But how do men respond? They are forced against their will to admit that their lives are in God’s hands. They do this with great reluctance because for too long they have denied the Lord and their need of him. When therefore they are compelled to acknowledge him, it is only with curses and bitterness. Instead of humbly admitting that they deserve his anger and that he punishes them less than they deserve, they rebel even more. They ought to ask themselves whether there is still opportunity to repent, and realise that here is a final call to repentance before they are destroyed. They ought to realise that the God who made them by a word could obliterate them in a moment, that the reason their lives are allowed to continue is because of his unfathomable mercy. The fundamental purpose of blights is to bring people to repentance, but so obdurate and antagonistic is the human race that men will not repent. Even now, God would forgive men if they would repent, but as in Revelation 9:20-21, Johns tragically records that men hardened their hearts and refused to ask for mercy.
It seems that there is nothing that can be done to the wicked that will produce a proper response in them. They cannot deny that God is stronger than them, that he can do to them what he likes. Every breath they breathe is given by him, yet with their last remaining strength they blaspheme his name, and show themselves to be incorrigible. Neither mercy, nor patience, nor severity can change them. Instead of repenting, they blaspheme God, blaming him for their predicament. Instead of admitting what is self-evident – that they are under the judgment of the Lord for the sake of their wickedness, they speak as if they were innocent of all charges and that God behaved like a monster. How often the guilty refuse to acknowledge God’s justice. They attempt any amount of distortion of the facts rather than admit that they are to blame. Self-righteousness has no other option when cornered but to attack the Lord. But in blaspheming God, they admit that there is a God in heaven. While it suited them, they denied his existence and denied his ability to do anything. Now that they can deny it no longer, they turn on him and curse his name. They behave like the most spoilt and obnoxious of children. The proper response would be to give God glory. This is the only reasonable response of sinful men and women, even when under the rod. There should be no resentment, no excuse, no counter-accusation. God is glorified in his discipline and in his judgments. ‘Let God be true but every man a liar’ (Romans 3:4).