Let me leave you today with this encouragement from Psalm 30. And if God angers that slowly then how can he possibly be mad enough to cause disasters in our time? There isn’t a nation on this Earth with a government anywhere near that old! But it has to be longer than two millennia for sure. If “quickly” to God is at least 2,000 years then how long is “slowly” to him?
Well at the end of the book of Revelation Jesus says, “Surely I am coming quickly.” He said that to John about 2,000 years ago. What do you think “slow” is in God terms? Slow to Angerīesides the Bible says that God is slow to anger. If God poured all his judgement out on Jesus then there is nothing left for the rest of us. The angels foresaw this when they declared at his birth, “peace on Earth, goodwill toward men!” Jesus knew it when he declared, “it is finished” right before he died.
God has already satisfied his judgment when Jesus was nailed to the cross. There may be a rich Christian tradition of declaring God’s wrath on mankind but those folks couldn’t be more wrong. God can use whatever tools he choses to get the job done. Let me say that in spite of that Edwards is rightfully credited with being one of the major catalyst’s for the Great Awakening in America. One word I noticed that is conspicuously missing from that sermon: Jesus.Įdwards never mentioned the name Jesus once in his most famous sermon. Notice the some of biggest words (the biggest ones are the most frequent in the text): God, wrath, hell, nothing, wicked, fierceness, fury, power, destruction, moment. For example, the image accompanying this post is a word cloud from the most common words found in Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” (The complete text is here if you’re interested in reading it.) Illustrious HistoryĬhristians pronouncing the wrath of God have a long and illustrious history. You can look at the aftermath of hurricane Katrina, various tsunamis, even the 9/11 attacks and see even prominent Christians declaring that God did those things as part of his judgement on mankind. These folks are always quick to pounce anytime a major disaster strikes and pronounce that it’s the result of God’s judgement. PRAYĪsk the Lord to help you cultivate the grace to be slow to anger.A word cloud of Jonathan Edwards’ famous sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.”There are a lot of people who think that God is angry at mankind.
He wants you to shield to Him because if you do, your life will be full of glory. You will have to make a choice repeatedly to either live or allow the Spirit to live in you. But the new you in Christ is gentle, temperate and patient. Yes, the old you might have responded and brought down the house. You lose yourself and allow the Spirit to take over. We must surrender to the Holy Spirit to allow Him to produce the fruit of the Spirit in our character. MEDITATEĬan you think of one thing that you ruined in your life because of an outburst of anger or a hasty decision you made out of anger? APPLY THE WORD There is a godly anger, but human anger always never acts in a way that pleases God.Īllow the Spirit to help you control and put keep your emotions in check, especially anger. Did you notice the verse did not say we should never get angry? It says be slow to anger. The Bible says a man who does not have control over his spirit is like a city that is broken down without walls.īe slow to anger and save yourself of the havoc it can potentially cause in your life. It is a fruit of the Spirit that allows us to be able to control our emotions.
The grace to be slow to anger will keep your foolishness from destroying your own life with regrets following. He is patient and slow to anger, and that is the reason we are still here today. If God were not slow to anger, all of humanity would have been lost for eternity. Have you encountered people who have destroyed what has taken them 10 years or more to build within an hour because they could not control their temper? Yes, whoever is hasty to get angry and has no control over his or her spirit will exalt folly in their lives. This is because anger is like fire that once it is kindled, it can easily burn down an entire building. He says the person who is slow to become angry has great understanding, but those who are quick-tempered, hasty to get angry or are easily “ticked off” will exalt folly or foolishness. King Solomon gives us another piece of wise counsel for daily living. Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly (Prov.