The Other Side of Redemption
O LORD, rebuke me not in Your wrath, and chasten me not in Your burning anger.” Psalm 38:1
Wrath – “in Your wrath do not rebuke me” 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. “Yahweh, not in your wrath” he says. “I know that Your jealous rage is kindle 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 God, Yahweh, 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. “Do not”.
David’s plea is focused on God’s wrath. We don’t hear this very 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, in the Old Testament, 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, qeseph, 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. “God, 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 come 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.
