It is not hard to see there is a lot of anger building up today. It manifests itself in the rage and violent behavior we see everyday in the news. It is apparent in the way kids at school treat each other. It is apparent in the way adults speak to and about each other. Anger is used as a political tool to get people to do things they might not otherwise consider doing. The results are always hurt and more anger. Nothing good comes from man’s anger.
The Bible goes so far as to call those that are often angry, fools. “Be not hasty in thy spirit to be angry: for anger resteth in the bosom of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:9 The word fool, actually means silly or stupid. It generally refers to those that are unbelievers, but can also refer to an attitude. Notice the counsel to not be hasty. We used to say, “count to ten before you reply in anger.” For believers, this is important exhortation. How we respond to others should always be a reflection of Jesus.
Every one of us has been angry at some time. Anger is one of the deeds of the old nature. “But now ye also put off all these; anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth. Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds;” Colossians 3:8-9 We all have an old nature. However, as God’s people (believers, Christians) have something else. We have the New Nature (the Life of Christ) in us and because of that, we can “put off” the old nature.
The apostle Paul reminds of this in Ephesians 4:31 “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice:” He starts in verse 22 about putting off the old man. Then we are told, Ephesians 4:26 “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” We are not to let anger control us and cause us to do something against our brother/sister, or something that will bring shame to the name of Jesus.
It is very wise to leave anger with God. “He that is slow to wrath is of great understanding: but he that is hasty of spirit exalteth folly.” Proverbs 14:29 James reminds us to not be hasty in anger. “Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:” James 1:19 When we become angry, if we first go to the Lord and tell Him what has made us angry, we will find peace, and He will help us to let go of the anger. We need to remember that God is the one who takes care of the circumstance that would cause us to be angry. “Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.” Romans 12:19
I have come to understand that anger is a result of pride. We become angry when someone does something to us or says something about us, or maybe even when we feel slighted by others. This is a result of pride that makes us think that we deserve better; that we do not deserve to be treated this way. We come to understand that we have no control over what others do or say, only over our response to them. That control over our response is yielding to the life of Christ that lives in us.
It is certain that when we act in anger, we will eventually regret it. Anger causes us to do and say things that we would not otherwise do or say. Then, once the words leave our mouth, they can never be taken back. On the other hand, when we are on the receiving end we can heed God’s Word; “[He that is] slow to anger [is] better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” Proverbs 16:32.
The world would have us believe that getting angry is just natural and necessary. Well, it is natural, but we do not need to be controlled by our anger. When we overcome anger through Jesus, we show to the world that Jesus is truly Lord. We show them how Jesus can bring peace to our lives.
There is a very instructive story in 1Samuel 25. David is about to react in anger against Nabal, but his wife Abigail comes to speak with David and diffuses his anger. David’s response in verses 32-34 are a reminder that sometimes we can react to a situation in anger that we might regret. Abigail shows us that when someone is reacting in anger towards us, we can help diffuse that anger. Alternatively, we just react in anger and they react in anger, and it just gets out of hand. “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” Proverbs 15:1.
Jesus Himself is our example. Peter tells us that Jesus did not respond in anger even though He had a right to be angry. “For even hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for us, leaving us an example, that ye should follow his steps: Who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: Who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, he threatened not; but committed himself to him that judgeth righteously:” 1Peter 2:21-23.
If you are thinking that it is too hard sometimes to control your anger, then I remind you that you have the life of Christ in you. Not only is He our example, but He is our power to follow His example. When we yield our emotions to Him, we will find ourselves reacting as He would. We should not be gritting our teeth to overcome anger.
I have heard some claim that their anger is a “righteous indignation.” This is just a fancy way to justify our desire to be angry. James reminds us that human anger does not bring righteousness. “For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.” James 1:20. It is true that God does exhibit righteous anger at times, but we cannot claim that same outcome since we are not omniscient.
If we have said something in anger, then we should ask forgiveness. We need to ask forgiveness from God, and then from the person with whom we were angry. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger. Take care of it quickly. You will feel better, and you will be glad you did. Remember that only Jesus can control your anger.
Amazing grace, how sweet the sound!
No greater place could e’re be found
Then safely kept in Jesus’ arms,
Protected from the temptor’s harms.
