And the Lord said to Moses, "Phinehas the son
of Eleazar, son of Aaron the priest, has turned back my wrath from the
people of Israel, in that he was jealous with my jealousy among them, so
that I did not consume the people of Israel in my jealousy."
(Bemidbar / Numbers 25:10-11; ESV)
Recently I was leading a group in worship to God and chose a
song that I hadn't done in many years. The lyrics are based on this verse in
the prophet Habakkuk:
Lord,
I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord. Renew them in
our day, - in our time make them known; - in wrath remember mercy. (Habakkuk 3:2)
Habakkuk lived in a difficult and confusing time in the
history of Israel (of which there have been many!). This prayer expresses his
cry that, in the midst of hardship, God would show mercy. Hardship isn't really
the best word, however. Certainly Habakkuk didn't see the nation's troubles as
simply the mechanical consequences of bad behavior, but rather the word he uses
is "wrath."
The concept of wrath in the Bible conveys a highly
destructive fiery emotion. How it works is vividly portrayed in this week's
Torah portion. Twenty-four thousand people died due to a plague that occurred
in response to Israel's gross immorality and spiritual unfaithfulness. It took
a drastic and violent act on the part of a person by the name of Pinhas
(English: Phinehas) to turn back God's wrath.
I cannot claim to understand how God's wrath works. It does
seem that at times it is a part of God's general reaction to human rebellion
against him and other times it is very specifically aimed at individuals and
communities. But one of the instructive things from the situations of Pinhas
and Habakkuk is that finding oneself suffering under the effects of God's wrath
is not an automatic statement of judgment upon that individual. As God's wrath
is expressed in our midst, people who are not direct objects of wrath may be
equally affected.
Many are uncomfortable with the idea that God might act out
with great destructive anger, let alone that the innocent may also be affected
by it, but this is what we encounter in the Torah portion. This story reflects
the overall reality of life as the Bible sees it: full of goodness, full of
evil, yet held together by God's sustaining power and love. If it wasn't for
God's love, the world would have been destroyed by his wrath a long time ago.
Our unwillingness to accept that God could be both loving and wrathful is far
more about our inability to accept life's reality, than an honest commitment to
philosophical or theological integrity.
Neither Pinhas nor Habakkuk had a philosophical or theological
problem with the concept of God's wrath, but neither were they resigned to it.
God's wrath is rarely the final and permanent state of a situation. Both Pinhas
and Habakkuk did something about it. For Pinhas it meant an act of righteous
indignation; for Habakkuk it meant prayer for mercy. In both cases these men
believed that greater than God's wrath was his love and mercy.
I wonder how many terrible situations we find ourselves in
where God is calling us to look to him, so that his goodness would break
through. Believers in the God of the Bible are not to be fatalists. Just
because things are the way they are do not mean they have to stay that way.
Once we understand that we are not victims of impersonal forces, but people in
the midst of a struggle of cosmic proportions, one in which God is in charge
from beginning to end, we no longer have to blindly accept our circumstances.
Instead we can be instrumental in rescuing people from God's wrath.
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