Feasting on the Word Part 3

And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The LORD [Yahweh], the LORD [Yahweh], the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished; he punishes the children and their children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation.”     (Exodus 34:6-7)

erek apayim – slow to anger, literally “long of ”

“whoever is ‘erek apayim’ has great understanding but one who is quick-tempered displays folly”

(Proverbs 14:29 NIV)

“whoever is ‘erek apayim’ is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city”

(Proverbs 16:32 NIV)

You can make God but you really have to work at it.

There are times when the healthy, emotionally mature response to is anger.

The Lord is slow to anger but great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. 
(Nahum 1:3 NIV)

Wrath: when he deals with evil now
Wrath: when he deals with evil later, the day of Yahweh
Wrath: when God acts directly to put a stop to evil
Wrath: when God does not act, and that is the judgment

Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life.

(Galatians 6:7-8 NIV)

Sin is its own , obedience its own

Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those selling doves. “It is written,”he said to them, “‘My house will be called a house of prayer,’ but you are making it ‘a den of robbers.’” (Matthew 21:12-13 (NIV)

In Jesus, we see Yahweh’s anger is born out of his .

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” (James 1:19-20) 

Community is where we practice the patience of God