The God Who Is Angry
"God is a righteous judge, a God who feels anger every day" (Psalm 7:11).
Yesterday afternoon, I took my son Dylan to his school with my two daughters, Ye-ri and Ye-eun. While we were waiting on the school playground, I saw Ye-eun hitting another Korean child while playing. I told Ye-eun to apologize by saying "I am sorry" to the other child. However, Ye-eun didn’t listen to me and stubbornly refused. Eventually, she cried in front of me. Although I understood that Ye-eun might have had some reasonable explanation or excuse for her actions, I couldn't let it go because she hit the other child. If Ye-eun had listened to me and said "I am sorry" to the child she hit, I would have forgiven her, but instead, she refused to listen to her father’s advice. So, despite her tears, I took her aside where no one could see and gave her a light spanking. Afterward, she cried even harder. When I was about to take Ye-eun to apologize to the other child, Dylan came out from his class. We then met up with Dylan, and I walked over with Ye-eun toward the child she had hit, giving Ye-eun one more chance to apologize. However, she still didn’t listen to me. So, I apologized on her behalf and patted the child’s head.
Reflecting on what happened with Ye-eun yesterday, I thought about my relationship with God the Father during my morning prayer. Just as I disciplined Ye-eun when she refused to apologize to the other child, I realized that God disciplines His children when they sin and do not repent. But Psalm 7:11 says that God is not merely a God who disciplines us; He is a "God who feels anger every day." This is a verse that may seem puzzling, especially since we often think of God as loving, merciful, compassionate, and full of grace. But the Bible says that "God is a righteous judge," and when people do not repent, "He is angry every day" (Psalm 7:12). From this perspective, I wondered if it wasn’t right for me to discipline Ye-eun with a little "anger" out of love.
However, rather than thinking from that perspective, I reflected on Ye-eun standing before me, and I began to wonder if I, like Ye-eun, was acting the same way before God. Even though I have sinned (just as Ye-eun hit the other child), am I failing to repent and seek forgiveness from God, and instead, am I crying and trying to manipulate God with my tears (just as Ye-eun tried to manipulate me with her tears)? I also questioned myself: Like Ye-eun refusing to listen to me and being stubborn, am I refusing to admit my sins before God and refusing to acknowledge them as wrong?
In the midst of this self-reflection, I realize that there is a part of Ye-eun in me. It’s a thought that I am, like her, a helpless child.
This morning, as I meditated on Psalm 7:11 during the early prayer service, I felt that my image of God the Father was somewhat unbalanced. So, I began to think about the "God who is angry" when I, as God's child, do not repent of my sins. In the midst of this, the revelation I received was that God the Father loves me so much that He wants to make me His spotless, clean child, and that is why He is the "God who is angry." God the Father, who brings me to repentance in order to cleanse me from my sins, and in His anger, I feel His love toward me as His child.
With a heart full of gratitude for the love of the "God who is angry" every day,
Pastor James
(Feeling a sense of responsibility to show the image of God the Father to my three children and to the church members).