Anger

“O Lord, correct me, but with judgment, not with anger” Jeremiah 10:24

Anger – “Anger” might not be quite strong enough.  “Wrath” is more like it.  Why do we need to see the difference?  Because we are not dealing with some impersonal force that creates accidental cataclysms.  We are dealing with a personal God Who directs His power against those who disobey His will.  This power shows itself is terrible acts like the plagues of Egypt and the destruction of entire kingdoms.  It is also directed against individuals, even those who otherwise serve Him (for example, against Aaron and Miriam in Number 12:9).  Jonathan Edwards got it right when he said that it was a disaster to fall into the hands of an angry God.

Today we are not likely to hear much about God’s anger or wrath.  Evangelical Christianity avoids the subject.  After all, it doesn’t make people feel comfortable and if you want to get people to join the church, you certainly don’t want them to feel uncomfortable, do you?  What a mistake!  Somehow we have convinced ourselves that God is a cosmic forgiving machine, that sin is really just a problem of etiquette and that in the end we will all make it to heaven.  Nothing could be further from the truth.  Sin brings wrath.  End of story.  Without judgment (do you remember yesterday), wrath is inevitable.  And wrath means destruction.

We do not serve a one-dimensional God.  He did not attend anger management courses between the Old Testament and the New.  The other side of love is wrath.  The only thing that prevents wrath today is God’s compassion and mercy.  That’s all.  It isn’t because we have become better, or because He forgives more, or because He has changed His mind.  Mercy is the only thing that stands between me and eternal punishment.  If I forget that fact, I immediately forget the seriousness of sin.  And that is something I cannot afford to forget.

The wrath of God is a direct result of His claim to absolute authority.  The universe is His and is ultimately subject to His rules.  There are no exceptions.

Jeremiah carefully pleads that God will correct Him with legal judgment based on mercy, not correct him with wrath (‘aph) for wrath, which will come (there is no doubt about that) will mean that the time of mercy is over.  When wrath comes, it will be too late.

God, correct me now, before Your wrath spills on the earth.  Correct me while I am still under Your mercy.  Come now, Lord.