In his letter to the followers of Jesus in Rome, the apostle Paul describes God’s attitude towards our evil deeds: “God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who push the truth away from themselves” (Romans 1:18).
So, what is this truth we push away so easily? The apostle explains: “The truth about God is known to them instinctively. God has put this knowledge in their hearts. From the time the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky and all that God made. They can clearly see his invisible qualities -- his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse whatsoever for not knowing God” (Romans 1:19-20).
The prophet Isaiah cries far and wide that there is a Creator behind the creation: “Look up into the heavens. Who created all the stars? He brings them out one after another, calling each by its name. And he counts them to see that none are lost or have strayed away” (Isaiah 40:26).
The prophet Jeremiah indicates how God is constantly involved in his creation: “God made the earth by his power; he founded the world by his wisdom and stretched out the heavens by his understanding. When he thunders, the waters in the heavens roar; he makes clouds rise from the ends of the earth. He sends lightning with the rain and brings out the wind from his storehouses” (Jeremiah 10:12-13).
Yet, we can read in the first book of the Bible that man had already started to rebel against God (meditation 19).
The apostle Paul affirms that mankind has continued to reject God’s authority. We have created our own ‘gods’ with devastating results: “Yes, they knew God, but they wouldn't worship him as God or even give him thanks. And they began to think up foolish ideas of what God was like.
The result was that their minds became dark and confused. Claiming to be wise, they became utter fools instead. And instead of worshiping the glorious, ever-living God, they worshiped idols made to look like mere people, or birds and animals and snakes...
Instead of believing what they knew was the truth about God, they deliberately chose to believe lies. So they worshiped the things God made but not the Creator himself, who is to be praised forever” (Romans 1:21-23 and 25).
Centuries before the apostle Paul, the author of Ecclesiastes observed: “I discovered that God created people to be upright, but they have each turned to follow their own downward path” (Ecclesiastes 7:29).
The apostle Paul explains that God’s present anger is visible in the way he abandons us to our own rebellious way of life, and that the results can be seen in the many wicked ways we treat one another: “So God let them go ahead and do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other's bodies...
When they refused to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their evil minds and let them do things that should never be done.
Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, fighting, deception, malicious behavior, and gossip.
They are backstabbers, haters of God, insolent, proud, and boastful. They are forever inventing new ways of sinning and are disobedient to their parents.
They refuse to understand, break their promises, and are heartless and unforgiving” (Romans 1:24 and 28-30)
The prophet Isaiah already warned those who exchanged their obedience to God for man-made self-sufficiency: “You felt secure in all your wickedness. 'No one sees me,' you said. Your 'wisdom' and 'knowledge' have caused you to turn away from me (i.e. God) and claim, 'I am self-sufficient and not accountable to anyone!
So disaster will overtake you suddenly, and you won't be able to charm it away. Calamity will fall upon you, and you won't be able to buy your way out. A catastrophe will arise so fast that you won't know what hit you” (Isaiah 47:10-11).
Nowhere in the Bible do we read that we can blame Satan for our wrongdoings. On the contrary, the Bible shows that we ourselves are responsible for turning away from God and for giving in to Satan’s scheming.
The apostle Paul asserts that it is God’s passion for love, truth and righteousness that arouses his righteous anger: “He will pour out his anger and wrath on those who live for themselves, who refuse to obey the truth and practice evil deeds” (Romans 2:8).
We are left with the question: How can a loving God ever save us from his own righteous anger?
All Bible verses are quoted from the ‘New Living Translation’.
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