I have got it all backwards…
The other day I woke up angry. It had been a long night and I was irritated. Work was annoying me. My family were annoying me. And my life in general was making me feel such anger that I found it very hard to calm down.
Now, just to be clear, nothing was wrong with my life that morning – or at least nothing was more wrong than usual. And I had no real reason to suddenly feel the weight of this anger on myself, but regardless, I did experience such anger that morning…
And I have been reflecting on that feeling of anger.
You see, God Himself experienced anger. He experienced anger in His Human Person as the Son of Man, when He saw the people trading in the Temple… “Then Jesus went into the temple of God and drove out all those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves.” (Matthew 21:12-13).
He experienced terrible anger in that moment. And I can imagine it. I can imagine God walking into that Temple – that Holy Place – and seeing people chatting and haggling, speaking and profaning. I can imagine Him cringing when people bargained and swore in their conversations. I can image Him hurting as people shouted in that Holy Place as though God were not there. And I can image His anger at the disrespect of God Himself in God’s own place.
And that anger was not a sin – because RIGHTEOUS anger is not a sin. And so when God Himself was angry that day, that anger was well deserved and was a GOOD thing. This is the same sort of anger as the anger we should feel as we see unjust persecution and war. This is the anger we should feel at the poverty in developing countries in the world, which is exacerbated by the corruption and greed of government. This is the same sort of anger we should feel at the abuse and molestation of the weak and the young and the innocent. This is the same sort of anger that we should feel when we see sins of abortion and the murder of unborn children. This is the same sort of anger we should feel when we see the abuse of the sick and suffering through their legal murder through euthanasia.
And when I think about this today and compare God’s righteous anger with my own nonsense of a feeling, I feel such great shame – because I have invested so many hours of my life – whole years perhaps – being angry about nothing, when instead there is a whole lot of stuff that I really should be getting angry about and I have not bothered myself to care.
Once again it seems, I have got it all backwards – and I wonder at the patience of my Beloved, who is God of the Universe, and who waits for me to figure these things out…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.