I’ve not engaged in a serious conversation centering on the wrath of God for years, and hardly ever hear a comment on the topic. To be frank, most of us don’t believe in such an antiquated perspective. We hold to a tottering god of good will and benefit of the doubt. More akin to Santa Claus than Thor.

However, the Bible goes after my snuggly belief in a teddy bear god:

It is you alone who are to be feared. Who can stand before you when you are angry? From heaven you pronounced judgment, and the land feared and was quiet—when you, God, rose up to judge, to save all the afflicted of the land. Surely your wrath against mankind brings you praise, and the survivors of your wrath are restrained.

God’s extreme anger works to restrain evil, and remarkably brings praise from those who survive his wrath. CS Lewis’s thoughts seem appropriate here: God whispers to us in our pleasures, speaks in our consciences, but shouts in our pains. It is his megaphone to rouse a deaf world.

We live in a deaf world. Deaf to the quiet evidence of God all around us. Deafened by the shouting of social media and advertising and philosophies elevating self to divine status. God uses his kindness and grace to get our attention, but let’s not be surprised by the megaphone of his wrath.

We ignore this aspect of God’s character to our detriment. Should we fear the Lord our judge? Of course—terrifyingly so. Can we rest in his goodness? Of course—more than we fathom.

That’s the mystifying beauty of his nature, and we fail to appreciate one without the other.

Psalm 76 in reading the Bible in 2023

Photo by Joanne Francis