Blood Splattered God Garments

Today I read about the day of God's vengeance and the year of his redemption. It has to be one of the most graphic and disturbing passages of scripture in the entire bible. It portrays God as such a violent God. It states in Isaiah 63:3-4 "I have trodden the winepress alone; from the nations no one was with me. I trampled them in my anger and trod them down in my wrath; their blood spattered my garments, and I stained all my clothing. 4 For the day of vengeance was in my heart, and the year of my redemption has come. After this graphic and disturbing description of the wrath of God the prophet seems to run to the aspect of God that is much more likeable. He goes on to say...Isa 63:7 I will tell of the kindnesses of the LORD, the deeds for which he is to be praised, according to all the LORD has done for us — yes, the many good things he has done... The lesson seemed clear to me. The passionate wrath of God is scary and at the same time motivating. Motivating because of the "year of his redemption". The point I got this morning was that this terrible and awesome aspect of God's character should drive us to the side of him that longs to show kindness and mercy now. The two times are compared. His wrath is pictured as a day but his redemption is described as a year. His mercy is huge and his anger is slow in coming but in the end his wrath is swift. I've seen this in my own family, especially when the kids were younger. My anger was swift and decisive but my mercy and kindness was slow and steady and thankfully long. The display of my anger I am sure was terrible in the eyes of my kids but the calm following the storm was sweet, deep and abiding. I think I saw this in my heavenly father this morning. Later in the passage the prophet wondered why God would make us in such a way the we wander from his ways and our hearts can become hardened so we don't revere him. But this again is a tribute to his amazing love. His warnings are thick and long and often and his patience seems to be endless but in the end we must chose to love him back or face the terrible consequence of our own choice. This was the beginning of my day and this passage has been rumbling around in my mind the whole day. It feels good to get it out of there and write it here in my blog. What about you guys any thoughts about this subject?