Dear Friends of "Dial Daily Bread,"
This is shocking to many people, but it is true: God never tells anybody Bad News, only Good News, or if He can't tell you Good News, He keeps still. You may object, "Well, didn't He tell King Saul Bad News just before his death?" (1 Samuel 28). No, the one who told Saul the Bad News that discouraged the apostate king and drove him to suicide, was Satan, not God.
"Well, didn't God tell Bad News to the people destroyed in the Flood in the time of Noah? Or to King Pharaoh of Egypt? Or to Achan, who was stoned? Or to Korah, Dathan, and Abiram?" (Genesis 6; Exodus 4-14; Joshua 7; Numbers 16, etc.). I think if you will read the stories carefully you will see that in each instance, God gave those people opportunity to repent; He never wanted to discourage anyone, or drive anyone to suicide. Did Jesus drive Judas Iscariot to suicide? No, not at all; when Judas betrayed Him, He called him "Friend" (Matt. 26:50), but never said another word to him.
When we come to the New Testament, again an angel says to the world, "I bring you good tidings of great joy" (Luke 2:10); and Paul says for all the apostles, "We declare to you glad tidings" (Acts 13:32); and the last message God will send to the world will be "the everlasting Good News" (Rev. 14:6-12).
Since sin came into the world, God has been in the business night and day, with never a holiday, of being a Savior. That is His relationship to you, as of this moment, even though you may have sinned grievously. He always has a message of hope for you, and as long as you have ears to hear it, He will declare it to you in some way, even if you are facing execution.
Even if you must die, there is a whisper of Good News as you draw your last breath--please repent, He says: believe My love, appreciate My sacrifice for you, My gift of justification, receive My gift of forgiveness, My eternal life that I share with you. You only "sleep in Jesus" until the "morning" of the resurrection. From where you stand at this moment, there is a path of hope, of Good News, for you. Respond to that Good News, believe it.
--Robert J. Wieland
From the "Dial Daily Bread" Archive: June 16, 1998.
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