Don't Make Me Come Down There

"O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger or discipline me in your wrath. Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint; O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony. My soul is in anguish. How long, O LORD, how long? Turn, O LORD, and deliver me; save me because of your unfailing love. No one remembers you when he is dead. Who praises you from the grave? I am worn out from groaning; all night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears. My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes. Away from me, all you who do evil, for the LORD has heard my weeping. The LORD has heard my cry for mercy; the LORD accepts my prayer. All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed; they will turn back in sudden disgrace." Psalms 6

I don’t like to consider the Lord’s anger. Recently, I saw a billboard that said, "Don't make me come down there.” God.

Made me think. Is God angry? The answer is two-fold. Simply put, Yes. God is a jealous God and has the right to be because He is perfect. If you are perfect, then jealousy isn’t a sin and of course you are angry, righteously angry. Of course, we aren’t perfect, are we? We equivocate anger with being mad and emotional, not with the righteous response to sin. When I consider God’s perfection, His righteous anger, and the fact that He gives us unfailing love and hears our cries and accepts our prayers, I am struck with humbleness.

The second part of God’s anger is that He does not act out on it because of His mercy. In Psalms 6, David is appreciating the mercy of God. Even though he qualifies for a rebuke or disciplinary response from the Lord he seeks healing, deliverance and salvation. When we lament (or complain or whine) before the Lord we should consider that He certainly doesn’t owe us anything. We should not demand or presume when imploring God’s intervention. Notice what David does, (Yes, he takes action and doesn’t just expect God to fix it) he says away with the evil doers. Sure he is weak and weary from the tears, groaning, trouble and sorrow. But David faithfully, honestly, and transparently beseeches God. He puts his trust in God. He sees his situation objectively and he basically says in Verse 5 that as long as he is alive, only God will be his refuge and strength. Not himself, not others, not giving up or giving in, he moves forward, praying and surrendering every situation to Him. We would do well to learn from this example. God can rescue us and will. All we need to do is trust and obey Him in the process. Easier said than done, eh? With David I am going to try to let God be God and me be me and let Him be in me so I can, as I like to say, "be in Him."

Pastor Fred

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