The Other Side of Redemption
“O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.” Psalm 38:1 NASB
Wrath – “Rebuke me not in Your wrath” we read in English. But the Hebrew is more dramatic. The first word is the prefix “not.” David has fixed the emphasis on what is most desperately needed. “YHVH, not in your wrath,” he says. “I know that Your jealous rage is kindled against my sin. I know that I cannot stand before You, a holy God. I know that Your breath will extinguish my life forever because I am a man of unholy acts. But YHVH, my God, my personal God, do not.” Do not send me away. Do not separate me from You. Do not cast me aside in spite of my sin. I remember who I am. Desperate without You. As dust before You. Without pardon.
David’s plea is focused on God’s wrath. We don’t hear this much anymore. We want to forget our sins in order that we don’t have to deal with His wrath. Push it all far away in the dark recesses of that ancient past where God was mysteriously unpredictable and destroyed those who dared to rebel against Him. Leave all that talk of vengeance and anger and wrath on the other side of the incarnation. We want a God of peace and love and forgiveness. We want a God who blesses and protects and takes care of our every need. We don’t understand a God of wrath. But the man after God’s own heart understood wrath. And it terrorized Him.
The Hebrew is alarming and strident. “Not to me your wrath.” In Hebrew it is qeṣep, that is, anger aroused by someone who fails to do his duty. We see the word in Deuteronomy 29:28 where it is linked with the necessity of atonement. This is a verb that assumes a relationship. It is not the verb you would use to express anger about a falling stock market or a new tax form. It’s not about a failed computer or a broken lawn mower. This is a personal relationship failure, a failure to keep trust. God’s wrath is inseparable from His love and jealousy concerning His children. It is an expression of protective custody over what He regards as His own. There is no sin without wrath. The fact that God turns away His wrath because He favors us with love does not give us any claim of moral worth. It is God’s choice to love us, not our merit that requires His response. David, the man who knows the heart of his Lord, understands this. “YHVH, do not cause Your wrath to fall on me.”
David offers no excuse. He does not begin this cry of desperation with a defense. He doesn’t even mention the possibility. He only asks for mercy. In his outcry he already admits his guilt. His choice of language shows that he knows his sin. David has no solution for his moral collapse. Unless God withholds wrath, David is lost.
Have we moved so far away from the personal God that we no longer tremble before the possibility of His wrath? Are our sins sanitized? Or are we willing to be like David, the man God loved in his fear.
Topical Index: wrath, redemption, qeṣep,Psalm 38:1
To keenly, deeply, and powerfully realize both the wrath of God and the mercy of God concerning His people and their sin IN ONE THOUGHT requires both the striving of God and of man, that He should be known for who He truly is, a God who is both full of loving kindness and severity. Doesn’t happen through a lot of jibber jabber or reading Hallmark daily devotional quotes.
A few years ago He unveiled my eyes for a moment- cannot describe what my eyes saw- only the emotion I experienced which overwhelmed and kind of frightened me at the same time. Only way to verbalize it was the words of a song that came to mind- “ Ferocious Love- Endless Desire”. I have no explanation for how and why He made everything stop and opened my eyes into a different dimension where I experienced His “ eye” on me.
Never happened again – and no way to make it happen again.
There is much trembling in moments like that.
Flayed before the throne of God,
My heart,
My soul,
This emerging, this growth, this transformation
It is hard, but good.
Flayed before the throne of God,
Gratefully.
Truth manifest as the flesh quivers before His power,
I am undone, yet he is released.
It is good with my soul,
It is good.
So . . . I decided to follow Him. I chose life. His life.
My life had already vividly shown me the consequences
of the “other” choice. Don’t want to go there.
But I still needed a push. That’s why He sends His Spirit.
Everyday, He pushes so I better “see” His love.
Everyday, He pushes so I better “see” His wrath.
His life sees so much better than mine does!
Yes,Yes and YES.
Tolerance, I am convinced, is the new planetary god. It satisfies both the need for connection (love) as well as establishing the boundaries for difference (fracture of trust). In the flesh, because we cannot change, but still need connection, we seek bridges, crutches, altered states of reality, and mirages to supply the illusion of connection so that we can exist a little while longer. Also, because in the flesh we cannot fix the trust fractures, we decide that if we can’t lick ’em, we have to join ’em; er, at least ‘tolerate’ them! This can give us the self righteous illusion that we actually are connected to others (love) when, in fact, we are merely agreeing to disagree.
How is the planet accomplishing these slights of hand? Well, in the religious world (World Council Of Churches) I see a huge push for what the RCC calls “charisms”: altered state experiences that people can pretend to unite in. This is just one example. In the secular world, I see laws being crafted that purport to establish “tolerance” by means of forbidding “evangelism”: no one is allowed to exalt their point of view above that of another. (For example, there are now already substitutes for all Ten Commands that APPEAR to be the ‘same’, or accomplish the same results, anyway, but are actually not, on the books of most countries, as well as the UN, who is leading the way in establishing this counterfeit righteousness, or, New World Order.) Now, that sounds all good and democratic (“freedom”), but is it?
On the plains of Dura, wasn’t a version of this tried before? And when Daniel knelt before his open window, wasn’t he proclaiming the exaltation of his beliefs over that of others? Would you agree to ‘get along’ with others at the expense of not telling them about true freedom (evangelizing as per instructions), or of stating, in word or action, that your God is the only true God? I am afraid this is not a theoretical exercise: I see laws even now being crafted that will ultimately result in creating these scenarios – all in the name of the new world god: “tolerance”. With tolerance, so claims the world, there is no need for wrath (except for those who are still deemed “intolerant”, of course!). The wrath of God is being replaced by the mandates of man, all in the name of the new god (who is being touted as an improvement over the old, wrathful one, of course). Are we ready for this?
Am I crazy for palpable fear I don’t fear him enough? That I have moved far enough away that I no longer tremble regarding his wrath?
No, Michael, this palpable fear is a good thing. As I’ve mentioned before, we read TW out loud together and this morning it was my turn to open. I didn’t make it through the first paragraph without pauses and tears before the paragraph ended. And as Mark and Rich and Maddie all shared, I remembered – and felt again – the depth of conviction and remorse and true fear of His wrath that brought me back to His feet, full of repentance. Have I trembled at the thought of His wrath since then?
“….. Your jealous rage is kindled against my sin”.
This really speaks to me of God’s passionate love for us. His grace does not cause Him or give Him a reason to be passive. I think the Christian church is falling into an abyss of unacknowledged guilt. We are being taught that because of grace, guilt is optional. It’s no wonder there are so many sick and weakly among us. We have allowed a disease access to our bodies! There would be something seriously wrong in a marriage relationship where there was infidelity or unfaithfulness of any kind without any sense of guilt or failure. Guilt is just a bell to remind us we have fallen short of God’s glory. We have entered into a covenant with God, we have made commitments, made declarations of our love for him. As Paul says, “shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? God forbid!”. How shall we who are married to Christ act as though we weren’t ? I guess it would be what is called the marriage of convenience! Quite a sham! Remember God’s words, “I wish that you were either cold or hot”. This is God speaking here,so how can we change his words to mean something that fits into the category of worshiping the creature more than the Creator, Who is blessed forever!
This is my first comment, feels a little risky expressing my own views!
You are welcomed to the fold.