Power, Compassion, Safety

"In pointing out the terribleness of God, I do not appeal to fear . . . We do not say, 'Be good, or God will crush you.' That is not virtue, that is not liberty -- it is vice put on its good behavior. It is iniquity with a sword suspended over its head.

The great truth to be learned is that all the terribleness of God is the good man's security. When the good man sees God wasting the mountains and the hills, and drying up the rivers, he does not say, 'I must worship him or he will destroy me.' He says, 'The beneficent side of that power is all mine. Because of that power I am safe. The very lightning is my guardian, and in the whirlwind I hear a pledge of benediction.'"

-- Joseph Parker, quoted in The Classics Devotional Bible

Even in darkness light dawns for the upright, for the gracious and compassionate and righteous man. -- Psalm 112.4