"IT IS A FEARFUL THING TO FALL INTO THE HANDS OF THE LIVING GOD." For the wrath of God is dreadful. But this is only directed against His obstinate and determined enemies. The anger of the Lord is distressing; this is directed against His people for a time. Each of us may say, "Thou wast angry with me." Let us look at this solemn fact: God had been angry. The cause of His anger is sin. The object with which He is angry is His child. The nature of His anger is paternal. The effects of His anger are various: sometimes it affects our temporal things; it always enlarges our spiritual comfort and joy. His anger is transient: it endures but for a moment; in His favour is life. But when God is angry with us, every hour seems a day, and every day a month. But it is cheering to know that He retains not His anger forever. He looks to the atonement: He listens to the cry of the penitent one; love works in His heart; He remembers His covenant, and He proves that He delights in mercy. Wrath will burn for ever against impenitent sinners, being fed with the fuel of sin. Anger against a child soon burns out, quenched by the streams of paternal love.

For Meditation:
He passes all our follies by,
And all our sins forgives;
His wrath doth in a moment die,
His love forever lives.