God's Anger

God is slow to anger; you've probably heard that somewhere. But another way to say that, the way that Nahum presents it, is that God is not quick to anger (1:3). 

That difference is important.

When we say that God is slow to anger, we imply that the anger gradually builds up inside of Him over a long period of time. That His anger builds in small increments, every little thing adding onto the last thing and the thing before that and the thing before that. He remembers them all, and they're building on each other until God just finally erupts into anger and then, you've had it. 

Like that person you just pester and pester and pester and tease and provoke until finally, they've had it, and all of a sudden, it's like...whoa. 

Then, we say, God is angry. God has had it. He's fed up with us. He's done. He's finally going to smite us the way He's always wanted to; He's just been biding His time until now, but now, we've done it. 

I think a lot of us have had that image of God at some point in our journey. Some of us may still have that image now. It's actually a pretty common one - God is secretly angry and can't wait to come down on us, but He "has" to be patient. 

But if you read this passage another way, if you read it the way this translation struck me and you read that God is not quick to anger, it paints an entirely different portrait. 

It gives us an image of God who doesn't want to be angry. He's not packing everything away in some mental file in His head that's just building Him toward more anger. He's not being patient with us; He's being consistent with Himself. He's trying actively to not become angry because He's not a God of anger; He's a God of love. 

He's forgiving by nature. His first instinct is to treat us with grace. Remember when He found Adam and Eve naked and ashamed? The first thing He did was to make them garments to cover themselves...garments way better than their raggedly ol' fig leaves they'd tied together. He made them durable, lasting coverings of animal hide. Because that's who He is.

He was heartbroken, but He wasn't angry. And I think that's the God we need to have more of in our heads and in our hearts. At the core of it, there are probably a thousand other adjectives we could use before we could use angry because angry is the last thing God wants to be. 

He's heartbroken. He's sad. He's grieving. He's compassionate. He's gracious. He's merciful. 

He's not quick to anger. 

He's not slow to anger because the anger isn't just building all the time like that phrase implies; He's simply not quick to anger because angry is the last thing He really wants to be. 

That's the God who loves us.