SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 5/9/2019 11:10 AM
My Worship Time Focus: “Anger”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: Eph. 4:26-27
Message of the verses: “26 Be ANGRY, AND yet
DO NOT SIN; do not let the sun go down on your anger, 27 and do not give the
devil an opportunity.”
I
thought that for today’s SD I would quote from what Warren Wiersbe has to say
about these two verses that have to do with anger. Dr. Wiersbe does not go as deeply into the
passages that he writes on, and he has written on all of the verses in the Word
of God and I have read most of what he has written so what I usually say about
his writings is that he puts the cookies on the shelf where you can reach them. We will be serving cookies today as we look
at these two verses.
“Anger
is an emotional arousal caused by something that displeases us. In itself, anger is not a sin, because even
God can be angry (Deut. 9:8, 20; Ps. 2:12).
Several times in the Old Testament the phrase appears, ‘the anger of the
Lord’ (Num. 25:4; Jer. 4:8; 12:13). The
Bible often speaks of anger ‘being kindled’ (Gen. 30:2; Deut. 6:15), as though
anger can be compared to fire. Sometimes
a man’s anger smolders, and this we would call malice; but this same anger can suddenly burst forth and destroy,
and this we would call wrath.
“It
is difficult for us to practice a truly holy anger or righteous indignation
because our emotions are tainted by sin, and we do not have the same knowledge
that God has in all matters. God sees
everything clearly and knows everything completely, and we do not. The New Testament principle seems to be that
the believer should be angry at sin but loving toward people. ‘Ye that love the Lord, hate evil’ (Ps.
97:10).
“It
is possible to be angry and not sin, but if we do sin, we must settle the
matter quickly and not let the sun go down on our wrath. ‘Agree with thine adversary quickly’ (Matt.
5:25). ‘Go and tell him his fault
between thee and him alone (Matt. 5:21-26), because anger gives the devil a
foothold in our lives, and Satan is a murder (John 8:44). Satan hates God and God’s people, and when he
finds a believer with the sparks of anger in his heart, he fans those sparks,
adds fuel to the fire, and does a great deal of damage to God’s people and
God’s church. Both lying and anger ‘give
place [opportunity] to the devil’ (Eph. 4:27).
“When
I was living in Chicago, one out of every thirty-five deaths was a murder, and
most of those murders involved relatives and friends. They are what the law calls, ‘crimes of
passion.’ Two friends get into an
argument (often while gambling), one of them gets angry, pulls a gun or knife,
and kills his friend. Horace was right
when he said, ‘Anger is momentary insanity.’
“A
woman tried to defend her bad temper by saying, ‘I explode and then it’s all
over with.’
‘Yes’
replied a friend, ‘just like a shotgun—but look at the damage that’s left
behind.’
“Anyone
can become angry, ‘wrote Aristotle. ‘But
to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for
the right purpose, and in the right way—this is not easy.’
“Solomon
has a good solution: ‘A soft answer
turneth away wrath, but grievous words stir up anger’ (Pr. 15:1).”
In
our next SD, Lord willing, we will look at some of the things that John
MacArthur has to say about this very important section of Scripture.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: “Be angry and sin not” is not just a saying,
but the truth of Scripture, something that is very difficult if not impossible
for anyone but God to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today: Remember my thoughts and lessons that I am
learning on humility.
Bible verse that goes with yesterday’s
quotation is from Isaiah 30:15: “In
returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be
your strength.”
5/9/2019 11:36 AM
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