this verse as evidence of a “Second Chance” for us to get saved after death. But that is a wrong interpretation of this Scripture.
I will explain why in 11/1’s SI message. Let’s expect to learn more about this Scripture next Sunday!