A Look at God’s Righteous Anger
Psalm 7 is interesting:
 1 O LORD my God, I take refuge in you;
      save and deliver me from all who pursue me,
It starts out in a similar vein to verse 5. Having righteousness on my mind, I see David taking refuge in God’s righteousness specifically, even though he doesn’t quite say that here.
 2 or they will tear me like a lion
      and rip me to pieces with no one to rescue me.
In Psalm 5, David concerned himself with what God does to men who are not clothed in His righteousness, exploring it as something he himself otherwise deserves, were God not the merciful God He is. But here, David concerns himself with those men who remain unclothed by God’s righteousness… but as before, he explores what place he deserves among them…
 3 O LORD my God, if I have done this
That is, if he has torn others apart like a lion…
      and there is guilt on my hands-
 4 if I have done evil to him who is at peace with me
      or without cause have robbed my foe- 5 then let my enemy pursue and overtake me;
      let him trample my life to the ground
      and make me sleep in the dust.
      Selah 6 Arise, O LORD, in your anger;
      rise up against the rage of my enemies.
      Awake, my God; decree justice.
I have never asked God to be angry at anybody. It is this very question, or at least one form of it, that caused me to begin studying righteousness to begin with. It is this kind of assertion about God about that I realized righteousness explains. So, how does righteousness explain the concept of an angry God, and a person’s ability to call on that? How does righteousness negate the modern idea that an angry God could not possibly be the same loving God that Jesus spoke of, in the context of forgiveness, love, and peace?
Well, first notice something interesting… in the context of verse 6, God has not yet risen in anger. He has not risen up against David’s enemies. To David, God seems asleep. David sees no justice. Yet, God has anger, but apparently self-control… and while David is free to make requests of God, God will do what He does when He does it. And when He does, it will be righteous and it will be just.
 7 Let the assembled peoples gather around you.
      Rule over them from on high;
Ah… the Psalm becomes Messianic. What David requests starting here will in fact happen, but not until the end times.
 8 let the LORD judge the peoples.
      Judge me, O LORD, according to my righteousness,
      according to my integrity, O Most High. 9 O righteous God,
      who searches minds and hearts,
      bring to an end the violence of the wicked
      and make the righteous secure.
The violence of the wicked goes on today… but the righteous are secure in Christ’s blood, for those who believe and obey.
 10 My shield [b] is God Most High,
      who saves the upright in heart. 11 God is a righteous judge,
      a God who expresses his wrath every day.
Expresses His wrath every day? Huh? What about the end times and all that above? Well, self-expression does not require immediate violence, which David knows…
 12 If he does not relent,
      he [c] will sharpen his sword;
      he will bend and string his bow. 13 He has prepared his deadly weapons;
      he makes ready his flaming arrows. 14 He who is pregnant with evil
      and conceives trouble gives birth to disillusionment. 15 He who digs a hole and scoops it out
      falls into the pit he has made. 16 The trouble he causes recoils on himself;
      his violence comes down on his own head.
This is actually a Psalm of hope, in a God of justice who may give mankind free reign to sin for now, but we reap we sow. Even still, there is hope to escape the fate that comes with what we sow…
 17 I will give thanks to the LORD because of his righteousness
      and will sing praise to the name of the LORD Most High.Â
Here, David acknowledged the patience of God. He believes God, and trusts Him. Even in the midst of his own stirred up emotions, in his dissatisfaction with God’s tolerance of those do not believe Him and do not obey Him, in his own anger against those who want to harm David, even knowing what himself has sown, David trusts in God to do what is right when it is time, and knows that he can take shelter in that trust. He believes God.
February 5th, 2009 at 7:59 am
I just read Pslam 9, and it looks now like Psalm 7 was before a battle, and 9 was after. It seems that 7 was both a prayer for coverage during battle, as well as messianic. Cool.
And this brings me to the subject that brought me to a study of righteousness in the first place… the God of war in the OT vs. peace in the new. I’ll address this tomorrow…