It seems to always hold true that whatever you endeavor to teach on from the Word of God will become an obvious issue for you.

I don’t know if it’s because I’m thinking about anger and therefore am more aware of my own, or if I’m just distracted, or if God is working on this particular area for me (most likely all of the above!), but I have found myself being impatient and easily angered as a mommy lately. Remember the Elmo underwear? I seem to have to learn this over and over again!

This morning on our way back from Walmart, I was listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss on her radio program, Revive our Hearts. She has been doing a series on the “Beauty of Meekness,” and I thought what she had to say answered a lot of the issues raised in our past posts on anger, and it resonated with me personally, as well. You can read the entire transcript of her program today here; I’m going to quote some excerpts that were particularly applicable to our prior discussions today. (All emphasis, bolding, etc. are mine)

Meekness, according to Matthew Henry, deals with and relates to our feelings of anger. Meekness has to do with how we handle those feelings of anger. He says it doesn’t totally eradicate anger because sometimes there is justified biblical occasion for anger, but the function of meekness is to direct and control our anger so that we may be angry and sin not, as we’re told in… Ephesians 4:26: “Be angry and sin not.”

So it’s meekness that puts a bridle on our anger and helps us to be angry in appropriate ways without it turning to sin.

Henry points out in his book that meekness enables us to govern or control our anger when we are provoked by others. In that sense, meekness is like a bridle.

How does this work?

A spirit of meekness causes us to stop and think before we react…

Matthew Henry says,

Let meekness stand sentinel [let it be a guard over your heart and your tongue in your responses], and upon the advance of a provocation [when we are provoked] let us examine who it is that we are about to be angry with, and for what. What are the merits of the cause . . . what are likely to be the consequences of our resentments, and what harm will it be if we stifle them, and let them go no further?

So he’s saying meekness stands like a guard. Before you let out all this stuff, before you spew, before you say the words to your husband or your kids: “Why did you . . . Why can’t you . . . I can’t believe you . . .” Before any of that comes out, you stop and you think: “Who am I talking to? This is my husband. He is not my enemy. This is my child that God gave to me. I love this child.” Or, “This is a person who was created in the image of God.” You just stop and think, “Who am I going to talk to?” And you think, “What did that person do?”…

…Henry goes on to say,

Don’t let your displeasure against the [injustices] of another cause you to put your own soul into a hurry. Meekness is the grace which preserves a man master of himself.

That’s what keeps you in control under the control of the Holy Spirit of God… meekness causes us to stop and think before reacting.

Then Matthew Henry points out that, “Meekness will curb the tongue and keep the mouth as with a bridle when the heart is hot.” …He says, “Even when we are called to rebuke others sharply …yet meekness forbids all fury and indecency of language, and everything that sounds like ‘clamor and evil speaking.’”

I know that it is true for me, and it seems to be true for most people, that most of my ungodly anger stems from pride. Big, ugly, monstrous pride. Someone has inconvenienced me, wronged me, stepped on my “rights” or my overly inflated view of my importance.

Meekness and humility go hand in hand. It is a humility before God, acknowledging that He is sovereign over all [remember, all forms of complaining are small acts of rebellion against Him!]. It is also a humility before others, putting their needs ahead of our own, seeking to serve rather than to overpower, giving up the desire to retaliate when we are wronged.

True humility, true meekness, will bridle our anger and stand sentinel over our tongues and reactions.

So, this afternoon as I work on my “big, important adult tasks” and my daughter constantly “interrupts” me, wanting me to hold her, or play with her, or turn off the tv, or give her a snack… shall I be angry and impatient with her, letting my tongue and tone wound her when she has done nothing wrong? What if she does disobey – in my discipline, am I angrily reacting to how her behavior has affected me, or am I meekly and lovingly teaching her to do what is right? I hope that I am not the only one who feels 2″ tall as I read that.

Interesting that as we parent and disciple our children, God disciples us! Lord, you truly are slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness – make us more like You!

A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression.
Proverbs 19:11

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If you’re not a frequent reader, you might be wondering how the wrath of God ties in with parenting from the book of Proverbs! We’ve been following a little bunny trail here, but I think it was a necessary one. There are a couple of lessons to learn about controlling our own anger from looking at the wrath of God.

1. The emotion of anger, in and of itself, is not sin; anger can lead us to sin, and must be controlled.

Ephesians 4:26-27 makes this distinction clear:

“In your anger do not sin“: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.

Anger can cause us to act in sin, so it needs to be controlled!

