Be Ye Angry

Be ye angry…and sin not


That is the balance. Being angry and not sinning.

The Bible teaches me to be slow in anger because God is also slow to anger.

Nehemiah 9:17, “but thou art a God ready to pardon, gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness.”

Psalm 103:8, “The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and plenteous in mercy.’

Joel 2:13, “And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.”

.Jonah 4:2, “And he prayed unto the LORD, and said, I pray thee, O LORD, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil.”

Nahum 1:3, “The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.”

Psalm 145:8, “The LORD is gracious, and full of compassion; slow to anger, and of great mercy.”

Proverbs 15:18, “A wrathful man stirreth up strife: but he that is slow to anger appeaseth strife.”

Proverbs 16:32, “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.”

When I am angry I may feel that way because someone has done something to hurt my feelings. I still have a choice on how I want to handle those feelings of anger. Of course, my first response would be to lash back at them and not let them get away with treating me in a wrong way. But I have learned that it really is better to be angry and sin not. When I respond quickly, I am trying to make myself feel better. My experience has been that when I stop and put some time between my response and the other person’s response then I have a better grip on what I need to do about the situation. Sometimes I have to admit that the best response is no response. That is a tough call to make.

Forgiveness

I have learned where there is a lot anger there needs to be a lot of forgiveness. Because of the stress I have been under, I have been extremely sensitive with others. I could be misunderstanding the situation; however, even when I am wronged by another I still need to forgive. I will not carry around anger for people. I do not want that baggage hanging on me. Forgiveness lightens my load and I am more responsive to others. I can serve the Lord better. It keeps me slow to anger because there is no build-up of anger which means there is no explosion of anger on the next person.

Another reason I have to deal with anger is that I make a stand on issues that are very important to me and may not be important to others. So I can see how that may offend others. I will not apologize for that but I can be gracious about it. That stand may mean that they choose to not associate with me. Again I have the choice to be angry or I can forgive them and move on. That is not the easy road but I believe it pleases my heavenly Father when I choose forgiveness.

The Bible says to forgive other as I have been forgiven. (Eph. 4:32) God has laid out the perfect plan and Christ has set the best example. Who am I to hold a grudge? I am thankful for God’s mercies every day. I am so thankful for his forgiveness and the ultimate price Christ has paid for that forgiveness.

I just refuse to hold on to anger. I want to take the hard road. I want God to use me in serving others. It is the choice I have made.

Ephesians 4:26

Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: