THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 11
Scripture: Genesis 15:16

How does God deal with those who seek the destruction of His people? With the sheer number of people decimated by the Israelites after the Exodus and during the establishment of Israel as a kingdom, annihilation would seem to be one of His most frequently used tools. However, we know that God is just and merciful in addition to vengeful. We know this because God tells us that it is only when a people has long sped past a point of no return for evil that He intervenes to wipe out the culture. This is why the outcry had to be “great” against Sodom and Gomorrah before God reached out His hand to strike them. This is also why Abram was able to barter with God to save the cities if a small number of righteous men could be found therein. Further, it is why God told Abram that his progeny would one day inherit the land because the iniquity of the Amorites “was not yet complete.” Yes, destruction, or termination is one of the arrows in God’s quiver along with many others for us to look at.