5 Minute Read
Prepare Your Heart
To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.
Read God’s Word
A Verse for Today
Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.
Numbers 25:4-5 (CSB): “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Take all the leaders of the people and execute them in broad daylight before the LORD so that his burning anger may turn away from Israel.’ So Moses told Israel’s judges, ‘Kill each of the men who aligned themselves with Baal of Peor.'”
Reflecting on God’s Word
Some people think that verses like Numbers 25:4-5 make God look bad. They assume that anger is always bad, so they struggle to reconcile how a good God can get angry.
In 2001, Keith & Kristyn Getty wrote the incredible, theologically rich song “In Christ Alone.” One of the lines in their song is: “‘Til on that cross as Jesus died The wrath of God was satisfied.” The Presbyterian Church (USA) refused to put it in their hymnal because they wanted to change that line to say: ” ‘Til on that cross as Jesus died The love of God was magnified.” After digging into the debate, it seems clear that the PCUSA had a problem with God’s anger, and that His wrath could be appeased by Jesus’ sacrificial death on the cross.
Yet, the Bible is abundantly clear that God gets angry. He doesn’t have a short fuse. It takes Him a while to get His dander up. But He gets angry. Just read this next verse.
Exodus 34:6 (CSB): “The LORD passed in front of him and proclaimed: ‘The LORD—the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,'”
Even Jesus got angry – plenty of times! It is hard to understand how Jesus could cleanse the Temple as He did (John 2:13-17) without being angry. Jesus became angry when self-righteous Pharisees refused to sympathize with a man that Jesus wanted to heal (Mark 3:1-6). Jesus became angry (“deeply moved in His spirit”) when He saw how Adam’s sin caused a dear friend of His to die, leaving His dear friends to grieve uncontrollably (John 11:33). It is also difficult to explain the words of Matthew 23:13–36 unless Jesus was furious.
So, God the Father gets angry, God the Son gets angry, and God the Holy Spirit also gets angry (Isaiah 63:10).
How can we make sense of an emotion like anger as it pertains to a good and holy God?
Imagine that you are in a restaurant with a loved one. You finish your meal and step out in the parking lot when, all of a sudden, seemingly out of nowhere, someone races toward your loved one and starts hitting them with a baseball bat. And they don’t stop; they keep hitting them. I would question your love for your “loved one” if you didn’t become angry and step in to try to stop the violence. If you could watch the blood flow and the abuse continue without the least bit of anger at the sort of evil that would do such a thing, you simply don’t love your “loved one.”
You see, love demands that anger is the only appropriate emotion in some instances.
God is no different. What is He angry at? Sin that would bring harm to His glory and the climax of His creation – humanity. Sin is the baseball bat that robs Him of glory and hurts the people He loves.
So, anytime you see God angry in the Bible, it’s because He is responding to sin or the consequences that came because of sin.
You don’t want to experience God’s anger? Well, God poured out His wrath on Jesus when He was on the cross. So, if you are trusting in Jesus to make you right in God’s eyes, you are no longer under God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3). But while we are no longer under God’s wrath, we can disobey Him, which brings God’s loving anger and discipline. So, commit to being serious about following and obeying the Lord. You’ll never be the object of God’s anger.
Spend Time in Prayer
- Ask God to help you know for certain whether or not you are truly trusting in Jesus to make you right in the Father’s eyes.
- Ask God for the grace you need to resolve to obey Him and refuse to sin.
- Ask God for the grace to help you admit where you sin quickly after the act so that you can confess it and turn from it.
Going Deeper
If you want to dig a little deeper into the wrath of God and our response, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:
“What is the biblical interpretation of the wrath of God?”
“How can a Christian stop fearing God’s wrath and punishment?”
Sharing
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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com)
Matt’s Musings 