Daily Devotion 71
Jun 19, 2014 1944
“Why is my lord weeping?’ asked Hazael. ‘Because I know the harm you will do to the Israelites,’ he answered. ‘You will set fire to their fortified places, kill their young men with the sword . . . and rip open their women with child.’ Hazael said, ‘How could your servant, a mere dog, accomplish such a feat?’” (2 Kings 8:12,13).
Hazael could not believe of himself that he was capable of such crimes and obscenities against his fellow man. But God had shown Elisha what Hazael would do with his life in days to come. Those whom God gives eyes to discern the truth of human nature and its capacity for evil weep not just for the victims of their depraved cruelties, but for the tragedy that is the perpetrator. The gospel tells us the awful truth: we are much worse than we think, and it proffers the cure—God’s grace in Jesus.
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