“Pastor, everything I tried to do this year didn’t work. I feel like God is angry with me for something I did. What can I do?”

Ofcourse, God can get angry, but I’m not sure what you did is enough to get Him angry. Just so we don’t assume anything, let’s do a quick analysis on how God responds to His creation.

All through scriptures, there are 4 basic characteristics that you’d always find in the dealings of God. If you don’t find these four, chances are that it wasn’t God. These four features are like the almighty formula for solving earthly problems, the moment you apply them to a situation, you can tell if God’s hand is in it or not. Luckily for us, Psalms 103 lists all four characteristics in one verse. Let’s read what it says:

Psalm 103:
8 The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.

Just look at that;
– God is merciful
– God is gracious
– God is slow to anger
– God is plenteous in mercy

So the first thing you must settle in your mind about God is that He is merciful. Unlike what many people think, mercy isn’t automated forgiveness or aversion from a deserved rebuke. I looked up the meaning of mercy in the dictionary and what I found made it all so beautiful.

MERCY: A tendency toward forgiveness, pity, or compassion.

That’s right, it’s an opportunity or a likelihood to receive forgiveness from a person or being you offended. So chances are that the rebuke or punishment will still come if you don’t seek forgiveness and repentance. Knowing what you did against God, did you repent and sought forgiveness from Him, or did you assume that God would forgive you because you felt remorse? The feeling of remorse isn’t the same as seeking forgiveness. Just because you cried when you sinned against God doesn’t mean you really sought forgiveness. You have to confess the sin before God and ask Him to both forgive you and cleanse you with the blood of Jesus.

In addition to being merciful, He’s plenteous in mercy, which is why His mercies are new every morning. So just incase you goofed yesterday and ran short of His mercy, the fact that you woke up this morning has qualified you for another round of His mercy. This is why a person who committed a grievous sin today may become a strong man of God tomorrow. Every new day before God is an opportunity to repent.

This was why Jonah was angry with God. Even though God had determined to destroy Nineveh, he knew that God’s mercy could save them if they repented. Let’s see how scriptures put it:

Jonah 4:
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry.
2 And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.

Just look at that. Anybody would be angry. Why would you send me to declare their doom if you were eventually going to have mercy on them? To think that Jonah didn’t want to go because of this possibility.

God is also gracious, which literally means He’s compassionate. As a matter of scripture, His compassion does not fail. You can literally count on His compassion. The only scenario that has been used to measure God’s compassion is a nursing mother. My wife was unbearable when we sent our little baby to her granny’s place. One month felt like a lifetime to her. One of those days she just felt like booking a flight to go see her and then return to Lagos. At some point it felt irritating, but thank God for that scripture, it made me understand that the compassion of a mother towards her baby is very deep. Yet, the bible tells us that God’s compassion towards us is greater than what a mother feels for her sucking child.

Finally, God is slow to anger. Like, really slow to anger. Was it not while we were yet sinners that He sent Jesus to die for us? You can’t possibly be angry and still sacrifice your son. Instead of anger, He further proved His love. So, what exactly did you do that will make God angry with you?

Stop feeling that God is angry with you. Rather, feel the love He has for you. Let God’s word to Jeremiah strengthen you, “… I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee”. If you feel you’ve done something wrong, repent genuinely and continue your life.

The next time you try to consider what God is thinking about you, let these four characteristics play a leading role: He’s merciful, He’s gracious, He’s slow to anger, He’s plenteous in mercy.

I’m quite sure that the reason why nothing has worked for you is because you’ve lived in the guilt that God is angry with you. Now that we’ve settled that, nothing should be able to hinder your progress.

I hope this has brought deliverance to someone.

Remain ever blessed, in Jesus precious name!

#EmekaAnslem