Isaiah - Verse By Verse

Isaiah - Day 105

versebyverse | September 21, 2008 20:54

Scripture:  Isaiah 5:25 (NIV):  "Therefore the Lord's anger burns against His people; his hand is raised and he strikes them down.  The mountains shake, and the dead bodies are like refuse in the streets.  Yet for all this, his anger is not turned away, his hand is still upraised."

Thought:  To me, we do not often enough connect our adverse events with how angry God is with our sins.

Question:  Is God's hand raised against me?

Why is God permitted anger and still considered holy and righteous and perfect?  We often think anger is a bad quality, as though it should be eliminated altogether.  But anger is a very basic, elemental emotion; one that God has equipped all of us with too, and I believe, one emotion we have "in the image of God."  God has anger!  What is anger?  Webster's simple definition is very revealing:  "a strong feeling of displeasure."  Now, in God, displeasure is ever true and pure because God's thoughts and actions are ever true and pure.  Therefore it is not His anger that is objectionable, it is the thing that displeased Him that is objectionable, namely, we sinning humans!  In our anger, however, we do not function in 100% truth and purity.  Our motives are corrupted, our reactions are biased, our purposes are selfish, etc., etc.  Our anger needs control and refinement.  God's anger, however, needs to be paid attention to!  He is displeased with what we have done if we have indeed rejected Him, His ways and His Word.

When we realize how truly loving God has been in all His demands, and that all His requirements are only for our good, that in Him is our very source of life, His wrath becomes not only understandable but a logical course.  And even its continuation is reasonable.  As man has continued in his sinful trends, God will continue in His wrath:  "His hand is still upraised."  Beyond earthquake, beyond physical death of many, beyond His disfavor alone--His wrath goes on.  We will see the unfolding of God's anger upon Israel in the scriptures to come..."God is angry with the wicked every day."  (Psalm 7:11).  

Prayer:  Loving Father, Your anger is a signal of my disobedience.  Help me to confess my wrongdoing and return to Your favor.  Help me do it today!  Amen.

General | Next | Previous | Comments (0) | Trackbacks (0)

Comments

Add comment
 
Accessible and Valid XHTML 1.0 Strict and CSS
Powered by LifeType - Design by BalearWeb - Hosted by New Technologies.