You assume God is angry with you and that you need to do something about it.
That assumption is the problem.
It’s understandable why you think that way:
We often feel like God is angry with us.
The world often looks as though he’s angry with us.
And the Bible often sounds like he’s angry with us.
But there’s a difference between what God truly wants and the things he has to do.
God’s proper work is what flows from his heart: love, grace, and mercy.
God’s alien work is what he must do because of sin: judgment, condemnation, and death.
This difference exists because God is love. (The apostle John says this twice: 1 John 4:8, 16). But, at the same time, sin and evil are real. And a loving God must judge and condemn evil. The Bible calls this judgment “God’s wrath”:
because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will render to each one according to his works (Romans 2:5-6)
This language—that God has “wrath” or is “angry”—is frequently misunderstood as being a personal feeling God has. But it is not. It is, as Paul writes in Romans 2, God’s righteous legal judgment that condemns sin as it deserves.
It is necessary for God to do that, because God is good and just. And let’s be completely clear: if, being evil, you refuse and resist God’s free forgiveness, then you’ll face his wrath on the day of judgment, which is terrifying and serious. But, just because God has to exercise wrath against evil, does not mean he enjoys it.
But even if God’s wrath is real, how does he feel about you?
While the Bible does describe God’s judicial wrath and burning anger against evil—and while, of course, the good God is personally opposed to evil—they do not reveal the delight of God’s heart. Every place in the Bible where God explicitly talks about what he delights in or finds pleasing, he consistently points to mercy, not to wrath or judgment:
As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live; (Ezekiel 33:11)
he delights in steadfast love. (Micah 7:18)
he does not afflict from his heart (Lam 3:33)
And when the Bible explicitly talks about what God wants, it is always for people to receive mercy, not punishment:
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. (2 Peter 3:9)
it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Timothy 2:3-4)
So, while “God is love”, meaning that mercy is God’s proper work, Isaiah tells us that his wrath and judgment are “strange” or “alien” to who he is:
For the LORD will rise up as on Mount Perazim; as in the Valley of Gibeon he will be roused; to do his deed—strange is his deed! and to work his work—alien is his work! (Isaiah 28:21)
The fact that wrath is not proper to God, but alien to him, explains the way he behaves:
1) He resists executing wrath:
My heart recoils within me; my compassion grows warm and tender. I will not execute my burning anger; I will not again destroy Ephraim; for I am God and not a man, the Holy One in your midst, and I will not come in wrath. (Hosea 11:8-9)
2) He delays anger:
The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, (Exodus 34:6)
3) He uses judgment to achieve mercy
for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. (Hosea 6:1)
4) His mercy ultimately has the final word over judgment:
Mercy triumphs over judgment. (James 2:13)
This does not mean nobody will face final judgment and condemnation: but it tells us that nobody who faces final condemnation does so because God wants them to be there.
5) And his true nature is revealed in the saving work of Jesus on the cross for all people:
He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of his power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high (Hebrews 1:3)
I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. (John 17:6)
God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it—the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. (Romans 3:21-22)
So, if you want to know how God feels about you:
Don’t look at your feelings.
Don’t look at the world.
Don’t even look at the Law—even though it is rightly revealed in the Bible.
Look at the cross of Jesus Christ.
Because this is where you see God. This is how you know what he feels in his heart.
To hear more about God’s true feelings toward you, listen to this sermon: Is God Angry with Me?
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