It is interesting to me how the New Living Translation worded these verses:

And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.” Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil.

2. What we get angry about and what God gets angry about are often quite different!

If you think back to our post on God’s anger in the Old Testament, we noted time and time again that God’s anger was incited primarily by idolatry and rebellion. Remember, our sin violates His holy nature!

What do people get angry about? Well, thinking of Biblical accounts, you might think of:

• Cain killing Abel in jealousy because God accepted his brother’s sacrifice but not his own

• Joseph’s brothers attacking him and selling him into slavery after he tells them of his dreams that they would bow before him

• Balaam beating his donkey when she wouldn’t move

• Ahab throwing a fit because Naboth wouldn’t sell him his vineyard (so Jezebel offs Naboth for him)

• Jonah sulking because God spared the Ninevites after they repented, and then sent a worm to eat his favorite vine. (my college roommate and I enjoyed dramatically quoting Jonah, “I’m so angry I could die!” – Jonah 4:9)

Hmmm… doesn’t sound that much better than what we get angry about in our sophisticated modern hearts:
• Getting cut off in traffic
• Having to wait too long in a grocery check-out line
• Being overlooked for a job promotion
• God’s blessing on someone else when we feel cheated
• Jealousy and feeling that things “aren’t fair”

Oh, I’m sorry – did I just step on someone’s toe? Oh, nevermind… it was mine.

Our anger is vary rarely directed at something legitimate – usually our anger flares not because God’s holy name and nature is being violated, but when our over-inflated view of ourselves and what we deserve gets stomped on by those around us. We feel angry… and then we often will allow that anger to control us, give Satan a foothold in our lives, and sin against God and those around us.

Ecclesiastes 7:9 is a great memory verse for this topic – Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools. The Proverbs also have plenty to say about anger:

The wise are slow to anger:
• A fool’s anger is known at once, But a prudent man conceals dishonor. (12:16)
• He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly. (14:29)
• He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit, than he who captures a city. (16:32)
• A man’s discretion makes him slow to anger, And it is his glory to overlook a transgression. (19:11)

The wise calm disputes, rather than stirring them up:
• A gentle answer turns away wrath, But a harsh word stirs up anger. (15:1)
• A hot-tempered man stirs up strife, But the slow to anger calms a dispute. (15:18)
• Scorners set a city aflame, But wise men turn away anger. (29:8)
• An angry man stirs up strife, And a hot-tempered man abounds in transgression. (29:22)

Feeling angry today? Time to take a good hard look at what you’re angry about, and then decide if you’ll let that anger rule over your heart and hands.

Tomorrow we’ll chat about helping our children keep their anger in check… no easy task. Please share your thoughts on strategies and techniques to try!!

Last week, we started looking at the question, “Is God loving, or is He angry? Can He be both?”

We looked at many references in the Old Testament to the anger of the Lord – usually incited by rebellion and idolatry. So, is God still angry in the New Testament?

Romans 1:18-19 tells us,

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness, because that which is known about God is evident within them; for God made it evident to them.

God is still angry – His wrath is against ungodliness and unrighteousness, just like it was in the Old Testament! Paul states this Truth even more strongly in Romans 2:3-8, noting that

because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.

Because of our sin, we have earned God’s wrath. As we commit idolatry, as we misuse His name, as we dishonor our parents, as we hate, as we lie, as we covet, as we steal… we have flagrantly violated His nature and broken His law and have earned His wrath.

So, why does the tone of the New Testament seem different than the Old? Friends, this is the extravagant grace of God’s gift to us in Jesus Christ:

But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.
Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.
Romans 5:8-9

Jesus’ death in our place satisfied the wrath of God against our sin! The Scripture is also very clear that without a personal belief in Jesus as our only hope of salvation, we still will face God’s wrath:

“He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son will not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.”
John 3:36

In preparation for this post, I was reading through Johnathan Edwards’ classic sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an angry God.” Talk about a sermon that would not be well received in most churches today!

He builds a compelling argument that without faith in Christ, the only thing keeping all of us from hell at this very moment is the the will of God – the fact that He does not want us to perish. As mankind rejects salvation through Christ, foolishly thinking that they can somehow withstand God’s wrath on their own, they have lost all hope.

“So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked, his anger is as great towards them as to those that are actually suffering the executions of the fierceness of his wrath in hell, and they have done nothing in the least to appease or abate that anger, neither is God in the least bound by any promise to hold them up one moment; the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up; the fire bent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any security to them. In short, they have no refuge, nothing to take hold of; all that preserves them every moment is the mere arbitrary will, and uncovenanted, unobliged forbearance of an incensed God.”

