Psalm 7:11 God is a righteous judge, and a God who feels indignation every day.
Do you want to know the wonder of God's mercy and grace? Do you want to feel the stunning relief of forgiveness? Do you want to know what it's like to have an unbearable weight lifted from your shoulders? Unless you understand the reality of God's anger and wrath, you will never truly comprehend the wonder of his mercy.
Let's break Psalm 7:11 down into its two simple statements.
1. God is a righteous judge.
God is not simply a judge. I'm sure any and every judge in America would want to be known as a righteous judge. The problem with that is that even judges know that they are bound by the process of law. They have cases throughout the years that give precedence for making decisions. They are bound by legislators who seek to make and enhance and sometimes change laws. They are bound by constitutional documents that lay a foundation for the nation's laws. In all of this, we see through the years that laws and judicial decisions have evolved with the changing landscape of the culture. A judge may desire to say they are righteous, but their idea of that righteousness is inevitably diluted as it is defined by the ideas of right and wrong developed over time by fallible, sinful, humans. Those judges themselves are fallible, sinful humans.
God is not bound by subjective human ideals of right and wrong. God is right. God is always right. His righteousness is without blemish and his purity is perfection. When the Psalmist says that God is a righteous judge, this is an absolute statement about the very perfection of God's character. God is the ultimate judge as the source of all goodness. He cannot judge incorrectly. He cannot be manipulated into bending his judgment. His judgments are true and perfect, and they stand in his immutable sovereignty. They are bound to his holiness and every single breach of his holiness is brought under his judgment. To be the righteous judge, he must miss nothing because if he were to leave any breach of his holiness unnoticed or unpunished, it would be a breach of his very righteousness. God is a righteous judge because his character is absolute perfection.
2. A God who feels indignation every day.
Every day you and I sin. Yes, you do. Every day we ignore the glory of God in one way or another. We unintentionally breach his standard of perfect holiness. We intentionally breach his standard of perfect holiness. Not just one sin every day - multiple - every person - every day - ever since Genesis 3.
If God did not feel the intense indignation at the very nature of humanity and every thought, word and deed that deny his goodness, he would not be righteous. The indignation of God is a direct display of his perfectly righteous character in the face of our devastating sinful nature and behavior. His wrath upon sin brews in the righteousness of his indignation and must be delivered.
Now consider this. God, The Son, came into this world to be born of a virgin, take on humanity, live among us as one of us. He was truly man and yet truly God. Jesus walked among us with the very same righteous indignation explained in Psalm 7:11. Every day, Jesus healed, taught, delivered from demons, fed, and loved people who were sinning against him. He went to the cross feeling that indignation at every cry of "crucify him." He felt that indignation at every scoffing word against him and the pound of every nail fastening him to a cross. He took human sin upon himself and then in the full fury of God's righteous indignation, he endured the infinite wrath of the righteous Judge.
When we see this mercy and grace in the light of the righteous indignation of God, we start to get a miniscule glimpse at just how amazing it is. When you understand God's righteous indignation and wrath, you can begin to feel the relief of his mercy. You begin to feel the joy of his forgiveness. You begin to live for the glory of his grace.