In my distress I called upon the Lord,
And cried out to my God;
He heard my voice from His temple,
And my cry came before Him, even to His ears.
Then the earth shook and trembled;
The foundations of the hills also quaked and were shaken,
Because He was angry.
-Psalm 18:6-7, NKJV
My God gets angry, thankfully!
Psalm 18 is probably my favorite Psalm. It speaks to God who rescues us in times of distress.
These two verses I quoted are dear to me as they speak to God responding to our pain and experienced injustices. God is NOT impervious to them.
Like a good father, God gets angry over the abuse of His child!
The saddest part of teaching that anger is wrong in evangelical churches is how that teaching cuts people off from this good, fatherly connection. We need God to get angry on our behalf. That fosters connection and trust.
If is a person is indifferent to our pain and the injustice done to us, that person–in my opinion–is untrustworthy. Why would I entrust my life and soul to them? I wouldn’t.
This applies to God, too.
The beauty of God becoming angry is that it demonstrates God can connect with us. We matter to God.
This is the power behind King David’s words here in Psalm 18. He teaches us about God’s heart for us. It is a lesson in helping us to connect to God.
Anger isn’t bad.
Anger tells us something is wrong and that wrong matters to the angry person.
When you are cheated on, you know with every fiber in your being that it is wrong. So, how can a faithful spouse trust a stoic god who is not moved to anger when such evil occurs?
I can’t.