Sobering!

There has been so much confusion caused over the “if God is so loving…” arguments. Entire cults have formed from the flawed premise that a loving God cannot possibly send people to hell.

Friends, God IS loving – make no mistake. The fact that He is slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness is vividly displayed in the work of Christ. He owes us nothing – all we can possibly earn on our own is hell, for we constantly live in rebellion and flagrant violation of His nature. He has given us the free gift of salvation!

Many in our day and age will argue that saying that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father is too narrow and elitist. What they have failed to understand is that because of God’s holy nature, He cannot overlook sin. It must be paid for. And without accepting the work of Christ on our behalf, there is no one else who can take the full wrath of God against our sin – we will face it ourselves!

The Scripture makes it undeniably clear that we deserve God’s wrath because of our sin. But God has demonstrated His love toward us in this: while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us! Amazing grace, indeed!

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On Monday, we started looking at what the Proverbs have to say about anger… although we haven’t really gotten into the study yet! I ended the post with a homework assignment:

Go to Bible gateway.com and do a keyword search for the phrase “anger of the Lord” – skim through the references and notice how often God is described as being angry. And yet, contrast that with Exodus 34:6.

How can a good and loving God who is “slow to anger” be described as angry so often? What is He angry about, and how does that compare to what humans are usually angry about?

So, what did you come up with? There are many, many references to the fierce anger of the Lord in the Old Testament, and yet we are also told in Exodus 34:6 that God is “compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness and truth.” This statement is repeated in Numbers 14:18, Psalm 86:15, Psalm 103:8, and Psalm 145:8. How can a God with such fierce anger expressed time and time again be described as compassionate, gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in loving kindness?

In our day and age, we have a very simplified view of God. We have very happily stuffed Him in a box, wrapped it up with pretty paper that has rainbows and flowers on it, stuck a bow on top, and given it to ourselves because we are so “deserving and lovable.” We have made Him less than He really is… and as we discussed in our Bible study on Wednesday, what that really boils down to is idolatry. We have made God into an image of our choosing, into a little shadow of who He is, because the reality of the whole story of what the Bible says about God makes us uncomfortable.

Fasten those seat belts, and let’s take a look at what the Bible says.

If you did your homework :), you found that a simple keyword search on the phrase “anger of the Lord” will pull up 120 references! What is God so angry about? [We have already discussed many, many of these instances in past posts. If you're new around here, I invite you to click on the linked posts and read through these as time permits. I LOVE the Old Testament, and it thrills me to see people get a bigger understanding of God by reading and studying His Word!!]

•Exodus 4:14 – God is angry with Moses for his lack of faith

•Exodus 32 – God’s anger against the Aaron and people’s idolatry (the golden calf) results in the death of 3,000 Israelites.

•Numbers 11-13 – there is a LOT of anger happening in these chapters. This was not Israel’s shining time period, that’s for sure! The people’s rebellious and complaining spirit incites God’s anger, resulting in fire consuming the outskirts of the camp, plagues on the people, Miriam covered with leprosy, and eventually wandering in the wilderness for 40 more years.

•Numbers 25:1-4 – the Israelites begin to worship Baal with the people of Moab. The Lord is angry and orders that the leaders of the Israelites to executed in order to turn His anger away from the people.

•Deuteronomy 6:14-15 Moses warns the people that practicing idolatry will incite the anger of the Lord.

•Joshua 7:1 - Achan disregards God’s order to stay away from the plunder of Jericho, resulting in the anger of the Lord.

•Joshua 23:16 – Joshua warns the people that idolatry will incite the anger of the Lord against them

•Judges 2-3 – Lo and behold, the people do fall into idolatry time and time again, and indeed – God is angry.

•2 Samuel 6:6-7 – Uzzah touches the ark of the covenant, incites the anger of the Lord, and dies because of his irreverence.

•Kings, Chronicles, and the prophetic books – throughout these books there are many references to the anger of the Lord, particularly against evil kings who lead the people further into idolatry and rebellion against God. The prophets repeatedly warn about God’s anger.

In the next post we’ll look more about what the New Testament has to say about God’s anger. For right now, did you notice the repeated themes of why God was angry? Idolatry and rebellion.

“Noodle” on that for a while, and we’ll discuss more soon.  In the meantime, here is your next assignment:

How is God’s “slow to anger” nature seen in the Old Testament? Is God still angry in the New Testament? Do His love and anger coexist?