An attribute of God, which most people would agree is negative, is His anger which brings the wrath of God upon men. They envision God becoming so angry and frustrated with man that He starts to throw lightning bolts haphazardly at everyone in the area. God is not some crazy gunman out to kill people He blames for some wrong that was done.
Not every bad thing which happens to us in this life is a result of God’s wrath. It is rare to ever see God’s wrath. Bad things happen in this life because of sin. Man brought sin into the world and now it saturates the world with its evil. Man chose a life of sin and God weeps at the result, but He will not stand in the way of man’s choice for ungodliness.
Romans 1:18 explains how God is angry against ungodliness and unrighteousness, because it calls the truth of God unrighteous. He is angry with the sin and not with the man, however it is the man who holds this untruth within them. In order to rid the man of this sin, God is willing to do anything to cleanse him, including allowing man to experience God’s wrath.
An example of this is found in the Seven Years of Tribulation. God’s wrath will come down upon mankind because of sin permeating their everyday lives. For seven years one catastrophe after another strikes the population of the world until three fourths of the population is wiped out. Why would a loving God do such a thing?
God knows that man does not seek God unless he comes to the end of himself. When man has no other options; when he has lost everything in spite of his best efforts, he turns to God. It is better that he lose everything in this life so that he might have eternal life.
God keeps putting man into losing situations in the hopes that he will come to realize that everything he has trusted in this world is worthless without God. God loves all of mankind so much that He is willing to make life a living Hell if it will turn him around.
God does not enjoy hurting even one person, no matter how evil they might be. God desires the best for us and will do whatever it takes to get us there. He is our heavenly parent who would rather suffer the pain Himself than to see us suffer. He however is willing to suffer with us in order to bring us back to Himself. Any trials we go through in this life, God is there as well. He does not abandon us.
Jonathan Edwards preached a sermon in 1741 called “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” I want to end this post saying, I would rather be in the hands of an angry God than to not be in his hands at all.
Photo Credit: Destroyed Homes On Beach 130th Street & Newport Avenue, Belle Harbor, Queens, New York. by NYC Streamline
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