A God Who Gets Angry

9.9.2010

Lamentations 2:1 How the Lord in his anger has set the daughter of Zion under a cloud! He has cast down from heaven to earth the splendor of Israel; he has not remembered his footstool in the day of his anger. ESV

I don’t think we’re all that comfortable with a God who gets angry; I think we’re much happier with a God who winks and blinks and shrinks and thinks, “My people really aren’t that bad after all – they get it right sometimes.” In Lamentations 2 the prophet Jeremiah blames all of Judah’s destruction and the desolation of Jerusalem on the Lord. From verse one to nine he spells out the actions of the Lord done in His anger without mercy against the sin and rebellion of His people. It is a very sobering passage of Scripture… and He did it all.

It’s important to remember that our sin has consequences. It’s important to remember that righteousness has its rewards. The next time something ‘bad’ happens in our life we’ll do very well to stop immediately and seek God and ask, “Lord? Are You saying to me in this present circumstance!?” He just might be.

I much prefer a happy God but I remember the language of the prophets: God did it! I am fully free to do as I please but in doing so I cannot forget that God loves as much in His wrath as He does in His mercy; His grace is made up of both.

Father in Heaven,

You do not put up with sin forever and You love Your children enough to punish them when they wander off into stupidity. Father, may I remember Your wrath is just as real as Your mercy, and that You love me in both, but will not wink, blink, or shrink at my sin – You will respond with whatever is necessary to get me back onto the paths of righteousness for Your Name’s sake. Thank You – amen.