“…I am angry with you…” Job 42:7b

Once Job had openly repented before God and those witnessing the occasion, God gave Job the inside story – telling him the entire story (v.7a). Then God turned to Eliphaz the Temanite and expressed great displeasure toward his theology…. his view and understanding of God. God confronted Eliphaz’s faulty theology saying, “…you have not spoken of me what is right…” (v.7c).

God wants us to know Him rightly. He has created a world that mirrors His power, wisdom and genius. Paul described it this way:

“The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that people are without excuse.” (Romans 1:18-20)

There are those who claim to have no belief in God or disbelief in God. They like to sit on the fence of indecision. They call themselves agnostics, stating that only when there is sufficient evidence of a Creator could they actually change their worldview. Well, to them I say, God has made it clearly visible to them… it’s all around you. The air cycle; the water cycle; the laws of nature; the periodic table; DNA; molecular physics… they all reflect the eternal power and divine nature of God. (That was not intended to be an exhaustive list.)

Eliphaz and his friends had offended God by embracing the world’s view of God and not the proven, legitimate understanding of God and His nature… His grace. When God is cast in a bad light, His wrath is exposed from Heaven against all godlessness (those who reject God completely) and wickedness (those who reject God or His ways lose the compass for good living which will impact the world around them for good… thus leading to all sorts of wickedness). Even if they live basically good lives in the eyes of the world, their lives were not used to point others to Him, thus their wickedness was suppressing the truth of God’s existence.

Like it or not, we will all stand before God in judgment. Some will sadly be sent away from God’s presence, while others will be defended by Heaven’s King and Defender of The Truth, for He is The Way, The Truth and The Life (read John 14:1-14, a wonderful self-description by Jesus). Who will Jesus defend? Those who have accepted Him as Lord and Savior, and have embraced God’s way of truth and right… those who have acknowledged God’s existence.

Would you have God angry with you? One of the proclaimers stirring the first great awakening in this country was Jonathan Edwards. He preached a sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” on July 8, 1741. Though he had preached the same sermon earlier at his own church in Northampton, Massachusetts, with no known results, it was upon his second presentation of the sermon that people interrupted, crying out for how to escape God’s wrath and judgment. In the sermon, Edwards pointed out the precarious position of foolish souls who deny God’s mercy and grace… that at any moment God could snatch them from this earth and send them to their judgment. The only reason unrepentant sinners are spared from such is God’s providence and timing. Edwards stated, “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.”

Are you standing on the fence separating finite existence and infinite joy. God has made his love for you clear, simply by giving you the gift of today: The Present… you live in it! If God can be so longsuffering toward you, certainly He deserves your heart fully devoted to Him and His Way. I hope you will not encounter God confronting you with the words:

I am angry with you.

Have a blessed day…