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The Israelites did anger God repeatedly. Psalm 106 recounts several of their cycles of rebellion. Right after the Israelites were delivered from their slavery in Egypt, they started to rebel at the Red Sea. But God miraculously saved them from the pursuing Egyptian army anyway. Soon they forgot God's works and began to complain, but God still met their needs and granted them their requests. Later, they molded an image of a calf and worshipped it and forgot God. Because of this, God said He would destroy them, but when Moses stood in the breach to plead for God's mercy, God turned His wrath away. The Israelites then took another god, Baal of Peor, and ate sacrifices made to the dead. In response, God sent a plague, but stopped it when Phinehas intervened. Later, they didn't follow God's instructions when conquering the Canaanites. Instead of killing them all, they intermarried, served their idols, and made human sacrifices of their children to demons. Finally God's wrath boiled over, and He gave the Israelites into the hands of their enemies to be oppressed and subjected. Yet, even then, God heard their cry and for their sake He relented and caused their captors to pity them. This is not a picture of a mean-spirited God.
Rather, David said this of the 'old testament God': "The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy." Psalms 103:8 God does sometimes punish us for our sins. God himself said "I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the fathers to the third and fourth genereation of those who hate me" Deuteronomy 5:9. But His very next words were "but showing love to a thousand generations of those who love me and keep my commandments." Deuteronomy 5:10. So we can see God's love is much more plentiful than His wrath. David says "He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities." Psalm 103:10 In other words, God is much more merciful than we deserve.
God's abundant mercy toward us was truly revealed when He sent His son Jesus to earth to die on the cross as a blood sacrifice for our sins and then raised Him from the dead. "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Romans 6:23 Jesus died as a substitute for us because God loves us so much that He wants us to have eternal life in heaven in spite of our rebellion and sin. The Bible says "if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved." Romans 10:9 Psalm 103:11-12 teach that "For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is His mercy toward those who fear Him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has He removed our transgressions from us." When we fear the Lord and seek His forgiveness for our sins, His mercy will abound toward us.
"Bless the LORD, O my soul;
And all that is within me, bless His holy name!
Bless the LORD, O my soul,
And forget not all His benefits:
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all you diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies"
Psalm 103:1-4