Genesis 37
The depth of Joseph's brother's feelings towards him are hard to imagine. I have never been so upset with anyone that I thought about killing him, have you? There might a have been a church member or two over the years I prayed would move away, of course none of those were members of FUMC! But there is no doubt that anger has at times shaped how I viewed a person or situation. I am not thinking about righteous anger over an injustice against another person. I am thinking about those moments when I just lose my temper, get frustrated or feel envious.
There is a reason that in scripture we read "to be slow to anger", "be angry but do not sin", or "do not let the sun go down on you anger". We have moments of emotion when anger surges into our lives, we just can't let that anger dwell within us. If we do, anger will consume us. Anger will lead us to actions that are far from what God desires.
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First, I find it amazing, that each passage and lesson relates to a situation I am currently going through or am involved with. It is a true blessing to have a place to turn for guidance and hope. What better source of reason than God's word?
ReplyDeleteLately, there have been a lot of things going on that have caused me to be frustrated with different people and situations. I have been making a concentrated effort to NOT get angry or upset and make rash decisions. While I don't think (and greatly hope!) that I would ever consider killing someone out of anger, I know that I have thought about retaliating in ways completely opposite of God’s way-things that can be found under the definition of sin. These actions are ones that I wouldn't imagine doing in a rational state of mind (especially sell my sister in to slavery!). These quick decisions are not ones that God would choose for me. After 'cooling down' and evaluating what I had considered doing, I can immediately see that that would not be what God wanted me to do.
I agree...I can't ever recall or imagine ever being so angry I wanted to kill someone. What a rich passage...so much to say about so many things: authority, jealousy and anger! While I have never been as angry as Joseph's brothers, this passage made me think about how much time I have let anger rob from my life. Sometimes it is just the little things that annoy me (like a slow store clerk) or sometimes it may be something bigger. But, either way, I have let anger take time away from me serving and growing in Christ. Also when I am angry it always seems to be because I feel like some wrong has been done to me. This just reminds me I need to work more on putting myself aside and putting Christ first.
ReplyDeleteThere have been times in my life where I have been angrier than I care to admit. The really bad thing to me is that anger distorts. Anger clouds vision, hiding the blessings that are in plain sight. It makes kind people callous,turns thoughtful people into harsh, thoughtless ones. Anger can make us into people we would never choose to be if we let it sweep us along. I think Joseph's brothers realized that anger had swept them along and that it made their lives poorer. My challenge when I face anger, is to ask God to help me let anger pass on to live somewhere else.
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