The vic’try for our souls was won
By heaven’s own Beloved Son.
Upon the cross, on Calv’rys brow,
Our sin He bore for us, and now
We stand complete in Christ alone.
He bought us, now we are His own.
“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.” Romans 8:28
The Word of God is like a cookbook. In it we find many recipes for the nutrition of our spiritual man. What is a recipe? The 1942 Webster’s Dictionary defines it as “a list of materials and directions for preparing, mixing or cooking food to produce a particular dish.” However, the primary definition of “recipe” in this edition of Webster’s was “a physician’s formula for a medicine, also called a prescription.” In those days the physician would write out the formula and the pharmacist would mix up the medicine. Today most medications are premanufactured.
Spiritually, this means that the Word of God is also a prescription for the healing of our soul. Rom. 8:28 is a recipe for victory in our lives which is personally prescribed for us, but we must be willing to believe it and to receive it and partake of it. We must do more than simply read this verse or memorize it.
Now I would like to use the natural example of cooking something from a recipe to help explain how that we can appropriate God’s Word for ourselves. Let us assume that you are going to try to cook something from a recipe that someone gave to you.
First of all, you must trust the person who wrote the recipe and have faith that the finished product will turn out good. The next thing that you do is to read the recipe and consider the ingredients. But just possessing the recipe and reading it does not result in a finished product. You must decide to personally act upon it and make it a reality for yourself. The same is true spiritually. We must lay hold of the truth of the Word and act upon it by faith.
It takes all of the ingredients in a recipe to make it come out right. Some of the ingredients by themselves don’t necessarily look good or taste good or smell good. Vanilla smells good, but it tastes bitter. Raw eggs and uncooked flour taste bad, but they are necessary. God has a plan, or recipe, for our lives, and we must trust that all things will work together, both the bitter and the sweet. At the time that we are “tasting” or experiencing the bitter things, we may not understand the reason for them. His thoughts are higher than ours. He knows the end from the beginning and how much bitter and sweet that we need.
Suppose in making your recipe that you tasted each ingredient separately and decided to just leave out the things that didn’t taste good. Suppose you felt that all ingredients should be equally represented, so you just used ¼ cup of everything. Or perhaps you got impatient and decided to speed up the process by doubling the heat and cooking it for half the time. Maybe you can’t stand the heat from the oven, so you decide to put the cake in the freezer instead!
Too often we try to rewrite the recipe of God’s Word to make it fit our lifestyle instead of patiently waiting for Him to work His will in our lives. God knows exactly what we need: how hot to make the oven of our trials and how long we need to stay in them to produce the desired outcome.
Paul stated in Rom. 8:28 that he knew that all things work together for good. How did he know that? He learned that by his own experience. He had tried the recipe and discovered that it worked good for him. He was able to count all of the “all things,” including the suffering and the imprisonment, as joy. And so, he passed the recipe on to us. It is our recipe for victory. Are you willing to try it?
To each of us there comes a time,
when valleys we must face.
The walls seem steep, no end in sight,
yet always there is grace.
Each valley is a different trial,
and some are battles fierce.
We seem to face awesome giants,
whose armor we can’t pierce.
Yet when we fight instead of run,
and use what God deems best,
Then giants fall in sound defeat,
and we just stand there blessed.
Sometimes the battle waxes strong,
Our foes just laugh with glee.
Yet when our voices lift in praise,
they turn in fear and flee.
The valleys seem to sap our strength,
and weary with the fight,
We cry out for relief and rest,
and God gives us His Might.
Debbie Isenbletter
Springfield, Missouri
“In whom we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of his grace; Wherein he hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; Having made known unto us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure which he hath purposed in himself: That in the dispensation of the fulness of times he might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are on earth; even in him: In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will: That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.” Ephesians 1:7-10
In the first six verses, we started noting that Paul continually refers to He, Him, who hath, all referring to what God has done. This first chapter really helps us understand the provision, and it is those that will go deeper and seek complete maturity that will lay hold of these.
As we continue in this chapter, we continue to see more of what has been done for us. Redemption (liberation procured by the payment of a ransom), and forgiveness of sins (remission of the penalty). Jesus purchased (paid the price for) our redemption. Not just barely, but according to the riches of His grace. We do not have the capacity to understand the true meaning of that phrase. Anything we think about what that means, falls short of the actuality. Our minds are so limited by the fact that we live in a limiting environment. I really encourage you to take time and meditate on some of these statements in this first chapter. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you.
