What a year it has been. Fires, flood, and pestilence throughout the land. As I write this, the 27th hurricane of the season is in the Gulf of Mexico, bearing down on US cities. Many people have used the word “Biblical” to describe what is happening, but most people do not take seriously the idea that God is punishing his people. Maybe we should.
If God is angry, we should pray on why that might be. Pat Robertson said that coronavirus is God’s way to hold us guilty for same sex marriage and abortion. But throughout salvation history, as recounted in the Bible, God has time and again held His people to account for the same sin, one that does not involve sexual misconduct, or abortion. What has repeatedly angered God is our failure to do justice, especially when the people of God have allowed the rich and powerful to take advantage of the poor and the weak. Isaiah 10: 1-2; Zekariah 7: 8-12; Amos 2: 6-7.
Our immigration policy ought to be a particular concern. In Exodus 22: 21 we read: “Do not mistreat or oppress a foreigner, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” One might easily imagine how God could be angry when a nation of immigrants separates children from their parents to deter refugees from seeking asylum, and then, unwilling or unable to restore the children to their families, puts them in cages. Can we really think God will be appeased because the cages are clean?
Exodus 22 continues:
22 “Do not take advantage of the widow or the fatherless. 23 If you do and they cry out to me, I will certainly hear their cry. 24 My anger will be aroused, and I will kill you with the sword; your wives will become widows and your children fatherless.
25 “If you lend money to one of my people among you who is needy, do not treat it like a business deal; charge no interest. 26 If you take your neighbor’s cloak as a pledge, return it by sunset, 27 because that cloak is the only covering your neighbor has. What else can they sleep in? When they cry out to me, I will hear, for I am compassionate.
Time after time, God has taken his people to task for failing to show His compassion to the poor and weak among us. What angers God more than anything else is efforts by his people to feel righteous in their own physical comfort, while ignoring the plight of the poor and downtrodden. Amos 4:1; Ezekiel 16:49; Isaiah 58: 6-7. If we listen to the Word, but do not do what it says, James 1: 23, 27, and instead look for comfort and justification in our tender emotions about the plight of the poor, do we really think that God will judge us righteous?
Sexual misconduct does not appear to have been a major concern for Jesus. So far as I know, His only statement on the matter is: “Let him who is without sin cast the first stone.” John 8: 7. He also said: “Judge not, lest ye be judged.” Matthew 7: 1. The Lord told us clearly what would be asked of us if we want to enter the Kingdom of Heaven, and the questions do not involve our positions on abortion or same-sex marriage. In case we have forgotten what God asks of us, read again from Matthew 25:
35 For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, 36 I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’
37 “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? 38 When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? 39 When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’
40 “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’
Jesus Christ is clear that what matters to God is how we treat the poor, immigrants, prisoners, and the sick. How are we doing as a country on God’s issues? When we ignore the things that God cares about, while trying to demonstrate our own righteousness by loudly and publicly condemning others for conduct we judge as sinful, can we really be surprised that God is angry?
