Anger

Then the angel of the Lord said, “Lord Almighty, how long will you withhold mercy from Jerusalem and from the towns of Judah, which you have been angry with these seventy years?” (1:12)

It is an odd image for our time: the Lord withholding mercy. Surely, we are told innumerably, that God is a God of love and compassion, showing mercy to thousands. To have him withhold mercy goes against every modern instinct. And yet, here he is doing just that. God is not just angry, he is angry for 70 years. Now hold for a moment the problem of time - how can an eternal God be angry for a limited time? - and rest on the problem of character - how can a God of love be angry at all?

Now I am not sure this is such a problem. If we compare God to us then that does cause difficulties, but that's only because our anger is intemperate, a product of our untamed emotions. We get angry becasue we are slighted or hurt or proud, or often all three at once. No one is accusing God of that kind of motivation. God is angry because his people have abandoned him, have been 'adulterous'. A husband who discovers his wife has slept with another man or vice versa might reasonably be angry. Yes for us, hurt, pride, fear, may all play a part, but within that is the possibility of an anger which is right. 

There is such a thing as righteous anger, and it is quite possible for the deepest love to know such anger., and the deeper the love the greater the anger. And that thought should, if we are at all self-aware, bring us up short.

Toptaki Harem


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