Last week our family got caught in
a hailstorm while in Denver. The
storm gave me a few things to think about, one
of which I wrote about on Monday, and
the other, which is today's post.
I have been inside the house during a hail storm
before, most noticeably the storm that came through Dulce two years ago. There was really large hail that day
and Kat and I watched it fall and then bounce three feet into the air. From the
comfort of the house it was primarily entertainment.
But that storm wasn't entertaining for Robin,
who was outside at the post office parking lot, using a box to protect her
head. She came home with
bruises from hail hitting her shoulders and arms.
The storm last week was intense. The hail
started falling as Robin was
checking our family into a motel. Kat and I were waiting in the car and
the storm turned from rain to
hail while Robin was in the motel. Several
things came to mind during the fifteen minutes, by my best guess, that the hail
lasted.
First was the violence of the storm. As we sat in the car the noise of hail
striking our car was so loud that Kat and I had to yell to hear each
other. The violence was
also evident when particularly large pieces of hail struck the car. The noise sounded as if someone was
swinging a framing hammer on our car.
Second was the relentless nature of the
storm. When I think of hail
I think of a storm that is intense, but brief. My memory of hail in Minnesota is the
it would only fall for a few minutes and
then the storm would either turn to rain or just fade away. There was so much hail during last
week's storm that the city had to get plows out to clear off the freeway.
And lastly, as I hoped that everyone who might
have been outside had found shelter, I wondered what it would be like to out
outside in a storm like that, with no options for shelter. Violence that is intense and
unrelenting, and with no escape and, while it is happening, no end in
sight. That last image is
one that I think gives us a glimpse of the wrath of God towards human sin.
From our point of view, as sinful humans living
in a fallen world, the wrath of God against sin is almost impossibly hard to
grasp. We can make all
kinds of excuses and give all kinds of reasons for believing that there is no
such a thing as God pouring his wrath out against sin. "God is love." "That is
old fashioned; a hold-over from the Old Testament." "Sin isn't really that bad." "Surely you are misreading the
Bible." The list could
go on and on.
But whatever we might want to say against the
idea of God's wrath, we can't deny that from Genesis through Revelation, God
hates sin and promises to deal with it. And
one of the ways he promises to deal with it is to offer a substitute, to bear
his wrath against our sin, so that we can be made whole with him. That substitute, Jesus, knew the truth
of God's wrath when, as he approached the moment of bearing it, the Bible
says:
"And going a little farther, he fell on
the ground and prayed that, if it were possible, the hour might pass
from him. And he said, “Abba, Father, all things are possible
for you. Remove this cup from me. Yet not what I will, but what you
will.”"
Last week's hail storm gave me a glimpse into
the wrath of God against human sin, wrath that I fully deserve, whether I can
grasp how terrible it truly is or not. But
is a wrath that I have been delivered from, in the mercy and grace God gives to
all who call on Jesus as Savior and Lord.
Salvation is found in no other name. May you know salvation in the name of
the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing
ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
