sinners in the hands of an angry God.

31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. (Hebrew 10)

This very verse always reminds me of Jonathan Edwards.:)

Even though we should always try to remember the goodness of God, we must also be conscious of the side of God that is just and fair. If we sin and reject Him, there will be consequences; if we are willing to choose other gods before Him, then there's a realistic yet frightening notion that we'll have to face Him one day. This verse tacts on the adjective "living" to describe God. I think it's an emphasis on the fact that God WILL deal with us. Just because He allows us to be evil and commit sin doesn't mean that He is not unaware of our actions or thoughts; the judgment will come from the living God.

It's important to understand the terror of God, in order for us to think twice about doing things that aren't pleasing to Him. It should deter us, but even more so, His love for us should make us want to behave. It is equally important to hold onto the fact that His love has established His throne. God is good; He is merciful. We shouldn't live in fear of Him, but rather love Him as our disciplinary and leader. We should also never take advantage of that fact that He is so forgiving. We should never deliberately choose to reject Him in the things that we do.

We are sinners. God can be angry. We are in His hands. However, these three things are not necessarily simultaneously occurring. If we repent from our wicked ways, He will hold us lovingly in His hands, without anger and without bitterness. If we don't repent and we continue to reject His ways, then perhaps the three events will occur at one time, which is, in short, just dreadful.