All of what we see here is God’s doing according to His good pleasure. We cannot take any credit, nor can we even think that we might have imagined this. And what we learn is that everything that God purposes is abundant. Never just barely enough. This entire plan is God’s wisdom. It certainly does not fit the wisdom of this world. Consider 1 Corinthians 1:17-25.
He has abounded towards us. The means that He created provision for us beyond what might be expected. This is His wisdom. I often hear people say something like “God is so unfair, or He doesn’t care about human suffering, or how can a loving God do this?” As if somehow a puny little human could even imagine or understand the workings of the all-wise God. Paul says this “Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men.” 1Corinthians 1:25. The most “foolish” thing that God could do, is still wiser than the wisest thing man could conceive.
And, instead of just keeping His wisdom to Himself, God imparts it unto us. “But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:” 1Corinthians 1:30. Everything that God has is made available to us through Jesus. Not because we deserve it, but because it is His good pleasure (grace). This thing that God has done and is doing right now, is not just a random occurrence. He is not just throwing things out there to see what happens. God always has a plan and purpose with everything He does. All the provision He has made available to us is making something specific that God had predetermined before the beginning of time.
God is bringing everything together in Jesus Christ. This is not an experiment to see if it works, it is a completed plan into which we are being offered a place. God absolutely will bring all things together in Jesus Christ, and the only question we must consider is: Am I going to be part of that? Remember that God is doing this. It is His work, not yours or mine.
For all of eternity, God will demonstrate that His plan of grace, that required the sacrifice of Jesus, was the only way, and that will bring Him glory. Notice this statement: “That we should be to the praise of his glory.” I always find this incredible. If you really understand the condition of humanity, it is incredible to consider that God will use us to bring glory to Himself, and yet, He absolutely will.
And, incase that isn’t enough, He has made us His heirs. We have “obtained” an inheritance. We have not “earned” an inheritance, it is God’s grace towards us to give us an inheritance in Christ Jesus. “And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.” Romans 8:17. I don’t know about you, but that is a statement that is hard to grasp.
If I told you that your were heir to Warren Buffet, you might be overwhelmed at the immensity of that prospect. That isn’t even a drop in God’s bucket. He is the creator, and thus owner, of everything. This isn’t about some greedy grab for wealth, it is an acknowledgment of the immensity of God’s grace towards us. It should elicit gratitude and humility to realize we have been given saving grace, enabling grace and preparation grace.
We have put our trust in Jesus, and that is all He has asked of us, Faith. Believe what He has said and trust that He will accomplish all of His will. The Gospel is not about performance, but rather it is about putting all of our trust and faith in Jesus for every aspect of our lives.
Faith is not some blind adherence to something because someone told us to. We trust Him because He has proven who He is. Abraham stepped out in faith and God proved to Him over and over that He was able to do what He promised. It is even easier for us. We have all of the Old Testament that shows us over and over God’s faithfulness and His ability to accomplish His promises.
Even beyond that, we can clearly see God’s faithfulness in His creation. He has created this world for us, and He sustains it every day. It is just exactly what we need to live.
Continued
He’s helping me now this moment,
Though I may not see it or hear,
Perhaps by a friend far distant,
Perhaps by a stranger near,
Perhaps by a spoken message,
Perhaps by the printed word;
In says that I know and know not
I have the help of the Lord.
He’s keeping me now -this moment,
However I need it most
Perhaps by a single angel,
Perhaps by a mighty host,
Perhaps by the chain that frets me,
Or the walls that shut me in;
In ways that I know and know not,
He keeps me from harm and sin.
He’s guiding me now-this moment,
In pathways easy or hard,
Perhaps by a door wide open,
Perhaps by a door fast barred,
Perhaps by a joy withholden.
Perhaps by a gladness given;
In ways that I know and know not,
He’s leading me up to heaven.
He’s using me now-this moment,
And whether I go or stand,
Perhaps by a plan accomplished,
Perhaps when He stays my hand,
Perhaps by a word in season,
Perhaps by a silent prayer;
In ways that I know and know not,
His labor of love I share.
– A. J. Flint