Psalm 2:6-12: Wrath of the Lord

Introduction

(Read once to be introduced to the series. After that skip this to go right to the good stuff!) 

Welcome to my Devotions Series. This series features devotions based on the Scriptures of the Common Lectionary. The series is being prepared for eventual and hopeful print publication.

The series is also posted and regularly updated on my official blog: http://www.cedwardsellner.blogspot.com/

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Each Scripture is also hyperlinked to the online Bible at Bible Gateway in the NIV version I used in preparing the series.

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Lectionary Series Year A: Transfiguration of Our Lord
Psalm 2:6-12 (Read it on Bible Gateway)
Wrath of the Lord
See also Devotions: Psalm 2
This round we have another case of returning to a Psalm we visited once before in earlier Lectionary Readings. The last time, the selection included the entire Psalm, as opposed to just the last six verses which are the focus here. That last round we focused on more generalized images in the passage, focusing on the Messianic themes, specifically seeing Christ as The Anointed One.

This time, let's focus on a theme that with the narrower selection of verses comes across a little stronger: The Wrath of the Lord.

Now there's a concept most modern Christians never want to touch with a ten-foot pole: God's anger. Even when we do hit on those classic stories that involve God's wrath, we artfully dodge putting any focus on the anger or its consequences directly. Think about it.

One of the favorite Bible stories for children is the story of Noah and the Ark (Genesis 6-8). Ask most children, or even adults what that story is about, it's about God saving Noah and his family from the flood, along with all the animals, right? Well, not really. To save someone is to remove them from some threat from a different source. God spared Noah and his family, because, see, the flood was sent by God to wipe out everything else. What about the story of the Exodus (Exodus 3-14), what is that about? It's about God saving the Jewish people from the Egyptians, by leading them out of slavery. That's true, but were you to ask an Egyptian from that period, they might have focused on it as being a story about God ravaging Egypt. There are numerous other examples. Whether we look at the Israelites claiming the Promised Land, which was occupied by other people prior, to David expanding the kingdom through invasion and military might, right through to prophets who assured the people that God would destroy their enemies, we find a pattern. God has a side we don't like to always acknowledge.

Now many theologians will look at this pattern and point out that most of those stories are in the Hebrew Testament. They will then use that as a means to dismiss the stories, or at least the full implications of the darker side of those stories. Many will attribute it to a poor theological understanding of God in the older days. Others would say that God's connection to humanity has changed over time. Still others will shrug and say it's a mystery. All those answers though have one element in common: they sidestep the central issue.

Now, if you were hoping I was going to offer some profound theological insight into the nature and justification of God's wrath that would manage to put all those tales into a perspective that still allows for a 100% warm and fuzzy God...well, sorry, you're going to be disappointed. I wish I did have some answers to those questions. However, I think it is irresponsible and perhaps even reckless of us as Christians to not even wrestle with the questions. If we're not even willing to take a hard look from time to time at that dimension of God, if somehow we're willing to sweep that entire side of the Divine under the carpet of poor theology or outdated thinking, then I think we may be missing something critical. In this day and age, where the faith has taken a great deal of abuse it may be growing even more critical!

What do I mean? Well, for sometime now, we've used the faith to justify war, and the violence of the world is getting worse every day. We've used faith to justify discrimination along lines of race, gender, economics, sexual and faith orientation and the world is filling with more hatred, lines of division and lack of understanding every day. We've used faith to justify or at least sidestep issues on the environment, the world we were made stewards of and new reports of a collapsing environment come to us every day.

There is a growing feeling that the world is teetering on the brink of several various catastrophes, all at the same time. If the environment doesn't die, if the economy doesn't crash, if the world isn't plunged into war, if we're still able to walk outside our doors at night without being mugged...well, you get the picture.

I think maybe it's high time we as Christians take a good, hard look at God's wrath...preferably sometime before it hits us head on. (That is, assuming it isn't already.)

For the complete listing of our Devotions, see our Devotions Archive