Have you ever wondered where God is and how he feels when you are being abused, wronged, or wounded?  I was visiting with a friend of mine who is a gifted songwriter.  My friend has been deeply wounded on several occasions in this life but reminded me of a great psalm that pictures God’s response to those who would harm his children.

King David wrote: The cords of death entangled me; the torrents of destruction overwhelmed me. The cords of the grave coiled around me; the snares of death confronted me.  In my distress I called to the Lord; I cried to my God for help. From his temple he heard my voice; my cry came before him, into his ears. The earth trembled and quaked, and the foundations of the mountains shook; they trembled because he was angry. Smoke rose from his nostrils; consuming fire came from his mouth, burning coals blazed out of it. He parted the heavens and came down; dark clouds were under his feet. He mounted the cherubim and flew; he soared on the wings of the wind…The Lord thundered from heaven; the voice of the Most High resounded. He shot his arrows and scattered the enemies, great bolts of lightning and routed them… He reached down from on high and took hold of me; he drew me out of deep waters. (Ps.18:5-16).

Although David employs a great deal of imagery in this psalm, the picture is clear. God is a loving Father who hears the cry of his children and rises in anger toward those who would injure them.  David wrote this after God had delivered him from the hand of Saul who had been hunting David for years. In this psalm the Holy Spirit reveals the heart of God toward his hurting children.  He is described as a Father seething with anger, who rends the heavens to rescue one of his beloved children.  Before you say, “Well, he’s never done that for me when I have cried out!” remember that David went through a number of trials before he was finally and fully delivered from his enemy. But this psalm reveals a great deal that should comfort us.

First of all, God is not indifferent to our pain or our dilemmas.  He feels as any good father would feel watching someone hurt his child.  I remember a moment when my youngest daughter was in kindergarten. I was at her school for a Fall Festival when I saw her come of the door leading to the playground and a boy about twice her size pushed her so that she nearly fell.  It wasn’t an accident as he hurried by.  I saw him look at her and intentionally push her.  I felt my blood pressure rise along with a great deal of anger over what he had just done to my little girl. I confronted the boy and let him know very clearly that if that ever happened again there would be swift and severe consequences.  In that moment of anger, I still exercised restraint.  After all, he was just a boy…and there were witnesses. But I still remember my automatic and immediate response to seeing my daughter wronged by a bully.

David paints that picture of our heavenly Father.  He rises in anger breathing fire and coming in vengeance on those who would wrong his child.  And yet, even in this psalm, he showed great restraint.  With all of his power, he still only scattered the enemy and routed them.  Unrestrained, God could have annihilated every one of them in a moment. In his heart he wanted to do just that. Yet, he also loves those who hurt us and still desires for them to repent and be saved.   Remember those moments in the wilderness wanderings of Israel when God would tell Moses to step aside and let him destroy Israel and start over?  That was his feeling, but in his restraint he allowed Moses to intercede on behalf of a stubborn and faithless nation so that he could change his mind and give them another chance.  Think of the restraint of the Father as he watched cruel men abuse and crucify his only begotten Son.  God’s dilemma is that he is not only holy and all-powerful, but he is love. He loves us and our enemies as well. And so he restrains himself and by that restraint is restricted to comforting and healing us rather than annihilating our enemies the moment they wound us. Before you push back against that, remember that there have probably been moments in our lives when he restrained his anger and frustration against us as well.

However, there will come a day when those who refuse to repent will feel the wrath of a loving Father because of what they have done to his children. God does store up wrath. In that Day, men will cry out, tremble, and want to hide under the mountains because of the wrath that will be coming their way.  God is not indifferent and he will display his love for his children and his justice toward those who have abused, rejected, wounded, and even killed those in Christ who have not come to faith and repented.

Remember the parable of the sheep and the goats that Jesus told in Matthew 25.  It is a parable of judgment.  He says that when he comes with his angels, all men will stand before him and will be separated based on what they have done for the poor, the lonely, the imprisoned, and the oppressed.  Those who ministered to the victims of this world will be rewarded.  Jesus says, “Whatever you did for the least of these brothers of mine, you did for me.”  To those who did not care about the victims of this world, Jesus released them to eternal punishment and said, ”Whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.”  How much more will that be true for those who injured his children without repentance?

Jesus told us that in this world we will have trouble.  He even told us to expect persecution. He also said, “ I will never leave you nor forsake you” and “I will be with you even unto the end of the age.”  Even in our suffering God is there. He is filled with pain and anger because of what is being done to us. His heart is to save, to comfort and to heal and also to punish the wicked who would hurt you.  He will do so in time. In the meantime, a Father’s restraint blesses us all.  Be blessed today knowing that whatever you have suffered, your Father is stirred deeply and will rise from his throne on your behalf.