The Grace Of Wrath

Come, behold the works of the LORD, how he has brought desolations on the earth. He makes wars cease to the end of the earth; he breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the chariots with fire. Psalm 46:8-9

DO YOU REMEMBER the “cool” parents in high school who let their kids drink, smoke, and do whatever they pleased in their house? They wanted to be their kids’ best friends and relive some of their glory days with the children they were raising. I went to a handful of parties at these houses in high school, and each one was a weird mix of feeling like their parents were so chill and amazing, and wondering why there weren’t clearer boundaries. They were parents, right?

Aren’t parents supposed to keep their kids safe, to encourage good choices, to spend time with them and teach them how to be adults, instead of letting them make poor choices under their own roof? Aren’t they supposed to set the bar, not stoop down to it?

Sometimes we mistake this kind of thinking for grace. We slip into the mind-set of wanting a god who is chill about our sinful choices. One who lets sin slide, who says it’s fine to break the law, who says it’s cool. But do we actually want a god who overlooks sin? Don’t we want a god who looks at abuse, wrongdoing, and wickedness and is moved to action on behalf of us? Don’t we want a god who sets the bar high and calls us to reach for it, instead of a god who sinks down to us in our muck and mire?

Coming to today’s verses that talk about God bringing desolations on the earth and burning chariots, we may wonder what God is doing. But let’s still see His grace here.

The call in these verses is to come and behold God’s mighty power to protect His people. This is where we see God acting against sin and defending His holiness. This is where we see His wrath displayed.

God is holy by nature. His holiness means He is pure, and there is not an ounce of evil or sin within Him. When He acts with wrath, He is acting against evil and sin. And that is for our good. We want a God who loves us enough to purify our ways, to remove our sin and to make us more like Him. That is gracious of Him—to destroy sin before it destroys us.

This is why the cross Jesus bore means everything. It’s where all God’s wrath was poured out. His wrath against sin, evil, and darkness was heaped upon His very own Son to save His people.

Because God is holy, He is wrathful against sin. Mine. Yours. Ours. But the grace in all of this is that we do not have to bear His wrath. In our place, He placed His Son. Grace pushed us out of wrath’s way and took the hit instead.

GRACE REFLECTION: Have you ever considered God’s wrath being for our good? Why is it good news to you today?