Creator, Father, King #131

The LORD is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love.

DO YOU KNOW ANYONE who is short-tempered? Is there someone in your life who, like a stick of dynamite with a short fuse, blows up quickly and without much warning? They’re probably not much fun to be around.

Many people think God is short-tempered, ready to strike us down at the smallest offense. They might base this on Old Testament stories that show his wrath toward sin. But this reveals a terribly mistaken understanding of God’s character.

We need to fill our minds with true thoughts of God. Psalm 145 is a great place to go!

Look particularly at today’s verse. This is a common refrain throughout the Old Testament—the very place where “angry God” theorists go to find their faulty arguments. (How ironic!)

God originally spoke these words about himself to Moses on Mount Sinai (Exodus 34:6). David repeats them several times elsewhere in the Psalms (86:15; 103:8). Joel (2:13), Jonah (4:2), Nahum (1:3), and Nehemiah (9:17) all reiterated these glorious attributes of God, as well.

What’s It Mean?

God is “slow to get angry,” but that doesn’t mean he never gets angry. Here’s where we must proceed carefully and biblically.

God doesn’t have a “temper.” You won’t find that word associated with him anywhere in Scripture. Yes, his anger burns hotly toward sin. But this is a holy wrath—fully justified toward our wicked rebellion, but never fickle.

What’s more, in God’s holiness, his wrath is balanced perfectly by his other characteristics such as justice, love, and mercy. Any claim otherwise is, at best, misguided theology, and at worst, a lie from hell.

Psalm 145 reveals what God is really like:

• He “is good to everyone” and “showers compassion on all his creation” (verse 9).
• He “always keeps his promises” (verse 13).
• He “helps the fallen and lifts those bent beneath their loads” (verse 14).
• He “satisf[ies] the hunger and thirst of every living thing” (verse 16).
• He “is filled with kindness” (verse 17).
• He “is close to all who call on him” (verse 18).
• “He grants the desires of those who fear him” (verse 19).

Is this an angry, short-tempered God? Or an amazing God who “is merciful and compassionate, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love”?

The answer is as clear as the Scripture before you!

Now What?

Read Psalm 145 to gain a better understanding of God and his goodness toward us.

Did You Know?

James 1:19 calls Christians to imitate God’s character when it says, “You must all be . . . slow to get angry.”