Soulfood

Darby Strickland

Sometimes anger dresses itself in righteousness. It knows the words. It tries on God’s robes. It believes it is a righteous judge. But it is pride and a desire for control and self-protection in me that convinces me I am seeing clearly where everyone else is blind. That is Saul. And Jesus stopped him with a name – “Saul, Saul!”

Anger is never neutral. It always carries a verdict. It knows the just sentence. And it knows it is right. Anger is destructive. It destroys lives and spreads fear.

Saul thought he was preserving holiness and protecting God’s law. He was blind.

Human anger can feel holy when it is tearing down what God is building. We forget Who is really the Judge. We believe our knowledge and understanding are sufficient to justly and righteously judge others. But often our perspective is blinded by self-interest, comfort, convenience, and a desire for control. We are always bent away from truth by our blindness.

We so quickly forget how it feels to be on the other side of human judgment. And when we stand before Christ, we have to give account for our own actions. We won’t be able to point to anyone else. The more we try the blinder we get.

But Jesus breaks through our self-righteous anger with light. Thanks be to God! Jesus shows Saul how blind he is. He appeals to Saul. “Moses, Moses” and “Martha, Martha” are echoed in “Saul, Saul!” Jesus reaches Saul’s heart by asking him about their relationship. Firm and tender, truth that wounds in order to heal. Rebuke that does not destroy.

Ephesians 4:31-32

[31] Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. [32] Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.

The man who once thought he saw so clearly was shown he could not see. The man who was so certain in his ways was stumbling and had to be led about by the hand.

Anger’s allure is that it promises to shield us but in the end it betrays us. Saul sits for 3 days in darkness pondering Jesus’s words.

Paul’s anger is redeemed by the love of Christ. It is redirected towards protecting threatened sheep, guarding hearts, and burned for the glory of Jesus.

Jesus sent Ananias to Paul to heal him to teach Paul that to be in Christ is to be part of His body, the Church. And Paul’s zeal was redirected towards the defense of the body of Christ.

Anger doesn’t vanish when grace comes in. It is redeemed. Instead of being fired by threats to my own comfort and convenience, it burns for the vulnerable, the hurting, the lost. It is fired by compassion. It is paired with a love that embraces. It is against that which destroys and steals life.

Righteous anger burns away that which chokes out life and leaves beauty behind.

Righteous anger is pastoral. Redeemed anger springs from grief at unrighteousness because unrighteousness grieves God. It burns against that which dehumanizes and rejoices at the destruction of lies that enslave.

What does my anger protect?

Does my anger guard others, or myself?

Is my anger directed at evil, or at things that inconvenience me?

Whose interests is my anger serving?

Does it leave me resentful, cynical, and vengeful?

Anger so easily goes wrong. We can help each other slow down and ask ourselves the above questions. And we repent of unrighteous anger.

When we are hurt, lament should be side by side with anger. Naming wrong is important. Crying out is important. But vengeance is not our prerogative.

Grief and anger should not be carried alone. We must bear witness, guard hearts, wait on the Lord, and hope in the Judge.

Jesus is the only holy, righteous, just Judge.

We cannot carry anger thinking we are the savior. We must entrust it to the Savior. Jesus bore all judgment for our sakes on the cross. We can turn our anger over to Him in trust and allow it to be redirected towards holy aims.

Loved by the One who bore our sins, let us burn with anger not to consume but to bring light in the darkness!