Indignation, according to Strong’s H2194, is defined as froth at the mouth, fury, angry, rage.
That is not an image of God we like to think about. We’d much rather think of God’s love and forgiveness and mercy and grace. But if that’s all we think about, we’re going to miss a side of God that is as important as the warm fuzzies He gives.
A God that is only loving and merciful and forgiving is not a loving God at all. If He allows sin to go unpunished, how is that loving to those who are hurt by it? How is it loving if He never disciplines us and we end up selfish, self-centered, greedy, idolaters – and then he judges us when we die?
I’ve heard people say that they can’t accept a God who is an angry, judging God.
First, I’d say they don’t get to create God in their image. If God was a vindictive, unfair, cruel God, He would still be God. We would still have to treat Him as such. We might not have the warm feeling for Him that we would want, but that doesn’t change the fact that God is God. No one made Him. He just is.
Second, God is just. He does what is right, period. He doesn’t follow social norms or cultural expectations. He doesn’t take advice from anyone. He does right because He is righteous. It is who He is.
Third, they don’t know and can’t know God’s thoughts. His thinking is way beyond our thinking. He sees things differently than we do because His perspective is so much higher than ours. He can see the end from the beginning. Time had no restraint on Him. We are bound by so many things – He is bound by nothing. He sees all. He knows all. He is in all places at all times, including our hearts. He knows each person’s motivations and future. Our decisions are based on what we see and know. In like manner, God makes decisions based on what He sees and knows.
And fourth, our spirits are created for God. If we reject Him, we will fill that space with other gods of our own making. Money, power, prestige, causes, agendas, family, jobs, hobbies, sports, even ourselves, are all things that have become gods in today’s world. We can talk ourselves into and out of believing anything, but the truth doesn’t change. There is only one God. And we didn’t create Him.
God is who He is. He does what He does. We can accept all of Him, part of Him, or none of Him. That doesn’t change the fact that He is looking down at us right this minute with both love and fury. Jesus provided the only way to escape being the object of His fury. We may suffer some fallout from the fury directed at the evil around us, but we will not be a target.
How many of us truly believe what God has revealed about Himself through the Bible? How would our attitude and reverence towards God change if we truly accepted all aspects of Him? How would our lives be different if we really believed that God feels indignation at sin every day?
even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. (Eph 1:4)
And Jesus answered him, “It is written, “You shall worship the Lord your God, and him only shall you serve.” (Luke 4:8)
For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts. (Is 55:8-9)
“I the Lord search the heart and test the mind, to give every man according to his ways, according to the fruit of his deeds.” (Jer 17:10)
Leaders who are like wolves, tearing whom they may in order to get dishonest gain.
Religious leaders who profane the laws of God, not teaching right from wrong.
Prophets who say they speak for God but give lying messages instead, and often for money.
People who practice extortion, commit robbery, oppress the poor and needy, extort from immigrants without justice.
Dishonesty, disrespect for parents, cheating or oppressing aliens (immigrants), mistreatment of widows and orphans, profaning sacred things, lying, bribery, rape, incest, extramarital affairs, charging excessive interest, extortion, creating one’s own idols, shedding blood.
Ignoring God.
This is how God described Israel. Not the whole world, although they were guilty of the same behaviors, but He was talking about His people. The ones that called themselves by His name.
God sent many warnings about the need to stop; to turn around and get back to God’s ways. The Israelites didn’t accept the warnings. They didn’t change their ways. And they were destroyed.
The scary thing is… God could be saying the same things about us. Not all of America, even though there’s guilt there too, but those of us in America who call ourselves by His name. Those of us who claim to be Christians.
God has been sending us warnings for years; to turn around and get back to His ways.
Will we respond any better – or will we end up with the same fate as the Israelites?
How much longer will He give us to change? Or has He already started blowing on us with the fire of His wrath? Could the increase in violence and turmoil in our country this year be part of it?
It’s easy for me to ignore this in my day to day life, doing my part in the corona virus war by staying home as much as possible. But complacency is never good. I was recently startled by a cloud that looked an awfully lot like the Lion of Judah with the glow of fire in his mouth. Not just startled like, “Hey, look at that.” But STARTLED like, “Oh no, He’s here!”
Ezekiel 22:21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it.
I believe God is telling me it’s time for me to get serious with my writing. And if God is really speaking to me about what He’s about to do, then it’s my responsibility to share that with as many people as I can. Just like I would if I knew a hurricane was coming.
My goal is to write a series of blogs challenging us as Christians to compare how we’re living, how we think, what we do – to His word. I’m including me in the we. Are we courageous enough to examine ourselves and admit where we fall short? Are we serious enough about God to change our ways that don’t line up with His?
He certainly is serious about us.
Tell me what you think in the comments below. And let me know which specific areas you’d like to see me to cover.
Ezekiel 22:1-31And the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 2“And you, son of man, will you judge, will you judge the bloody city? Then declare to her all her abominations. 3You shall say, Thus says the Lord GOD: A city that sheds blood in her midst, so that her time may come, and that makes idols to defile herself! 4You have become guilty by the blood that you have shed, and defiled by the idols that you have made, and you have brought your days near, the appointed time ofa your years has come. Therefore I have made you a reproach to the nations, and a mockery to all the countries. 5Those who are near and those who are far from you will mock you; your name is defiled; you are full of tumult.
