Have you ever worked on something really hard? Made it completely from scratch? Maybe it was a huge feast for lots of people, could have been a quilt, a website, a painting from your soul.

How about something you have looked forward to with all your heart…something you planned for and anticipated for a long time. The excitement in imagining this event was uncontainable. This could have been a visit from a dear friend or member of your family. Maybe it was your first child, your first home, your wedding, a pet.

Picture what these two things were for you…your creation and your anticipation…

Are you ready? Brace yourself!

Now imagine that masterpiece ruined. Ruined before it got to be enjoyed. Would you be angry? Would you be sad? Would you try to fix it or would you call it a lost cause? This is your workmanship; your opportunity to sit back and gaze at what a lovely thing you made all on your own, and it was just perfect. Now, it’s just done for. How far would you go to get it back? If it was once ruined would you expect it to be perfect ever again?

How about that anticipated event? What if it fell through in a horrific way. What was intended to happen never came to light at the worst time in the worst way. Would you shut off future opportunities to make it happen again? Would you crawl in a devastated hole and just give up? Or would you push through that disappointment or pain to keep this life moving?

Whether your masterpiece is ruined or your heartfelt plans fall through, you are quite likely to get a little ticked along the way, right? Maybe even crazy angry. Maybe your devastation morphs into fury, if even for a second.

I am not an angry person at all. I have a temper in some circumstances, don’t get me wrong. If there was ever a time to discover the limits of your love and your anger it is in the journey of parenthood. Anyway, if I had to think of a masterpiece of mine ruined I would probably be angry. If I experienced my best laid plans shattering I would probably cry. Either way, my emotion wouldn’t be positive for at least a little while. Sure, dust yourself off, shake those shoulders, find the upside, yes? Yes…after the wave of negativity.

Have you ever thought about the Old Testament and the anger that lives there? I used to think, as a kid, that the Old Testament was written to show us God’s wrath and the New Testament was written to show us God’s love. I didn’t combine the two. I still sometimes struggle with it. There is too much to talk about in one post. I am sure we will cover it all eventually. I really just want to talk about creation today. Let’s look at the scripture first. This is right after the fall (when Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit).

Genesis 3:16-19 (NIV)

To the woman he said,

¹⁷ To Adam he said, “Because you listened to your wife and ate fruit from the tree about which I commanded you, ‘You must not eat from it,’

This seems to have been the first occurrence of anger God displayed. He was mad at the serpent, mad at the woman, mad at Adam, and just hurt all the way around. I am sure it would be easy for us to understand why God was mad. He just made all of everything…perfectly! He was enjoying it and all within it…and then this happened. Sadly, it only got worse from there. In Genesis 6 it gets real serious. The words are shocking.

Genesis 6:5-8 (NIV)

⁵ The Lord saw how great the wickedness of the human race had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time. ⁶ The Lord regretted that he had made human beings on the earth, and his heart was deeply troubled.⁷ So the Lord said, “I will wipe from the face of the earth the human race I have created—and with them the animals, the birds and the creatures that move along the ground—for I regret that I have made them.” ⁸ But Noah found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

Ouch! It got so bad he just said, “We are gonna have to start over.” And that is only six chapters into this whole thing! Imagine that first disappointment, that first sadness when Adam and Eve sinned. In my mind I see it as that slow and painful devastation. The anticipation shattered, that masterpiece tainted. Now, fast forward to where we add so much sin, little by little, that the view was ONLY sin. Same story different day all the time. Would you be angry? Not only did the masterpiece get tainted, it just exploded. Like that Angry Birds character! Not only did that trip get postponed, it got canceled!

I used to wonder how God could be so angry in the Old Testament at people He made and loved. Now I get it. I would be mad too!!

You know what the best part is though? We stand here today, pardoned from that disgusting sin. We get to sing, “oh, how he loves us” and praise His name. He was angry, but it was a painful angry. You only experience anger and pain at the same time when you love something, have worked hard at something, tried and tried again, have gotten emotionally involved. In Romans there is a sequence of verses that also explains the anger of God. I encourage you to read Romans 9. I have no doubt I will revisit it in this blog at some point.

What I really deeply want you to know are these three things.

1. God’s plan is perfect, no matter how much we try to screw it up.

2. There is no sin that surpasses God’s love for us.

3. Jesus IS (Is Salvation), and that is the hope for all of us. It also serves as another example of that masterpiece; biblical lifetimes of anticipation all rolled into one perfect Son of God who saved us with no reserve.

We are no longer a lost cause. He washes us white as snow…perfect in his sight. God is good, and we are His.