The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath. The Lord takes vengeance against His foes; He is furious with His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will never leave the guilty unpunished. Nahum 1:2-3, HCSB
We serve a wonderful, merciful, loving God. We serve a God that loved us so much that he sent his only Son to earth to live as fully God and fully man and be humiliated, tortured, and crucified for our sins. John 15:13, “Greater love has no one than this; to lay down one’s life for one’s friends”. God has a love for us that is unconditional and beyond measure.
Where we usually get into trouble is when we mistake God’s kindness for weakness. When we focus on God’s love and mercy and forget that he is also a jealous and avenging God. You may have heard it said that “God don’t like ugly”. This is very true. I have seen people suffer horribly because they have gone against God and/or his children.
Don’t ever think that you can go up against God and He will just look the other way and let you go. God is a vengeful God and when you strive to anger Him, you will find out just how much wrath He can bring. And remember that when you plot evil and wicked things, that God is far from you. You remove yourself from God when you do these things. The Bible also tells us that “The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayers of the righteous”, Proverbs 15:29.
Just because someone is kind does not mean they are weak and the same goes for God. No one will ever love you like God loves you, but if you anger Him, woe unto you. So what angers God? Well Proverbs 6:16 tells us that there are six things the Lord hates and seven that are an abomination to Him. The first is haughty eyes, God hates pride. This is mentioned numerous times in the Bible. The second mentioned is a lying tongue. Third is hands that shed innocent blood. I believe that like our court system should be, God understands self defense or even the defense of another innocent person. But to hurt someone just to be hurting them or because you are angry doesn’t cut it. Remember that God helped numerous kings kill many men in battle. God helped David kill Goliath. Fourth mentioned is a heart that devises wicked plans. If you sit around and plot evil, watch out. The Bible tells us that vengeance belongs to the Lord, we are to love our enemies and pray for those that persecute us. Fifth is feet that haste to run to evil. You know those people who just love to do evil. If they aren’t mixed up in a bunch of turmoil they will look for someone who is so they can join them in their evil schemes. The sixth mentioned is a false witness who breathes out lies. Now unlike the second thing mentioned, this is talking about lying against others where the lying tongue refers to those people that just lie about things that don’t even matter. You know the ones I’m talking about. If their lips are moving they are lying. But then you have those that love to lie about others to stir up trouble, which brings us to number seven. The Lord hates one who sows discord among brothers. If you are one of those that I call a “big spoon” because you love to stir trouble, be very careful my friend. God considers that an abomination. Go through this list again, remember the Bible said that God hates these things and they are an abomination to Him. If we do what God hates, this will bring His anger against us and trust me, you don’t want to do that.
Remember as you go through this day that God loves you and wants the very best for you, but if you anger Him you will not go unpunished. Perhaps you know someone that has angered God and cannot figure out why there life is such a mess. Share this scripture with them, try to help them to correct their ways. Remind them that it is not too late to turn to God and repent and beg for His forgiveness. Remember He is faithful to forgive us. Pray for those that have angered the Lord, if they don’t turn back to Him it will only get worse for them.
Our natural tendency is to despise these people, but we need to pray for them. Pray that they will turn back to God before it’s too late. Encourage them as best you can. Even if they have wronged you, the Bible tells us to bless our enemies and give them what they need as this will be like heaping hot coals on their head. (Proverbs 25:22).
So whatever you do as you go through this day, try your best not to do anything to anger God.
Have a great day!