{"id":3878,"date":"2017-06-22T11:15:13","date_gmt":"2017-06-22T15:15:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/?p=3878"},"modified":"2017-06-26T11:02:23","modified_gmt":"2017-06-26T15:02:23","slug":"really-ticks-god-off","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/2017\/06\/really-ticks-god-off.html","title":{"rendered":"What Really Ticks God Off?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><em><strong>They forgot what he had done\u2014<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> the great wonders he had shown them,<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>the miracles he did for their ancestors\u2026<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>When the Lord heard them, he was furious.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> Yes, his anger rose against Israel,<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>for they did not believe God<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong> or trust him to care for them.<\/strong><\/em><br \/>\n<em><strong>(Psalm 78:11,12a,21,22)<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/prayerplainandsimple\/files\/2017\/06\/black-and-white-image-of-abstract-fingers-in-michelangelos-style.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-3881\" src=\"https:\/\/wp-media.beliefnet.com\/sites\/224\/2017\/06\/black-and-white-image-of-abstract-fingers-in-michelangelos-style-300x189.jpg\" alt=\"black-and-white-image-of-abstract-fingers-in-michelangelos-style\" width=\"300\" height=\"189\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Some people see God as irked, ticked, and ready to strike. Others see Him as gentle, tender as a prima dona\u00a0moving about carefully while her fingernail polish dries.<\/p>\n<p>Well&#8230;is He mad or not?<\/p>\n<p>Scripture shows us what ticks God off; we get a glimpse of this in Jesus\u2019 life, who is the picture-perfect representation of our Heavenly Father. Let\u2019s start with a look at a Psalmist\u2019s historical account of something that happened after the Lord miraculously delivered the nation of Israel from bondage in Egypt.<\/p>\n<p>God had done one\u00a0marvel after another: He parted the Red Sea and made a way of escape that no one could have believed in their wildest imagination. When they were thirsty in the desert, He mysteriously provided water out of \u2013 of all things \u2013 a rock. Time after time, even daily, He miraculously supplied sustenance so that they never went either hungry or thirsty living in a desert.<\/p>\n<p>And how did they respond?<\/p>\n<p>They complained. They acknowledged what God had done, yes, but assumed and declared that His power was limited to what they had theretofore experienced. They bound His hands, in a sense. They said, \u201cYes, I\u2019ll admit He can do A, B, and C. But He is unable to do D. And D is what we really want and need.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Can you imagine how frustrating that must have been to God?<\/p>\n<p>When believers don\u2019t believe Him, when they don\u2019t expect Him to pull through for Him, when they limit His power to their own subjective experience, that\u2019s when He has every right to be angry.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus was angry following Lazarus\u2019s death. John\u2019s gospel tells us that when He arrived at Lazarus\u2019s house and saw the weeping and wailing, \u201cA deep anger welled up within him.\u201d Later He gently chastised Martha saying, \u201cDidn\u2019t I tell you that you would see God\u2019s glory if you believe?\u201d It would appear perhaps that Jesus had rehearsed this scene with them before it happened, telling them to hang in there and that all would be made right and beautiful if they stood steadfast in their faith.<\/p>\n<p>Jesus expects us to believe Him, but how many times do we miss a miracle because we give up believing?<\/p>\n<p>God doesn\u2019t get angry at unbelievers who don\u2019t believe; they don\u2019t pretend to! They are at the very least honest. But if you\u2019re a believer, then believe in His love! Believe in His justice! Believe in His ability! Believe in His willingness to help you! Believe in His unlimited power! By doing so, you can avoid His disappointment and, yes, His anger.<\/p>\n<p>Believe, oh believer!<\/p>\n<p>Or else, let\u2019s think of something else to define our faith-identity: instead of a Firm Believer, perhaps we need label ourselves Fickle or Fake or Flimsy Believers!<\/p>\n<p>Believers believe!<\/p>\n<p>Still, sometimes they pray this plain and simple prayer:<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Father,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Help me in my unbelief!<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center\"><strong><em>Amen<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: left\">Photo credit: <a href=\"http:\/\/foter.com\/re\/0e143a\">Foter.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>They forgot what he had done\u2014 the great wonders he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors\u2026 When the Lord heard them, he was furious. The fire of his wrath burned against Jacob. Yes, his anger rose against Israel, for they did not believe God or trust him to care for them.&hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":478,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,15,7,4,25,3,1],"tags":[479,885,2132,2131,2130],"class_list":["post-3878","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bible","category-bible-prayer","category-daily-prayer","category-god","category-jesus","category-prayer","category-uncategorized","tag-believe","tag-believe-the-impossible","tag-gods-kindness","tag-is-god-mad-at-me","tag-the-anger-of-god"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v23.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>What Really Ticks God Off?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, nofollow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What Really Ticks God Off?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"They forgot what he had done\u2014 the great wonders he had shown them, the miracles he did for their ancestors\u2026 When the Lord heard them, he was furious. 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