Righteous Anger
You say, "The LORD's way is not fair!" Hear now, house of Israel: Is it my way that is unfair, or rather, are not your ways unfair?"
Ezekiel 18:25
I can feel the Lord's anger and frustration. He's slow to anger (Numbers 14:18). So if He's responding like this, His patience has run out. I hear His anger.
I am not good with anger in human terms. I have very many wounds concerning other people's anger, with my inappropriate coping mechanism of wanting to pacify situations at any cost. I get lost feeling every angle of the parties' emotions. I start worrying about how to hold everyone together. I don't enjoy anger. But I read this passage above, feel God's anger, and love Him more. There is something about God's anger that isn't like ours.
I feel His anger and justice. I feel truth and clarity. I feel purity and perfection. I feel righteousness.
Rare is the human anger that is perfectly righteous. When I'm around people who are angry, I usually feel their hatred, confusion and pride. I feel rejection, misunderstanding and fear. I feel manipulation, abandonment, shame and powerlessness. We can sin very easily in anger, which is why the Lord says in the today's Gospel that to be angry in an unrighteous way can be the same as murder (Matthew 5:22).
The Lord speaks today in anger over the peoples' sins and their rejection of Him. He is a blazing fire - and it burns pure. It's holy and I love Him more. He speaks the truth with perfect clarity and charity. He calls out and then invites in. "I take no pleasure in the death of a wicked man. Turn away from your sin and live (Ezekiel 18:32)!"
The Lord has been angry with me before. He has shown me my sins and said, "Isn't it your way that's unfair?" And He is always right. The sin is killing me. It makes me unhappy. It could lead to my destruction. He has chastised me again and again over the times I wouldn't forgive or the times I was too prideful. And every time, it was healing and loving. It came with truth, clarity and an invitation to come closer.
When someone is angry with you, do you find those times filled with truth, clarity and charity? When you are angry, would others say that you spoke with humility and purity? You can find plenty of anger in the comment boxes on any story, even ones that don't seem provoking at all. Do these comments heal and invite people closer? Rare is the human anger that is perfectly righteous. But may the Lord teach us how to be more like Him in the midst of injustice.
Today, I am filled with praise for God and His truth. I adore Him for His purity and charity. I praise Him for His ways, which are wholly good and contain no darkness at all. I praise Him for His invitation that the works of His hands turn back and live.