Does God Get Angry?

“He will not be angry unto the end, neither will He be wrathful forever” (Psalm 103:9)

What would it mean if God never got angry with us? What does it imply if we never get angry with our children? Doesn’t this mean that there is no love? Don’t we feel a bit angry at time when those we love disappoint us in their behavior? Shouldn’t we be angry at evil? Surly there are time when  it’s necessary to rebuke or correct those we love.

Elder Aimilianos says in his commentary on this passage,

A God who never got angry would be a God without love; He would be like an unfeeling father who merely tolerates or ignores his children long enough until they’re grown up and gone.

But, we must remember that God is also merciful if we make and effort to correct our errant ways. He wants us to be perfected in His image and likeness. 

The Elder comments,

But even When God grows angry, He will not be angry unto the end. He will not make sinful man drink the cup of His wrath to the dregs. Instead He will deal with us with great delicacy and sensitivity. As soon as He sees even the smallest little improvement in the soul; the slightest turn in the direction of the light, His anger will immediately dissipate. God’s punishment is never commensurate with the crime; it is not measured out by the standards of an impersonal law, or by demands of abstract justice; it extends only so far as is needed for correction.

We must remember that whatever God let’s happen to us is for our good. 

He has not required us according to our transgressions, neither has He dealt with us according to our sins. (Psalm 103:10)

Elder Aimilianos writes,

Whatever God has done to us, or permitted to happen to us, was not according to the measure of out transgressions, but according to the measure of His love, and this is something that should fill us with joy.

Ref:  Psalms and the Life of Faith, by Elder Aimilianos of Simonopetra, pp282-283.

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