Devotional Thought

The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness... Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished...

-Exodus 34:6–7

One of the deepest struggles many have with the Christian faith is reconciling the idea of a loving God with the stories of judgment and destruction in the Old Testament. How can a God who orders the destruction of entire people groups be the same God who "is love"?

The answer lies not in evading the uncomfortable parts of Scripture but in diving deeply into them with humility and context. The destruction of the Canaanites and Amalekites was not a random outburst of divine rage—it was the culmination of centuries of injustice, cruelty, and rebellion. God waited, grieved, and offered opportunities for repentance (see Rahab and Nineveh), but when evil persisted unchecked, He acted to protect not only His people but the future hope of redemption through the Messiah.

God’s justice is not at odds with His love—it flows from it. Because He loves, He judges evil. Because He is holy, He disciplines His people. His wrath, as Becky Pippert puts it, is “His settled opposition to the cancer… which is eating out the insides of the human race He loves.”

Let us not reduce God to a caricature of either unfeeling justice or indulgent love. Instead, let’s allow His Word to expand our understanding of what it means for God to be holy, loving, just, and good—all at once.

Discussion Questions

1. When you were growing up, how was God’s character usually described to you—more loving, more just, or something else? How did that shape your early view of Him?

2. What makes the idea of God’s judgment difficult for people to accept today? In what ways has our culture’s focus on personal freedom and individual truth shaped how we think about justice and morality?

3. How does understanding the historical and moral context of the Amalekites and Canaanites impact your view of God’s actions in the Old Testament?

4. Can you recall a time when you wrestled with God's justice or discipline in your own life? How did it shape your faith or understanding of His character?

5. What is the difference between human anger and God’s wrath? Why is this distinction important in how we talk about God’s justice?

6. Consider the tension: people say they can’t believe in a God who lets evil continue AND they can’t believe in a God who judges. How have you encountered this contradiction in your conversations or thoughts?

7. Becky Pippert says that “anger is not the opposite of love… the final form of hate is indifference.” How does this perspective shift your view of God’s anger?

8. What does it mean that “God disciplines those He loves” (Hebrews 12:5–7)? In what ways might hardship or confrontation with truth be a form of God’s grace?

9. What practices or habits can help us grow in our trust in God's character, even when we encounter the “hard texts” of Scripture?