AN ANGRY GOD?

[Guest post]

[THIS IS A GUEST POST PRINTED (WITHOUT PERMISSION LOL) FROM MY PASTOR RANDY ANDERSON

No Angry God for us, please!

Psalm 90:11

Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? (Ps. 90:11 ESV)

Who considers the power of your anger…

The answer is, not that many people. We as American’s have become increasingly convinced that reality must conform to our wishes. We imagine ourselves at some kind of ‘Metaphysical Drive-Up Window’ and saying to the server at the window ‘now I would like some form of God, but no anger or wrath or moral standards please…’ The wrath of God? O, no, none of that for me please. And we really do imagine that our views will shape reality into being whatever we would like it to be.

A previous generation of American’s, and maybe even some of you, in an advanced English class might have been asked to read Jonathan Edward’s famous sermon ‘Sinners in the hands of an Angry God.’ Not for the substance of what Edward’s believed, or the seriousness of his argument, but rather only for the rhetorical power of his language. As to Edward’s vision of God our attitude is ‘O heavens no, that kind of nonsense went out of style a couple of centuries ago.’

But we ought to notice that our Psalmist is assuming the wisdom of giving some serious thought to the power of God’s anger. He is recommending some serious attention to the wrath of God. And this is the very thing Jonathan Edward’s was doing. The sermon was originally published on July 8, 1741. He was considering the power of God’s anger, and advocating others to do the same – to take some warning from the consideration.

“…and your wrath according to the fear of you?

The Psalmist assumes, and I think rightly so, that a serious consideration of what God says to us about His own wrath, will tend to produce people who ‘fear Him’ – ‘who fear the Lord.’

Elsewhere in the Psalms – Psalm 111:10 to be exact, we read this,

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have ba good understanding. (Ps. 111:10 ESV)

In Psalm 90 we are assured that considering the power of God’s anger will tend to generate ‘the fear of the LORD’ which means to say – that consideration will tend to cause people to begin to be wise.

According to the Psalmist and Jesus and people like the apostle Paul this is a real thing, this business of the anger of God. Now I grant you it is not an idea taken seriously at most of our universities, or by the elite media class, and certainly not in our entertainment industry.

What is ironic however is that on any given day if you pause to consider what is going on in the world – what is happening in politics – what is happening relationally within our social order. You will likely often find yourself a bit discouraged. Depressed by the mess. Sodom and Gomorrah seem to be moving into the neighborhood – and officially we know we are to welcome them with open arms – thus demonstrating our amazing compassion and open-mindedness. But in the back of our minds, we have our doubts about the whole project. Are pornography and gambling as infiltrating everything as wonderful as it is advertised to be? Or does it almost seem at times that Paul might have been speaking the truth when he wrote,

18 For athe wrath of God bis revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. (Rom. 1:18 ESV)

Who considers the power of your anger, and your wrath according to the fear of you? (Ps. 90:11 ESV)

Pastor Randy