God’s Love/God’s Wrath

Psalm 78:42-72

English Standard Version (ESV)

⁴² They ^(A)did not remember his power^[a]
    or the day when he redeemed them from the foe,
^43 (B)when he performed his ^(C)signs in Egypt
    and his ^(D)marvels in ^(E)the fields of Zoan.
⁴⁴ He ^(F)turned their rivers to blood,
    so that they could not drink of their streams.
⁴⁵ He sent among them swarms of ^(G)flies, which devoured them,
    and ^(H)frogs, which destroyed them.
⁴⁶ He gave their crops to ^(I)the destroying locust
    and the fruit of their labor to the locust.
⁴⁷ He destroyed their vines with ^(J)hail
    and their sycamores with frost.
⁴⁸ He gave over their ^(K)cattle to the hail
    and their flocks to thunderbolts.
⁴⁹ He let loose on them his burning anger,
    wrath, indignation, and distress,
    a company of ^(L)destroying angels.
⁵⁰ He made a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death,
    but gave their lives over to the plague.
⁵¹ He struck down every ^(M)firstborn in Egypt,
    the firstfruits of their strength in the tents of ^(N)Ham.
⁵² Then he led out his people ^(O)like sheep
    and guided them in the wilderness like a flock.
^53 (P)He led them in safety, so that they ^(Q)were not afraid,
    but ^(R)the sea overwhelmed their enemies.
⁵⁴ And he brought them to his ^(S)holy land,
    ^(T)to the mountain which his right hand had ^(U)won.
⁵⁵ He ^(V)drove out nations before them;
    he ^(W)apportioned them for a possession
    and settled the tribes of Israel in their tents.

⁵⁶ Yet they ^(X)tested and ^(Y)rebelled against the Most High God
    and did not keep his testimonies,
⁵⁷ but turned away and acted treacherously like their fathers;
    they twisted like ^(Z)a deceitful bow.
⁵⁸ For they ^(AA)provoked him to anger with their ^(AB)high places;
    they ^(AC)moved him to jealousy with their ^(AD)idols.
⁵⁹ When God heard, he was full of ^(AE)wrath,
    and he utterly rejected Israel.
⁶⁰ He ^(AF)forsook his dwelling at ^(AG)Shiloh,
    the tent where he dwelt among mankind,
⁶¹ and delivered his ^(AH)power to captivity,
    his ^(AI)glory to the hand of the foe.
⁶² He ^(AJ)gave his people over to the sword
    and ^(AK)vented his wrath on his heritage.
^63 (AL)Fire devoured their young men,
    and their young women had no ^(AM)marriage song.
⁶⁴ Their ^(AN)priests fell by the sword,
    and their ^(AO)widows made no lamentation.
⁶⁵ Then the Lord ^(AP)awoke as from sleep,
    like a strong man shouting because of wine.
⁶⁶ And he ^(AQ)put his adversaries to rout;
    he put them to everlasting shame.

⁶⁷ He rejected the tent of ^(AR)Joseph;
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim,
⁶⁸ but he chose the tribe of Judah,
    Mount Zion, which he ^(AS)loves.
⁶⁹ He ^(AT)built his sanctuary like the high heavens,
    like the earth, which he has founded forever.
⁷⁰ He ^(AU)chose David his servant
    and took him from the sheepfolds;
⁷¹ from ^(AV)following the nursing ewes he brought him
    to ^(AW)shepherd Jacob his people,
    Israel his ^(AX)inheritance.
⁷² With ^(AY)upright heart he shepherded them
    and ^(AZ)guided them with his skillful hand.

(http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Psalm+78%3A42-72&version=ESV)

Do you ever wonder why God works the way He does?  Why can’t a Christian just live a comfortable life without the struggles of the world on their shoulders, after all, we are children of God?  When we ask questions like that we can turn to Psalm 78 and find our answer.  When God provided for His children, they responded by building a golden calf and bowing down and worshipping it.  Even today some religious cultures have statues such as these that they incorporate in their worship all in the name of the LORD.  The Israelites grumbled and complained when God provided them with food and drink and they doubted His love for them because of their circumstances.  Does that sound like anyone you know?  I know that it sounds like me.  There are times that I just want God to give me something positive in my life and then I realize He has given me many blessings upon blessings but how soon I forget when trials come my way.  I used to not understand how the Israelites could be so blind to the Power of God yet I am the same way.

I have put other things before God.  I have grumbled and complained.  I have been blessed and yet did not recognize it.  I have not been thankful as much as I should have been.  That sin of “more” that started in the Garden of Eden hangs on.  God blesses and we want more.  God gives and we think it is not enough.  God destroys and we get mad.  God is the God of the Universe and He loves us yet He is One that we do not want to provoke to anger.  How do you think we are doing at that?  Seek Him and know that He is our Great God whose love abounds but whose wrath will come to those who do not recognize Him.

Seeking Him with all my heart,

Sheila