An angry father

“"Is it nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look and see if there is any sorrow like my sorrow, which was brought upon me, which the Lord inflicted on the day of his fierce anger.”

‭‭Lamentations‬ ‭1‬:‭12‬ ‭ESV‬‬

https://bible.com/bible/59/lam.1.12.ESV

Growing up. I held this false perception of God as a person who was too nice to be angry. It was a perception built off little knowledge of who he truly is. I lived as if it wasn’t possible to anger God because he is a God who “knows my heart” and knows my intentions.

This scripture is a reminder that God doesn’t just get angry, he gets fiercely angry. When reading the Old Testament, I could see his love and faithfulness to the Israelites, delivering them from their enemies when they would repeatedly disobey him. The small detail I failed to recognise was that he was the very one who delivered the Israelites to their enemies in the first place. They were made to suffer the consequences of their actions and their continuous disobedience.. You might ask yourself why would God punish his own people if he loves them so much?

The answer lies in the knowledge of who he is.

1) He is first and foremost God Almighty, the creator of the universe and everything within it. Let that sink in.

2) Secondly, he is THE judge. He created the world, humans and the laws and principles by which they should live by.

God gave us free will and to use that free will to glorify him through our lives. The Old Testament highlights a series of events where the Israelites break their covenant with him and continuously disobey God’s instruction. They fail to live by the law he had given to them through Moses. He is the judge of our hearts and the one we will have to answer to on judgement day. A God who is pure and righteous simply can not tolerate or accept sin.

3) He is a father.

Most people accept that a father’s love should be gentle, nurturing and kind. However, loving your child is also disciplining them so they know right from wrong. When a child misbehaves, they require correction. When a child needs to learn a principle, they need training. If we as earthly parents understand this, how much more should would the Heavenly Father seek to correct and discipline his children from a place of love. Furthermore, we have all been angry at our children but we’ve never stopped loving them. God loves his children, deeply. That’s why it hurts him to see us stray away from the path he has set for us. As a father, his anger is fierce because his love for us is fiercer. And with that said, it’s important to note that though God can be angry he is slow to anger (Joel:2:12-13). He wants to relent and not punish. He is always seeking the repentance of his children as he doesn’t enjoy having to punish us.