Wrath

Wrath- this is a difficult concept to wrap our  brains around, but is is essential for us to truly see God's beauty surrounding us in His abundant grace and mercy in our lives. God goes further than just sparing us from His wrath,  He sits on high waiting to have compassion for us. 

Isaiah 30:18 NASB

Therefore the Lord longs to be gracious to you, And therefore He waits on high to have compassion on you. For the Lord is a God of justice; How blessed are all those who long for Him.

Day 88: Wrath

Romans 1:18-20

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of people who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them. For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, that is, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, being understood by what has been made, so that they are without excuse.”

         Wrath- probably the least understood attribute of God. God’s wrath is a deliberate action chosen by God that is His full emotion, righteousness, and justice measurably executed towards His creation. He is calculated in how He executes His wrath against humanity and what He allows us to experience. In this next section of devotions, it may seem counterintuitive to focus on God’s wrath to understand beauty, but it isn’t. Understanding the nature of God is essential in our understanding of how and what we are saved from.

         Think about it for a minute. What are you saved from? Go ahead, jot down some answers, I’ll wait.

         Now, if you are honest with yourself, some of you just skipped down to this section and kept reading, others probably paused and thought for a moment or even wrote something like this down…

         God saves me from my sins… My humanity… myself…

         This is where the hard part comes in about where we are going in the next three weeks through scripture. Unfortunately, due to many factors, we have missed the whole point of God’s Word. If we needed saving from ourselves, we would be minimizing God’s authority and power. Honestly, while sin is the evidence of our need to be saved, it is not necessarily what we are saved from, we are saved from God’s WRATH as a punishment for our sin. This is a very different concept than God saving us from our sin. He offers us a way out of sin; therefore, it is ultimately our choice not to sin.

         We have no excuse when it comes to God and His wrath. Our very nature as humans is corrupt, but we also have a sense of morality hard wired into our essences. We know what is right and we know what is wrong in this world, it is our job to pursue the Creator and seek Him. When we seek Him with our whole hearts, we will find Him, thus saving our souls from eternal Wrath of God.

Dear Wrathful Father,

         Thank You for providing in me a spirit of humility to approach You. You are a gracious Father who knows how to deal with me appropriately. You wield strength and authority over my life and I want to fully submit to Your authority. Lord, You save me from Your Wrath and righteousness because of my sin nature. Then Father, You help perfect me by writing Your word upon my heart and offering me ways out of temptation. Thank You for making Yourself so clear to me over the past few weeks in seeking Your beauty through refinement. Now Lord, help me learn Your nature and aspects of You that I am unfamiliar with to know You more. Thank You for Your wrath being poured out on Jesus at the cross, that He bore the weight of Your wrath for me, all because of Your great Love for us. You give us a choice to choose You or our own wickedness. Please help us choose Your will! I love You Jesus. Amen.

Day 89: Wrath

John 3:36

'The one who believes in the Son has eternal life; but the one who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”'

         This scripture explicitly tells us what we are being saved from, God’s wrath. When we do not know Jesus Christ as our personal Lord and Savior, God’s Wrath rests upon us. It is really that simple. Apart from Jesus’ covering through His sacrifice on the cross, our acceptance of His gift of grace through professing Jesus as Lord of our life before all men and living a lifestyle that is pursuant of Jesus’ calling on your life, you will ALWAYS be under God’s Wrath. This is where understanding God’s wrath becomes of upmost importance.

         Wrath is generally defined as extreme anger, but this is according to our humanity. God’s wrath is a righteous indignation and displeasure for all that is sinful and evil. It is radically different from human anger which tends to be impulsive and unfair. God’s wrath is applicable to certain situations where God’s judgement and punishment is executed upon anything He considers unholy or unrighteous. There are numerous examples of God’s wrath on display throughout all the scriptures.

         Here are a few stories we will review in the upcoming days to illustrate what God is saving us from: The Flood in Genesis 6-9, the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah in Genesis 19, the plagues of Egypt in Exodus 7-12, the defeat of the Amalekites in Exodus 17, the plague on the Israelites for idolatry in Exodus 32, the death of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5, the rebellion of Korah and his associates in Numbers 16, and the defeat of the Amorites in Joshua 10, King Herod Agrippa I suffered God's judgment for accepting divine adoration, and the Book of Revelation details God's final judgments in the seven seals, trumpets, and bowls that bring devastation and divine retribution.

