Have A Bowl Of Wrath For Breakfast

It’s always unfortunate when valuable information and/or truisms are hijacked via association with the dregs of humanity. Santayana’s “those who do not remember the past are condemned to repeat it” will forever be tied to it being posted over Jim Jones’ throne in Jonestown. Lately, the notion of God judging His creation has been stained by the biped excrement otherwise known as Fred Phelps and associates. With “friends” like that, Satan can take a vacation.

It’s not a popular thing, talking about God when it comes to anything other than His being our cosmic bus driver on the superhighway to heaven with frequent stops so He can serve as celestial bellhop. We like to speak about how God is love. Yet in doing so we fail to grasp, or admit to, the full nature of love. It’s not all Valentines and candy. Love incorporates discipline, not for the purpose of punishment but rather so we don’t fall victim to our own failings. And sometimes, love means anger.

There’s a tendency to think of God’s anger solely in terms of Old Testament stories. We’re in an era of grace; surely there’s no need to consider anger as part of the equation. Wrong.

God still gets angry with us. We anger Him when we hurt others; we anger Him when we disrespect His creation by hurting ourselves. No, there are no hordes of locusts looming just beyond the horizon waiting to swoop down as punishment for our perversions. But there is holy and righteous anger.

More often than not, God’s anger is expressed not by some miraculous beatdown, but rather our living through the consequences of our actions. Jesus provided a means of forgiveness for the penalty of our sins when He died on the cross and subsequently rose from the dead. However, He is under no obligation to deflect the results of our foolish behavior. God will forgive the penitent teenage girl for giving herself away, but He’s not going to make that baby go away. God will forgive the alcoholic seeking mercy for the damage they’ve inflicted on themselves and others as a result of their drinking, but in all likelihood He’s not going to be providing a new liver.

The Scriptural reminder that it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God isn’t a bout of florid hyperbole. Our Lord is kind, just, merciful and forgiving. Not blissfully tolerant of every everything. He can and will get angry with us. And when He does, although it may seem overly harsh remember He doesn’t enjoy it either.

One Bad Pig – Bowl Of Wrath