Mad as Hell?

S - Micah 7:8-9, 18-19 (NIV): "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I will rise.  Though I sit in darkness, the LORD will be my light. Because I have sinned against him, I will bear the LORD's wrath, until he pleads my case and establishes my right. He will bring me out into the light; I will see his righteousness.  … Who is a God like you, who pardons sin and forgives the transgression of the remnant of his inheritance? You do not stay angry forever but delight to show mercy. You will again have compassion on us; you will tread our sins underfoot and hurl all our iniquities into the depths of the sea."

O - The wrath of God, the anger of the Lord, is NOT like the anger of humans and this is a huge issue.  These verses are steeped in Divine wrath which ultimately merges with Divine mercy and pleads the case to pardon, forgive and to tread our sins underfoot and hurl them into the depths of the sea.  This is not how human wrath or anger works at all.  Yet, our natural inclination is to always equate our experience as identical with the Lord's.  God's wrath, his hatred for sin, welled-up and produced … the cross; the greatest mercy, a permanent expiation, an eternal establishment of the right to become his adopted children.  Our wrath punishes. His wrath redeems. Our anger is merged with condemnation and rejection and his is merged with mercy and reconciliation.  This essential difference is so critical because it shapes our view of Jesus' intercession for us before the Father, his and ours.  From his love to his wrath and beyond, God is holy (not like us, not like this earth) and he is looking to make us holy … children of his family where the greatest of these is love.  The Apostle James got it right; the anger of man does not bring about the righteous life God desires … ever!

A - Jesus lives to intercede, the Holy Spirit works to intercede, NOT trying to keep the Father from wiping me out but to engage me according to amazing grace and defiant mercy and relentless love.  The Father is not mad as hell but mad at hell (i.e. sin, Satan, etc.).  And even in that his anger is not like mine.  The work of intercession, interface and interference from heaven is all about growing me up in the Image, growing me in relationship, teaching me how to live in the identity given and protecting me from myself and my enemy. Nothing separates me from God's love, not even God's wrath … amazing!

P - Holy God, Friend of Sinners and Washer of Dirty Feet,

Thank you for wanting us always and for not being like us.  I admit that I'm often caught in the conclusions of my littleness and somehow putting you in there with them.  Thank you for revelation, for transformation, for light shining into and ejecting darkness for more grace than sin and for the power of love always conquering all other forces.  Today, you call me to rely on your love, to assess every thought, every occurrence, every attitude and conclusion according your relentless love, amazing grace and defiant mercy.  Lord, today, little, weak, tired, I yield to you … and to your greatness … your holiness … your intercession … to your awesome brilliance, limitless power and extreme goodness. 

So thankful to be your child,

Steve