         God’s wrath is what Jesus died to save us from, otherwise, just being saved from ourselves is not applicable in the context of why Jesus had to die on the cross for our sins. Our sin nature is the cause of wrath, not wrath being the cause of sin… Causality is very important to maintain a biblically accurate understanding of the nature of God. When we have an accurate view of God and His grace and mercy and what we are being saved from; we begin to see the significant beauty surrounding every situation! We must obey Jesus’s callings upon our lives and live with God in such a way that we can understand His will for us is to accept Jesus and spend eternity with Him, He just wants us to choose Him.

Dear Wrathful Father,

         Thank You for another morning in Your word considering the works of Your righteousness. You have blessed me with understanding and clarity as to what we are saved from. We are not saved from ourselves, but we are saved from Your judgement and condemnation. We are promised through Jesus that You will save us if we choose to believe in You Father. Thank You for the forgiveness You have offered to every one of us. May we return praise and adoration to You; for You are worthy and faithful in our lives to save us and subsequently bless us in Your house. I love You Jesus. Amen.

Day 90: The Flood

Genesis 6:5-8 NASB

Then the Lord saw that the wickedness of mankind was great on the earth, and that every intent of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. So the Lord was sorry that He had made mankind on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. Then the Lord said, “I will wipe out mankind whom I have created from the face of the land; mankind, and animals as well, and crawling things, and the birds of the sky. For I am sorry that I have made them.” But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

         God’s wrath is a consequence of wickedness in this life. Scripture says here that God is grieved over the thoughts of their hearts being evil all the time. In past devotions we have discuss how God gives us a new heart when we come to Him, one which we are to write God’s word on. This indicates to us that our hearts are the beliefs that drive us into action. This idea is further illustrated in this scripture. The wickedness of mankind was bad enough that God wanted to destroy it.

         The nature of God here is not one of anger, but of measured emotions. God is grieved and full of sorrow in His heart. He new it was too far gone for it to find Him and His true belief and desire to be in unity with Him like it once was in the garden. In examining all that was there, He found Noah to be a single source of light in the darkness.

         Now, I want to be sure to highlight what may be a misconception about God. He already knew that these things were going to happen in the sense that He stands outside of time. However, it does not stop Him from feeling the full weight and measure of man’s depravity. We know that God has all the feelings and emotions just like we do. Jesus demonstrated so many attributes of God when He walked on the earth. While He sits outside of time, He knows. Yet, we are to face God’s wrath due to the consequences of grieving God’s heart and choosing to walk in disobedience and disbelief. Fortunately for us, we live on the side of time that knows Jesus as the Messiah.

         Ultimately, Noah was one blessed man to find the Lord’s favor. Noah stood in opposition to the times and refused to compromise his core beliefs; therefore, He was spared the consequences of our sin nature in this world, God’s wrath poured out through the flood.

Dear Life-Giving Father,

         Thank You for today, Lord. You are altogether lovely and kind. While I was a sinner, You loved me enough to die on a cross for me. Therefore, my heart is Yours Jesus. Please grant me the wisdom and enough knowledge to know You better. Help me understand how much our sin causes Your heart to grieve. Jesus, may we honor the heart You have given us when we chose to make You the Lord of our lives. Thank You for Your grace and mercy. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Day 91: Calculated Wrath

Genesis 6:11-13,17 NASB

“Now the earth was corrupt in the sight of God, and the earth was filled with violence. And God looked on the earth, and behold, it was corrupt; for humanity had corrupted its way upon the earth. Then God said to Noah, “The end of humanity has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of people; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. Now behold, I Myself am bringing the flood of water upon the earth, to destroy all flesh in which there is the breath of life, from under heaven; everything that is on the earth shall perish.”

         God is divinely perfect and He will measure out His justice according to His infinite sovereignty. We can see this through today’s verse. God was slow to execute upon His wrath which we can ultimately see in how long it took Noah to build the arc. He is also very exacting in the distribution of His wrath.

         Consider how God has described to us the nature of humanity and its corrupted ways, He claims that humanity has done all of this before Him, which means in His presence, and He still provided people a warning. The Jewish tradition suggest that it took Noah approximately 120 years to build the arc. It is not a far leap to consider that as Noah built the arc, people made fun of Him for it, and he likely presented God’s truths trying to get them to repent. This passage of time was to ensure that creation as it was had a chance of redemption, all while knowing that their redemption would only come through Jesus Christ.

         Another way we see how calculated God’s Wrath is in how verse 17 plays out. Notice the destruction of “all flesh in which there is the breath of life.” In looking at this story throughout my life I did not consider it to be so specific in that God was going to destroy everything that had breath in it. While this is speculation, I always wondered how aquatic animals were destroyed, but according to this maybe they weren’t! God calculated destruction reveals His wrath is perfectly executed to follow a prescribed perfect path.