6“Behold, the princes of Israel in you, every one according to his power, have been bent on shedding blood. 7Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you. 8You have despised my holy things and profaned my Sabbaths. 9There are men in you who slander to shed blood, and people in you who eat on the mountains; they commit lewdness in your midst. 10In you men uncover their fathers’ nakedness; in you they violate women who are unclean in their menstrual impurity. 11One commits abomination with his neighbor’s wife; another lewdly defiles his daughter-in-law; another in you violates his sister, his father’s daughter. 12In you they take bribes to shed blood; you take interest and profitb and make gain of your neighbors by extortion; but me you have forgotten, declares the Lord GOD.
13“Behold, I strike my hand at the dishonest gain that you have made, and at the blood that has been in your midst. 14Can your courage endure, or can your hands be strong, in the days that I shall deal with you? I the LORD have spoken, and I will do it. 15I will scatter you among the nations and disperse you through the countries, and I will consume your uncleanness out of you. 16And you shall be profaned by your own doing in the sight of the nations, and you shall know that I am the LORD.”
17And the word of the LORD came to me: 18“Son of man, the house of Israel has become dross to me; all of them are bronze and tin and iron and lead in the furnace; they are dross of silver. 19Therefore thus says the Lord GOD: Because you have all become dross, therefore, behold, I will gather you into the midst of Jerusalem. 20As one gathers silver and bronze and iron and lead and tin into a furnace, to blow the fire on it in order to melt it, so I will gather you in my anger and in my wrath, and I will put you in and melt you. 21I will gather you and blow on you with the fire of my wrath, and you shall be melted in the midst of it. 22As silver is melted in a furnace, so you shall be melted in the midst of it, and you shall know that I am the LORD; I have poured out my wrath upon you.”
23And the word of the LORD came to me: 24“Son of man, say to her, You are a land that is not cleansed or rained upon in the day of indignation. 25The conspiracy of her prophets in her midst is like a roaring lion tearing the prey; they have devoured human lives; they have taken treasure and precious things; they have made many widows in her midst. 26Her priests have done violence to my law and have profaned my holy things. They have made no distinction between the holy and the common, neither have they taught the difference between the unclean and the clean, and they have disregarded my Sabbaths, so that I am profaned among them. 27Her princes in her midst are like wolves tearing the prey, shedding blood, destroying lives to get dishonest gain. 28And her prophets have smeared whitewash for them, seeing false visions and divining lies for them, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord GOD,’ when the LORD has not spoken. 29The people of the land have practiced extortion and committed robbery. They have oppressed the poor and needy, and have extorted from the sojourner without justice. 30And I sought for a man among them who should build up the wall and stand in the breach before me for the land, that I should not destroy it, but I found none. 31Therefore I have poured out my indignation upon them. I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath. I have returned their way upon their heads, declares the Lord GOD.”
2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.
A book has a beginning and an end. Without both, it would be incomplete.
A coin has a front and a back. Without both, it would be valueless.
A house has an inside and an outside. Without both, it couldn’t exist.
A staircase has a top and a bottom. Without both, it would be useless.
A toothbrush is a hard and a soft part. Without both, it wouldn’t be a toothbrush.
Many things have two sides, both equally important.
So does our God Most High.
He is loving, kind, long-suffering, patient, faithful, merciful, and forgiving.
He is also just, jealous, holy, righteous, wrathful, and a consuming fire.
He is God.
He is not a god.
He is the LORD God Most High.
We did not create God.
His character is not open for debate.
Liking or not liking His traits does not negate them.
Understanding or not understanding Him does not change Him.
He is who He is.
He is God.
Focusing on only one side leaves you shortsighted.
Those who focus on the ‘God is love’ side tend to become presumptuous and complacent, accepting everything, even sin.
Those who focus on the wrathful God tend to become fearful and legalistic, rejecting anything outside their view.
To know God you have to know both sides.
We either accept Him as He is, or we need to find a god more to our liking. Even if that god is us.
The truth is…
God Most High is both loving and jealous.
God Most High is both merciful and wrathful.
God Most High is both forgiving and holy.
God Most High is both faithful and vengeful.
The side you see depends on where you stand.
Exodus 3:14 God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” And he said, “Say this to the people of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”
Psalm 83:18 That they may know that you alone, whose name is the LORD, are the Most High over all the earth.
Isaiah 55:8-9 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.
Isaiah 46:9 Remember the former things of old; for I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me.
Exodus 34:6-7 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
2 Chronicles 34:21 “Go, inquire of the LORD for me and for those who are left in Israel and in Judah, concerning the words of the book that has been found. For great is the wrath of the LORD that is poured out on us, because our fathers have not kept the word of the LOR, to do according to all that is written in this book.”
Romans 1:18 For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth.
1 Peter 1:15-16 But as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all you conduct, since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.”
Psalm 11:7 For the LORD is righteous; he loves righteous deeds; the upright shall behold his face.
Psalm 86:5 For you, O LORD, are good and forgiving, abounding in steadfast love to all who call upon you.
1 Cor 15:3 For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures.
1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us for all unrighteousness.
Amazing God Stories 