54:7
“For a brief moment I abandoned you”. God did abandon Israel, He did abandon us. We need to take sin seriously, and that God takes sin seriously, but where sin abounds grace abounds all the more (Rom 5:20). But if we do not take sin seriously, both in its effects and in God’s judgement upon sin we will never understand the gospel. “But with deep compassion I brought you back.” The sin was real, God’s righteous judgement was real, but so is His redemption. And He brought us back not grudgingly, but with deep compassion. We need to appreciate the compassion element of salvation.
54:8
“In a surge of anger ..” We don’t like this verse, but we should. The wrong reaction is to try and soften it. “God doesn’t really get angry”. Yes He does, and justifiably so. Our sin hurts us, and, worse than that, hurts other people, perhaps many other people. Sinning is not just making an alternative choice, it is taking an action that leads to much harm. But then God has redeemed us with “everlasting kindness”, and the Lord Himself is our redeemer.
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