         We can trust that God knows what He is doing to executing on His wrath. We can also rest assured that we know He is saving us from- His wrath, due to our sin. He is offering us a way out of the calculated destruction that He intended to save us from.

Dear Calculating Father,

         Thank You for Your word and how it informs us of Your perfectly calculated distribution of Your wrath. You are saving us from ourselves in profound ways, but You are saving us from Your perfect sovereignty. You are a just God! You are fair, equitable, kind, and righteous! Thank You Jesus for perfecting the sacrifice so we can commune with God all the days of our lives and learn Your ways. Thank You for grace and mercy. We love You Jesus, amen. 

Day 92: Sodom and Gomorrah

Genesis 19:24-29 NASB

Then the Lord rained brimstone and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah from the Lord out of heaven, and He overthrew those cities, and all the surrounding area, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and what grew on the ground. But Lot’s wife, from behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Now Abraham got up early in the morning and went to the place where he had stood before the Lord; and he looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the surrounding area; and behold, he saw the smoke of the land ascended like the smoke of a furnace. So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.

         This is probably one of the most well-known stories in all of scripture about God’s Wrath beyond the flood.  It parallels the flood story in the total moral anarchy that had taken place as illustrated in the portion of scripture before this section. This section of scripture was chosen to focus on the execution of God’s Wrath, due to the consequences of sin. Abraham had already gone and secured God’s blessings over Sodom and Gomorrah earlier in his life when they were attacked and plundered, which gave them back their prosperity. They were cities that had received the blessings of God, yet they eventually became morally corrupt.

         Based on the overall understanding of the time and the context of Sodom and Gomorrah in the Old Testament we can see that they had an abundance of wealth and prosperity and refused to take care of those within their city walls and the greater community. When their reputation became one of such depravity, the Lord felt it necessary to act upon them with His justice and wrath. Abraham started pleading with the Lord during this time and one of the clearest understandings on how we are to approach the Lord in all of scripture was mentioned. “And Abraham replied, “Now behold, I have ventured to speak to the Lord, although I am only dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27.

         Abraham knew his place. He knew the power of the Lord and understood the appropriate fear and reverence for the Lord that we all need. During Abraham’s exchange with the Lord this one little nugget is so informative. This- this is likely why Lot was spared the consequences of God’s wrath, because of how Abraham approached the Lord on his behalf. Lot still had significant consequences of his own through the process, and it is a very disturbing outcome with Lot and his daughters, but what if they were spared God’s wrath because of Abraham’s reverence in approaching the Lord?

         How does this inform us about how we are to approach the Lord? If we can see the execution of God’s wrath for turning away from God’s blessings and becoming morally corrupt, which without Jesus we are… then it should help us be motivated to seek the Lord within the appropriate context of understanding our place. While we are co-heirs with Christ, we are also still dust and ash before the Almighty God.

Dear Life-giving Father,

         Thank You for today. Thank You for hearing from this lump of clay. Lord, You have given me an abundant life. You have provided Jesus, the Rescuer from wrath and the One who has taken upon Himself all my sin. I am humbled that You would hear from me and avert Your wrath from coming upon me. You are a gracious God. Help me approach You with reverence and awe as You are a God of Justice. I love You Lord. Thank You Jesus for Your grace and forgiveness. In Jesus Christ authority I pray, may my life be a blessing to those around me, amen. 

Day 93: Wrath and Blood

Exodus 7:17-19

“This is what the Lord says: “By this you shall know that I am the Lord: behold, I am going to strike the water that is in the Nile with the staff that is in my hand, and it will be turned into blood. Then the fish that are in the Nile will die, the Nile will stink, and the Egyptians will no longer be able to drink water from the Nile.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “Say to Aaron, ‘Take your staff and extend your hand over the waters of Egypt, over their rivers, over their streams, over their pools, and over all their reservoirs of water, so that they may become blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, both in containers of wood and in containers of stone.’ ”

         God’s wrath has been put on full display throughout world history. Some of the greatest demonstrations of God’s wrath is in how God used Moses to deal with the Egyptians. We will go over these over the next 10 days and discuss what each one reveals about the nature of God’s wrath.

         The Nile turning to blood was a direct execution of God’s wrath on the most important source of life for the Egyptians. They had a god that they believed was responsible for all things related to the Nile, that god was called Hapi. This was the Egyptian god of fertility and was sometimes considered the “father of the gods” that helped maintain the balance of the cosmos. Their god was responsible for all things related to the Nile and the Nile served as the greatest source of life in the entire Egyptian kingdom. Therefore, the first plague executing God’s wrath towards the Egyptians was a direct assault on their false god.

