The wrath to come

"It is pleasant to pass over a country after a storm has spent itself; to smell the freshness of the herbs after the rain has passed away, and to note the drops while they glisten like purest diamonds in the sunlight. That is the position of a Christian. He is going through a land where the storm has spent itself upon his Savior's head, and if there be a few drops of sorrow falling, they distill from clouds of mercy, and Jesus cheers him by the assurance that they are not for his destruction. But how terrible is it to witness the approach of a tempest: to note the forewarnings of the storm; to mark the birds of heaven as they droop their wings; to see the cattle as they lay their heads low in terror; to discern the face of the sky as it groweth black, and look to the sun which shineth not, and the heavens which are angry and frowning! How terrible to await the dread advance of a hurricane - such as occurs, sometimes, in the tropics - to wait in terrible apprehensions till the wind shall rush forth in fury, tearing up trees from their roots, forcing rocks from their pedestals, and hurling down all the dwelling-places of man! And yet, sinner, this is your present position. No hot drops have as yet fallen, but a shower of fire is coming. No terrible winds howl around you, but God's tempest is gathering its dread artillery. As yet the water floods are dammed up by mercy, but the flood gates shall soon be opened: the thunderbolts of God are yet in His storehouse, but lo! the tempest hastens, and how awful shall that moment be when God, robed in vengeance, shall march forth in fury! Where, where, where, O sinner, wilt thou hide thy head, or whither wilt thou flee? O that the hand of mercy may now lead you to Christ! He is freely set before you in the gospel: His riven side is the rock of shelter. Thou knowest thy need of Him, cast thyself upon Him, and then the fury shall be overpast forever."
-Charles Haddon Spurgeon, Morning and Evening

How seldom I grasp...really grasp...this truth! If only I could remember, every moment of every day, the gravity both of what I've been saved from and the wrath that hangs over the head of every single human being I interact with. When, by the mercy of God, I do grasp this reality, it's absolutely overwhelming. The only way I can even begin to put into words the depth of emotion I feel is how Jeremiah described his reaction to God's declaration of judgment on Judah:

"My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh the walls of my heart! My heart is beating wildly, I cannot keep silent, for I hear the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war" (Jeremiah 4:19).

"My joy is gone; grief is upon me; my heart is sick within me...For the wound of the daughter of my people is my heart wounded; I mourn, and dismay has taken hold on me...Is there no balm in Gilead? Is there no physician there? Why then has the health of the daughter of my people not been restored? Oh that my head were waters, and my eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!" (Jeremiah 8 and 9)

Or what George Whitefield once said: "How can I but weep for you, when you will not weep for yourselves, though your immortal souls are on the verge of destruction!"

Thanks be to God who continually preserves me from despair by reminding me of the power of the gospel, by which we can (and should) abound in hope! As strong as sin's grip is on my heart and on the world around me, Christ's redemption is far stronger. And this is why I can wake up every morning with hope.