My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from my cries of anguish? My God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, but I find no rest. (Psalm 22:1-2)
“Oh, that I might have my request, that God would grant what I hope for, that God would be willing to crush me, to let loose his hand and cut off my life! Then I would still have this consolation— my joy in unrelenting pain—that I had not denied the words of the Holy One. What strength do I have, that I should still hope? What prospects, that I should be patient? Do I have the strength of stone? Is my flesh bronze? Do I have any power to help myself, now that success has been driven from me? (Job 6:8-13)
But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” (Jonah 4:9)
“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.” (Jonah 4:9)
Two friends have commented to me recently about being angry with God. Years ago, another friend commented to me that she couldn’t handle my anger. I don’t know if she ever realized it, but I strove to protect her from my anger. As Christians, we’re taught that we should never be angry, or that we should never be angry about things God isn’t angry about. And, of course, we should never, ever, under any circumstances, be angry with God. Often, the reason given was that God is always right. God is God. How dare anyone be angry with Him?
The problem was, I was angry a lot, not always with God, but angry none-the-less. Feeling guilty about feeling angry made me angrier. And I often thought that what I was angry about was stuff we should be angry about.
At some point, I found a book called, Rage, Reflect, Rejoice. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but as I read it, and as I read through the Psalms, I came across passages like Psalm 3:7, and Psalm 22:1-2. I read Job, and Jonah, and discovered people in Scripture who were (gasp) angry, and sometimes they were angry with God. And God didn’t visit upon them every plague and punishment ever mentioned in any part of Scripture in the course of a day.
Somewhere along the line, I remembered that God is omnipotent and eternal. My ager might not please Him, but He didn’t fear it. He never once told Adam, Job, David, or Jonah that He couldn’t handle their anger. Yes, I can guarantee that where God and I don’t agree, I’m wrong, but what would displease God more, my saying, “Yes, I’m angry with You,” or “No, there’s nothing wrong”? True anger? Or a lie? The belief that we must protect God from our anger? (Yep! Guilty!) Or the belief that God is a big enough god that our anger does not frighten Him?
The problem was, I was angry a lot, not always with God, but angry none-the-less. Feeling guilty about feeling angry made me angrier. And I often thought that what I was angry about was stuff we should be angry about.
At some point, I found a book called, Rage, Reflect, Rejoice. I don’t remember exactly what it said, but as I read it, and as I read through the Psalms, I came across passages like Psalm 3:7, and Psalm 22:1-2. I read Job, and Jonah, and discovered people in Scripture who were (gasp) angry, and sometimes they were angry with God. And God didn’t visit upon them every plague and punishment ever mentioned in any part of Scripture in the course of a day.
Somewhere along the line, I remembered that God is omnipotent and eternal. My ager might not please Him, but He didn’t fear it. He never once told Adam, Job, David, or Jonah that He couldn’t handle their anger. Yes, I can guarantee that where God and I don’t agree, I’m wrong, but what would displease God more, my saying, “Yes, I’m angry with You,” or “No, there’s nothing wrong”? True anger? Or a lie? The belief that we must protect God from our anger? (Yep! Guilty!) Or the belief that God is a big enough god that our anger does not frighten Him?
Comments
Post a Comment