Anger and Mercy
“O Lord, I have heard Thy report, and I was afraid; O Lord, I considered Thy works, and I was amazed.
Between two living creatures shalt Thou be known; when the years draw nigh, Thou shalt be acknowledged; when the season cometh, Thou shalt be shown forth; when my soul is troubled, in Thine anger shalt Thou remember mercy.”
(see Habakkuk 3)
“God never changes. So how can He ‘remember’ mercy in the middle of being angry? We time-bound mortals can only imagine His experiencing a change in His emotions. But God’s anger is, in a mystery, the same thing as His mercy. His character is pure, harmonious holiness. Those who reject Him find that they still cannot escape Him: His unbearable presence then feels to them like a raging fire. Those who turn to Him in love find His presence to be all they have ever looked for; it is light and warmth and peace. Jesus said, ‘My yoke is easy,’ but an ox finds a yoke easy only if he goes in the same direction as the bigger ox yoked beside him.
If you fear God’s anger over something, it is because you are still clutching it close; you have not yet revealed it fully to His already-all-seeing sight and asked Him for His already-surrounding-you mercy. Offer to God the thing you most fear to reveal, and pray like the publican: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
~Frederica Mathewes-Green
Between two living creatures shalt Thou be known; when the years draw nigh, Thou shalt be acknowledged; when the season cometh, Thou shalt be shown forth; when my soul is troubled, in Thine anger shalt Thou remember mercy.”
(see Habakkuk 3)
“God never changes. So how can He ‘remember’ mercy in the middle of being angry? We time-bound mortals can only imagine His experiencing a change in His emotions. But God’s anger is, in a mystery, the same thing as His mercy. His character is pure, harmonious holiness. Those who reject Him find that they still cannot escape Him: His unbearable presence then feels to them like a raging fire. Those who turn to Him in love find His presence to be all they have ever looked for; it is light and warmth and peace. Jesus said, ‘My yoke is easy,’ but an ox finds a yoke easy only if he goes in the same direction as the bigger ox yoked beside him.
If you fear God’s anger over something, it is because you are still clutching it close; you have not yet revealed it fully to His already-all-seeing sight and asked Him for His already-surrounding-you mercy. Offer to God the thing you most fear to reveal, and pray like the publican: ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’”
~Frederica Mathewes-Green
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