Are You Angry at God?

     Are you angry at God?  Are you hurt by painful circumstances and wish God had prevented it?  Are you upset with God because He didn’t answer your prayers the way you wanted Him to?  Are you wrestling with wondering if God and Jesus love you?  –Or worse, did you conclude God and Jesus don’t love you?  Do you wonder if there even is a God?

     I have had times that I have felt this way, especially the angry part.  Immediately, I am convicted that I am in spiritual pride because I think that I know better than God!  I feel like a heel and ask God to take those angry feelings away!  He always does!

     Anger in itself is not a bad emotion.  Even God, who we are told is Love in 1 John 4:8 and 16 in the Bible, gets angry.  Psalm 7:11 says, “…God is angry with the wicked every day” (King James Version).  Why does God get angry?  I believe from the Bible that it is because He knows that no one can meet our needs for love like He can!  When we turn to idols to meet our needs, He gets angry because He wants to be our primary source of fulfillment.  He loves us so much that He is jealous for our love in return.  I also believe He gets angry when we mistreat others because He loves them, too.  We can have righteous anger when we feel God’s emotions (although God is joyful, too!).  We can feel angry when people mistreat us, and that is understandable.  But when anger is directed toward God, we need to give it to Him to take it away.

     Are you angry at God?  Anger at God is, indeed, rooted in pride.  We think we know better than God.  In fact, we are thinking as if we are God!  We need to give God that anger so it does not form a wedge between us and Him.  Proverbs 3:34 and 1 Peter 5:5 tell us, “…’God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.'”  God can comfort and heal you of painful circumstances!  He has the right to order the trials in your life!  He will be there to help you grow closer to Him and stronger as a person even if He didn’t do things your way.  Romans 8:28 says, “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, who are called according to His purpose.”  If you give your heart to God and Jesus, all the terrible, wretched, excruciating, heartbreaking things that have happened in your life can be transformed into beauty inside of you!  Your heart can be healed!  Your ashes can be taken away and you be crowned with beauty and filled with joy!  We read in Isaiah 61:1-3:

     The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me, because the LORD has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor.  He has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners, to proclaim the year of the LORD’s favor and the day of vengeance of our God, to comfort all who mourn, and provide for those who grieve in Zion–to bestow on them a crown of beauty instead of ashes, the oil of joy instead of mourning, and a garment of praise instead of a spirit of despair.  They will be called oaks of righteousness, a planting of the LORD for the display of His splendor.

This passage was written not only for Israel, but for all those who put their trust in God and Jesus, who is also God!  If you give Him your anger at Him, He will comfort you in your mourning!  He will anoint you with the oil of joy from the Holy Spirit!  He will clothe you spiritually in a garment of praise and take away your spirit of despair!  He will glorify Himself through your righteous heart and life!  –And as a side note, you don’t have to stay angry at the people who hurt you because God can and will override all that hurt and take it away!  You can forgive your enemies because they can’t hold you back from God and His healing!  They don’t define your identity; God established your loved identity!

     Are you angry at God?  Do you think He doesn’t have a right to put you through trials?  My friend, God created you!  He is the Father of all creation!  We are told in Acts 17:28, “For in Him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘for we are also His offspring.'”  He wants to adopt you as His child through your believing in Jesus’ death on the cross and resurrection about 2,000 years ago!  Maybe He has already done that!  However, before you become or became a Christian, you are already His offspring!  He is God Almighty, and He has all the rights to do with each of us as He pleases!  We can trust Him because HE IS GOOD!!!  Even though we don’t always understand why things happened the way they did, we can know by faith that God will use it for our good for those who trust Him and turn every trial into a glorious ending!  Our God is so wonderful!!!  He has your and my best interest at heart!!!  My friend, He loves you so much!!!

     Are you angry at God?  For those that persist in anger and turn their backs on God, God tells them this in Isaiah 1:2-6:

     Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth: for the LORD hath spoken, I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.  The ox knoweth his owner, and the [donkey] his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.  Ah sinful nation, a people laden with iniquity, a seed of evildoers, children that are corrupters:  they have forsaken the LORD, they have provoked the Holy One of Israel unto anger, they are gone away backward.  Why should ye be stricken any more?  ye will revolt more and more: the whole head is sick, and the whole heart faint.  From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment.

     God will discipline those who persist in anger against Him.  They may put up a brave front and try to convince everyone they are fine without God.  They may boast in their hearts, “I sit a queen, and am no widow [spiritually], and shall see no sorrow!” (Revelation 18:7).  But the truth is their whole heads are sick, their whole hearts are faint.  From the soles of their feet even unto their heads there is no soundness in them, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores that have not been closed, bound up, nor doctored with ointment.  My friends, we are not just fine without God.  We are in desperate need of Him!  Only He can heal our hearts and minds!  Only He can satisfy our hearts!  He is the One who meets our needs!

     Jesus is our Judge!   Second Corinthians 5:10 tells us Christians, “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.”  Jesus will judge every human who doesn’t know Him!  (See Revelation 20;11-15).  In Isaiah 1:18-20, God invites us and warns us:

     Come now, and let us reason together, saith the LORD; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.  If ye be willing and obedient, ye shall eat the good of the land: But if ye refuse and rebel, ye shall be devoured with the sword: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.

     Let us get right with God right this moment!  He is only a prayer away!  Let us surrender to Him today and get on His good side!  Let us ask Him to take away any and all pride!  Let us ask Him to forgive us so that He won’t have to discipline us as He did Israel with the sword of their enemies!  Our sins, though as scarlet, can become as white as snow!  Though our offenses be red like crimson, they can be as wool!  If we are willing and obedient, we will feast on the Lord and enjoy His many blessings now and forever in heaven!!!  God does, indeed, love you!!!