God's Anger

I don't live in California; I can't imagine living in California. I can't imagine trying to build a life in a place where the earth shakes so often, where there are little earthquakes all the time and the threat of "the big one" is always looming. I can't imagine trying to lay a foundation in a place like that. 

(My friends in California think I'm crazy and can't figure out how I can be so bothered by earthquakes, but be comfortable living in Tornado Alley. To each their own.)

I actually do live in a region that lies on the biggest, most dangerous (though not most active) fault line in our country, so I have felt the earth shake a few times in my life. 

Not a fan.

The earth is not supposed to shake. 

Except...God says He shakes it sometimes. 

We read in the Bible that the earth shakes and trembles. We read in the Bible that the earth shakes when God is angry. And then, we cower under the fear of a powerful God who can shake the earth. It seems scary. 

But I love Psalm 18 because even though it says the earth shakes from God's anger, it tells us exactly what God is angry about. And it's not what most of us would expect. 

In my time of need, I called to the Lord; I begged my True God for help. He heard my voice echo up to His temple, and my cry came to His ears. Because of His great anger, the earth shook and staggered.... 

The earth shakes because God shakes it. God shakes it because He's angry. God is angry because this broken, fallen world is hurting His child. 

God is angry because of His love for you. God is angry because the one He loves is hurting. God is angry because you're in a place where you have to cry out for help. He looks down and sees how poor and wounded and aching you are, and it makes Him angry. 

It's the same way you become angry as a parent when your child is being treated unfairly. When your child gets punished for something they didn't do. When someone else's child is picking on yours. When your child's teacher is nitpicking their work more than anyone else's. It's the same way you get angry when you look at your child, know how hard they are fighting, and see that they can't win. You're angry because they're so helpless and it's so unfair. 

God is angry for the same reasons. 

And when He's angry, the earth shakes. 

This shouldn't make us feel fearful; it should make us feel loved.