Tag: anger

The Long Nose of the Lord

Exodus 34:6 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, 7 keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty.

Read Exodus 34:1-35

Have you ever seen someone get so upset that their very nose turned red? Their anger is quickly kindled, their temper quickly flairs. Hebrew is a vivid and descriptive language. There is a passage in Genesis describing one such event. Most translations simply say “Jacob’s anger was kindled.” (Gen 30:2) Interestingly the Hebrew simply says, “his nose became hot.”

This often quoted passage is actually a little bit less familiar when we read it in Hebrew. We literally read about the Lord, the Lord, merciful and gracious, having a long nose. God is not easily incensed. Our idea of wrath is an idea of a cranky man whose nostrils flair.

God indicates that it is actually very difficult to arouse his righteous indignation. He is slow to anger and rich in loyal love. God’s very nature in confirming his covenant with his people is a stunning blend of law and love. Despite their spiritual adultery at the foot of Mount Sinai, he can’t stop loving his bride. Moses comes down from the mountain and in a fit of rage destroys the two tablets containing the 10 commandments.

God, who is rich in love, demonstrates his forbearance. But like any jilted lover he a price has to be paid for the infidelity. This lover can either shame his bride, or suffer the outrageous shame of receiving back his unfaithful bride. God at the expense of everything gives up his very dignity to rescue the one he loves. He executes justice not against his bride, but for her and takes the shame she deserves.

On the cross we see this love in action. The God who by no means will clear the guilty, suffers the indignity of receiving back his unfaithful lover. The stunning beauty of law and love is that the God who by no means will clear the guilty will also show love for a thousand generations.

As you go about your business today, may the Long Nose of the Lord put a smile on your face as you realize how deeply loved you are.

Slippery Slopes

Psalm 94

Have you ever sung that song where the line goes, “When the world’s “all as it should be, Blessed be Your name.” This is definitely not one of those songs.

For the salmist the world is not running the way it should be. In fact it is running diametrically opposed to the way many of us think the world should run. Here the psalmist is honest enough to pray his emotions. He feels angry about his situation. Even in the midst of his anguish the Psalmist appeals to dual concepts of a Just Judge and God of Vengeance (seen in Deut. 32:35; Gen. 18:25).

Psa. 94:1 O LORD, God of vengeance,
O God of vengeance, shine forth!
Psa. 94:2 Rise up, O judge of the earth;
repay to the proud what they deserve!

Often when we hear the terms vengeance and wrath we feel that this cannot reconcile with the way we think the world should run, let alone how God should operate.

God’s love and his wrath are intrinsically linked; any de-coupling of these two concepts makes him less than loving and less than just.  If we simply look at the human analogy of a loving relationship between a father and an alcoholic son.  The more a father loves a son, the more this said father will be opposed to the drink and the lying that is destroying his son.  In fact we would think the father to be unloving if he were not diametrically opposed and even upset at that which was destroying his son.

The Psalm then ends showing us how God often allows his divine displeasure to come forth. It is actually one of the most loving things he can do. Ultimately he will not force a people to love him who choose to hate. The Psalmist describes this divine displeasure as “passive wrath.” The Lord chooses to allow the proud and the unloving to fall into the very pits they have dug for themselves(v13). Even the Psalmist saw his own heart headed in this same slippery direction (v.18). But God intervened and rescued him and prevented his foot from slipping.

CS Lewis put it brilliantly when he said, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, “Thy will be done,” and those to whom God says, in the end, “Thy will be done.” All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened. ”