God of Wrath

I grew up believing that the God of the Old Testament was a God of wrath. Some people reject God because they view Him as an angry God who delivers harsh and extreme judgment at the smallest provocation. They find nothing appealing in such a God.

God is a holy and righteous God. He must punish wickedness, and He does bring required justice. To view God only as angry, vindictive, and cruel, however, is a grave error. If God were looking for opportunities to destroy people, He wouldn't have to look very long. Even when He does bring judgment, His patience and compassion are often evident, sometimes to a surprising degree.

I recently followed this concept through the book of Genesis. I found many, many people that God could have harshly punished because of their rebellion, sin, and failures. Sooner or later God did bring some level of correction, but He did not do what He could have done (and what people often accuse Him of); He did not annihilate people in impetuous displays of uncontrolled anger.

Adam and Eve broke God's only instruction to them, bringing sin into God's perfect world. God discussed the situation with them. He gave them a promise of a Redeemer. He made them garments. He protected them from the unfathomable possibility of living forever in their sin.

Cain killed his brother. God actually put a mark of protection on Cain so that no one would kill him for his deed.

The world in Noah's day was so wicked that God had to judge it, but the people had one hundred years of construction time to listen to Noah's preaching of righteousness. God did not completely annihilate the world, but saved Noah and his family, as well as preserving the animal life. After the flood, God promised to never again bring a similar destruction, setting the rainbow as the symbol of His promise. He also declared that He would not again curse the earth due to man's sin, something He had already done twice; God realized that because of man's sinful heart, such curses would quickly reach the point where man could no longer survive.

At the tower of Babel, as man attempted to bring himself to the level of God, God did not destroy those people. He merely scattered them abroad.

Abraham had two lapses in faith, leading him to identify Sarah as his sister rather than his wife. God helped Abraham to grow in faith, but did not respond harshly to him. The two men involved in those incidents, Pharaoh and Abimelech, could have been struck down by God for taking Sarah. Instead, God sent them warnings to prevent them from immorality with Sarah; He also restored their prosperity and original conditions after Sarah was released.

Sodom and Gomorrah were exceedingly wicked cities even before Lot moved into them. Their destruction was delayed another twenty years and perhaps more. Before destroying the cities, God told Abraham His plans, which allowed Abraham to intercede, ultimately resulting in the rescue of Lot. In spite of the wickedness, God was willing to spare the cities if there were a mere ten righteous people in them. In spite of Lot's poor choices, God spared him from the angry mob and protected his daughters from perverse treatment. God spared Zoar because Lot asked him to, and even made nations of people from the incestuously-fathered children of Lot's daughters.

The Amorites were wicked even in Abraham's day. When God told Abraham about the 400 years His people would spend in Egypt, He gave as a reason that the wickedness of the Amorites was not yet complete, and therefore their destruction would be delayed approximately 500 years (since this was revealed before the birth of Isaac).

Jacob deceived his father to obtain the blessing. He had to flee and spend twenty years in exile, but he was greatly blessed through that time. He had a vision from God while he was fleeing, in which God first gave him the promises. God warned Jacob when it was time to leave Laban, and He brought a peaceful reunion with Esau.

Esau despised spiritual things and defiantly married the wrong women, but God still blessed him with riches and made a nation of him.

Joseph's brothers got rid of Joseph permanently (so they intended) after almost murdering him. They did have their consciences to deal with as well as the grief to their father, but their lives were basically uninterrupted. They were sustained through a terrible famine, received blessings from their father, and became the heads of the tribes of Israel.

Egypt would eventually face God's severe judgment, but at this time they were given a divine warning about the impending famine. While the rest of the world suffered, Egypt was a place of abundant provision.

These plentiful examples reveal that God certainly does not execute all the judgment and destruction that He could. When He does judge, His judgment is often not as severe as might be expected. His judgment is often delayed and is tempered with His love and understanding of the innate weakness of man.

Jacob recognized this truth, when he declared, "I am unworthy of all the lovingkindness and of all the faithfulness which You have shown to Your servant" (Genesis 32:10).

God continues to delay judgment, to have patience with man, and to soften the harshness of His punishment. This is true for believers, as He recognizes their on-going battle with the flesh; He invites them to come for forgiveness. It is also true regarding the unsaved. "The Lord is not slow about His promise, as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (II Peter 3:9).

"If You, LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?" (Psalm 130:10). "For with the LORD there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption" (Psalm 130:7).