The Wrath of God

Thoughts on Lamentations 4:11

The Lord gave full vent to his

wrath;

he poured out his hot anger,

and he kindled a fire in Zion

that consumed its foundations.

As people, followers of Jesus or not, we are often uncomfortable with the idea of any mention of God’s wrath.  We are much more comfortable talking about and expecting the love of God.  But, would we really want to take away the wrath of God?  Look at the previous verses and what is going on (They boiled their own babies and ate them.)...would you be drawn to a God who was not angry about this treatment of His children (Mt. 18:6), a God who would not act strongly toward those who are His?  

In Five Smooth Stones p. 129-136, Eugene Peterson, address God’s anger.  God is angry because He cares about us.  We do not become angry about things that are of no interest to us.  Because He is angry there is hope.  If evil is not a personal affront to God, then there is no hope for us, because we are of no interest to Him.  It is precisely because He gets angry that we have hope...our hope is not in the anger, our hope is in the  character of God...the One who is steadfast love and faithfulness.  Because of who He is, light does shine in the darkness and things are new in the morning.

If I were unfaithful to Jan and had the good sense to regret and repent, would I be glad if there were no anger on her part?  Would not a lack of anger be evidence of my lack of value to her?  If the whole thing to her was, "Whatever." What would it tell me about us?

Does Your wrath scare me Father, yes it does, but I think I would be more fearful if there were none present because it would mean You do not care.  Thank you for loving me that much, thank you that it does not end with wrath, but in steadfast love and faithfulness.  LHM/ CHM