How long, Lord? Will You be angry forever? Will Your jealousy burn like fire? (Psalm 79:5)
Anyone who has been married for any length of time knows the value of peace in a relationship. As far as I’m concerned, having contention with one’s spouse — especially when it leads to angry words and flared tempers — is one of the worst feelings a person can experience short of death. In a sense, anger and the distance it creates between two people in covenant can be akin to death. In short, when the relationship is strained and things are not as they should be, our inner person is not quite whole. Perhaps that is one of the reasons we are instructed not to “let the sun go down on your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26).
Now let’s take this concept and apply it to our relationship with the Almighty; if we aren’t whole when in conflict with our spouse, how much more unsettled will we be if we are in conflict with our Creator? Moreover, to know He is angry with us, and with good reason, should be so disturbing to us that we will stop at nothing to do all we can to have His forgiveness. It is an awful thing, indeed, to realize that the Lord is unhappy with us and especially when we understand that our choices have incited His displeasure. What are we to do in such a situation?
Many years ago the famous Puritan preacher, Jonathan Edwards, wrote the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Some might say that the sermon is a classical example of those preachers who spewed “fire and brimstone.” Perhaps so, but Edward’s sermon is credited with initiating the First Great Awakening in the mid 18th century. In other words, it isn’t such a bad thing for errant people to realize that “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11). Maybe if more realized this and understood the ramifications they might be inclined to do the necessary work to peacefully resolve the issue — that is to say, to repent.
True, God becomes angry with us and allows us to feel the sting that comes with that anger. Yet it is also true that His anger does not endure forever (Psalm 103:9); as it is written: “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). Hallelujah and thank God for His mercy.
Blessings and Shalom,
Bill
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