I notice in the Word a phrase that is often used of God in His judgment of His people. “Behold, against this family I am devising disaster, From which you cannot remove your necks;” Micah 2:3
God is said to do, “whatever pleases Him” in the Psalms (115:1).
How does it please God to judge His people?
Duet 8:3 is a wonderful answer. God purposes in His judgment to glorify Himself by showing he is more valuable then what seemed to be of value to us.
Food became of more value to the people then God, so God judged them. There judgment was one of hunger. Now when your hungry you think of food, but there is a lesson here that God is showing his people. The main lesson is that He (God) is more greater then food. God is pleased with this because this shows His importance and value amongst all the Nations (Duet 4,6 & 8)
Jesus showed the value of God when he was tempted like Israel for 40 day’s by Satan. Jesus was hungry, and Satan picked up on it. Satan desires to diminish the value of God in the world as seen in the book of Job. Is God really just? Does God really love you? Is God really worthy of your praise, adoration and attention?
Jesus passes the test, by affirming the passage from Duet 8:3 “Man does not live on bread alone, but every word that proceeds from the Father.”
Jesus in essence said that God is more valuable then anything, food, sex, games, clubs, friends, family…everything! He is “more than” (Matthew 10:37) it all.
Judgment pleases God because it is used to glorify His goodness as being the one who can satisfy completely. Food only satisfy’s for a time. Sex too! But the Lord calls us to “taste and see that He is good” (Psalm 34:8) and to “drink from the river of His Pleasures” (Psalm 36:8)
God is more pleasurable then it all!
So Lord we pray that your judgment fall on us, so to glorify your goodness as the one who can satisfy, for in your judgment we are stripped of all that seems of value, yet is really a temporal shot in the arm for our spiritual need.