         Consider the notion that the water was turned to blood, which typically represents something’s death. God was essentially using His wrath to tell the Egyptians that their gods were dead to convince them of His sovereign power and that He wanted His people released.

         This has direct implications in our lives. If God wants to carve out something in your life, He can and will use His wrath at times to do it. He directly targets that which is of greater importance in our lives than Him and He will leverage the situation to convince us of our position in life. This idea has scriptural support in Job 5:17-18, “Behold, happy is the person whom God disciplines, So do not reject the discipline of the Almighty. For He inflicts pain, and gives relief; He wounds, but His hands also heal.” And Isaiah 30:26, “And the light of the full moon will be like the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be seven times brighter, like the light of seven days, on the day the Lord binds up the fracture of His people and heals the wound He has inflicted.”

         These additional verses will apply repeatedly as we learn about the nature of God’s wrath. He does not want us to stay the same. He wants us to submit to His will and at times, He will leverage our idols against us to reveal who He is in our lives.

Dear Healing Father,

         Thank You for Your wrath. As I learn more about it, I am beginning to see how much grace and mercy You give me every day. The Egyptians were without water for seven days and You allowed them to sit in the brokenness inflicted by Your wrath for a time to illustrate Your divine nature. Lord, allow me to learn quickly and accept Your grace and mercy with a swiftness that helps me appreciate what You are doing, and adjust to Your will for my life. Lord, I do not want to experience Your wrath. It is uncomfortable and I would rather live in the light of Your grace and comfort leading me to thanksgiving and contentment. Thank You Jesus, Amen.

Day 94: Frogs of Wrath

Exodus 8:1-4,10-14

'Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to Pharaoh and say to him, ‘This is what the Lord says: “Let My people go, so that they may serve Me. But if you refuse to let them go, behold, I am going to strike your entire territory with frogs. The Nile will swarm with frogs, which will come up and go into your house, and into your bedroom and on your bed, and into the houses of your servants, and on your people, and into your ovens and kneading bowls. So the frogs will come up on you, your people, and on all your servants.” ’ ”

Then he said, “Tomorrow.” So he said, “May it be according to your word, so that you may know that there is no one like the Lord our God. The frogs will depart from you and your houses, and from your servants and your people; they will be left only in the Nile.” Then Moses and Aaron went out from Pharaoh, and Moses cried out to the Lord concerning the frogs which He had inflicted upon Pharaoh. The Lord did according to the word of Moses, and the frogs died out of the houses, the courtyards, and the fields. So they piled them in heaps, and the land stank.'

         Frogs of wrath- God symbology is not wasted in this life. For the ancient Egyptians frogs were symbolic of a second god in their culture right after Hapi that we learned about yesterday. This god was called Heqet and she was responsible for the fertility and childbearing parts of their beliefs. So, right after God’s wrath is poured out on general fertility and wealth in the overall cosmos, God deliberately pours out His wrath on their god of childbearing, symbolizing his attack against their culture and beliefs.

         This plague did not last very long, probably about three days, but it left its mark on their culture. The scripture says that they “piled them in heaps, and the land stank.” We can only imagine what the smell of heaping piles of rotting frogs would smell like, but for these piles of rotting frogs to be representative of you false god of childbearing and fertility. This is a direct assault on the Egyptian people, trying to get the people to convince Pharoah to let the Hebrews go free.

         One of the greatest lessons we can learn is that the consequences of God’s discipline and wrath can have lingering effects in our lives. While certain moments are short lived, the implications of those moments are long lasting. When God uses His wrath, we see long lasting affects throughout all of history. Think about the flood- our current earth’s structure was remade under water over the course of a year and we still live with repercussions of flooding throughout parts of the earth at times, especially as we try to control things within our human abilities. Sodom and Gomorrah is still a desolate land with no inhabitants on it. We also see places throughout modern history where a few moments affect centuries of progression.

         This is probably true in your life too. Small moments of discipline or judgement came that have had profound impacts in your life. Sometimes the residual effects of the choices made have significantly long-lasting effects. We can often do 99 things right, but everyone remembers the 1 thing we did wrong. This is true for 359˚ of beauty too, focusing on the 1˚ of chaos can cause significant issues with trying to see everything else.

Dear Father,

Thank You for another day and another plague that teaches us about the lasting effects of Your discipline and wrath. When You pour out Your justice Lord, it is exactly what we need as followers. You perfectly execute Your justice and mercy as You see fit and it is not our place to question You why Jesus. We simply must learn to trust You and bring everything back to You. So, Lord, help me process the residual effects of Your discipline and wrath in my life and seek You Jesus to help heal me according to Your will. Lord, I love You. In Jesus name I pray, amen.