This morning I have been refelctingon some verses from Psalm 103. I was reminded of a couple of themes that have been rumbling around in my brian over the last days and thought it would be good to do some digging into these verses.
Psalm 103:6-22 NIV
[6] "The Lord works righteousness and justice for all the oppressed.
[7] He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the people of Israel:
[8] The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love.
[9] He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever;
[10] he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities.
[11] For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him;
[12] as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.
[13] As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him;
[14] for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.
[15] The life of mortals is like grass, they flourish like a flower of the field;
[16] the wind blows over it and it is gone, and its place remembers it no more.
[17] But from everlasting to everlasting the Lord's love is with those who fear him, and his righteousness with their children's children---
[18] with those who keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts.
[19] The Lord has established his throne in heaven, and his kingdom rules over all.
[20] Praise the Lord, you his angels, you mighty ones who do his bidding, who obey his word.
[21] Praise the Lord, all his heavenly hosts, you his servants who do his will.
[22] Praise the Lord, all his works everywhere in his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul."
This Psalm reminded me of some conversation I had this weekend with a friend of mine. In these verses we read of God's anger (verse 9) above, but then the rest of the verses are how God treats us anyway but in anger. He has mercy and compassion and loves us with an everlasting love! It is interesting that the Hebrew word that is translated anger here is the word 'natar" and its primary definition is "To care for or tend" according to the Zondervan Exhaustive Concordance. The word here translated accuse, is the word 'riyb' which can be translated- strive, wrestle or contend - and in the sense that this is over a long period.
On Sunday I was thinking about how our idea that God is angry comes from an understanding of our own disobedience, and rebellion against God's word and ways. All of the Covenant of the Law was to point to Jesus, and the need for Jesus, and the Promise of the Holy Spirit. When we look at the stories of the great men of God in the Old Testament, they were all broken, and failed many times, yet God had mercy on them! The Prophets were inspired to constantly call people back to God's ways, to His plan, to His purposes, and at best they (the Jews) seemed to walk that path for a few years, maybe even a generation, but they always failed to persevere. In that light, as humans, we look to God and we can think of no other response than Him being angry at our failures and our rebellion. If we look at the way the original Hebrew words are translated, they tend towards the negative connotation. If we look at all of the surrounding text we see a loving and compassionate God, that fits the primary translation of a God who cares or tends after those He loves, and is undeterred even if He strives or wrestles with an unruly patient (Jews).
Looking at Jesus and listening to His parables, especially concerning the Father, I just don't get that feeling or understanding of an angry God, but rather the loving, caring and long suffering (striving) Father. Take His parable about the Prodigal Son as a great example - Luke 15: 11-32 - the Father is anything but angry with His son who blows his inheritance on wild living. When that son comes home, the Father runs to embrace him, and immediately restores to him all he had thrown away, his identity, his authority and their relationship. In fact the only angry person in the story was the older brother who was angry about how the Father treated the younger son. I wonder if this older son doesn't represent the prophetic picture of the angry God, those who just couldn't see God responding any way but in anger to the Jews constant rebellion and wandering? Regardless, Jesus uses that point specifically to show us that is not how the Father responds to us, even in our sin! He loves us and wants relationship with us! He understands exactly what we have done, and yet when we return to Him, He runs to embrace us, not in anger but in love!
It is the older brother who wants the younger son to be punished. Luke 15:28-32 NIV: “The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him. [29] But he answered his father, 'Look! All these years I've been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. [30] But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!'
[31] “ 'My son,' the father said, 'you are always with me, and everything I have is yours. [32] But we had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' ”
The older son was focused on rules, the Father was focused on relationship. I wonder how often we have, in our shame and guilt about our own sin, projected the older son's response on the Father?? If we look to this portrayal of the Father, told to us by Jesus, the one whose purpose was to reveal the Father (Matt 11:27), we see a Father who is slow to anger, compassionate, merciful, loving and long striving (in this case going out every day looking for him) with His son in his sin and waywardness. He is faithful, even when his son was not faithful.
This morning I am encouraged to revisit this "angry God" narrative. I am encouraged to come to God in my brokenness and sin and believe that rather than punishment, His desire is relationship. I am encouraged to look to the Father in love and hope and listen to Jesus, the one who knows the Father and reveals Him to those He chooses (us)!
Amen!
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