God's Reaction to Disobedience.

Psalm 78:35-39
35 They remembered that God was their Rock,
that God Most High was their Redeemer.
36 But then they would flatter him with their mouths,
lying to him with their tongues;
37 their hearts were not loyal to him,
they were not faithful to his covenant.
38 Yet he was merciful;
he forgave their iniquities
and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger
and did not stir up his full wrath.
39 He remembered that they were but flesh,
a passing breeze that does not return.

When someone doesn't obey you, it makes you upset, right? It seems that parents have a hard time when their kids don't obey them. Take SuperNanny, for example. On television, the Nanny comes to the rescue when the children become absolutely horrendous and there's no respect at all. She comes in disturbed by the behavior, but works it out with the parents.

We've all been disrespectful at some point. Think about how many times we're disobedient to God. Anytime we are disobedient to him, he says he gets upset. My Bible puts this passage, along with others I'll be mentioning this week under the topic of "backsliding." It states backsliding is "departure from a life of a faith and obedience to God."

Notice that God's people were claiming that he was great and almighty. Then, they curse him with whatever words come out of their mouths (which reminds me of James 3:9...With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God's likeness.) Isn't that true? We're so contradictory with our words...but that's something to be discussed, perhaps next week.

I don't know about you, but sometimes I forget that God can get mad. I think he's just a happy, smiling God all the time. However, it's in scriptures like these that I find that speculation to be wrong. The Lord despises disobedience and being fake. However, he has a controlled since of anger, unlike us humans sometimes. He's merciful and graceful. Therefore, he is forgiving and understanding of our sinful nature. Thank God for that!

Still, don't go about your day without this affecting you. Let this be a message to you saying to be loyal to God.