Psalm 38:1-4, 17-22

“¹ Lord, do not rebuke me in your anger
    or discipline me in your wrath.
² Your arrows have pierced me,
    and your hand has come down on me.
³ Because of your wrath there is no health in my body;
    there is no soundness in my bones because of my sin.
⁴ My guilt has overwhelmed me
    like a burden too heavy to bear. …
¹⁷ For I am about to fall,
    and my pain is ever with me.
¹⁸ I confess my iniquity;
    I am troubled by my sin.
¹⁹ Many have become my enemies without cause;
    those who hate me without reason are numerous.
²⁰ Those who repay my good with evil
    lodge accusations against me,
    though I seek only to do what is good.
²¹ Lord, do not forsake me;
    do not be far from me, my God.
²² Come quickly to help me,
    my Lord and my Savior.”

I really wanted to include the whole entire passage, but I think it was a bit long and I was afraid some might just skim through it. But don’t hesitate to look it up in your Bibles, it is such a great passage! The reason I love this passage, is because you get to see a different characteristic of God that many forget to recognize. Wrath.

Dictionary.com defines it as “punishment as the consequence of anger.”

Although this does seem like a harsh definition for God, He does get angry with us, and we got to go through the consequences. But this does not mean He doesn’t love us. Oh no He loves us so much, it’s beyond our comprehension! How could someone love us that much?

Apparently this writer has done something wrong in the eyes of the Lord, because he’s asking for forgiveness. Do you think he’ll get God’s forgiveness with the wrath and anger He’s in? I think so! The passage doesn’t specify what he did wrong, but with his descriptive repentance, he persuades me to believe that he is truly sorry and remorseful.

God promises that He will never leave us nor forsake us. So then, why is He being wrathful? And this isn’t the only passage you see His wrath in. God isn’t just love…He’s much more than that. Patient, kind, all knowing, just, faithful, Holy, righteous, the inability to sin or contradict Himself… just to name a few.

Here He is like a father disciplining a child. Proverbs 22:6 says “Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it.”

God knows everything, He knows what’s going to happen before it even does, but He wants to hear us say it; He wants our true repentance. You can’t keep going about sinning and think “Oh well, God will forgive me anyways.” And keep on doing it. It doesn’t work that way, if you do that you will surely go through the consequences. I think maybe that’s why Christianity seems scary to a lot of people…It’s a lifestyle that commands willingness and your all. Other beliefs make it seem so easy, is that what people like? Easy?

 God,

Thank you so much for showing us that you have a disciplining attribute. Thank you for this example, please use this passage to speak to our hearts and show us how to live in fear of you with awe, respect, and reverence. Thank you for tolerating with us and showing us forgiveness, when we really don’t deserve it. Thank you for loving us way too much! :)

Amen.

-Mer †