1. A Voice in My Soul
I would never have thought of a topic like this, but I heard it sounded audibly in my soul a while ago (I don’t know how to explain that now; it often happens), and heard further the following words that I am about to bring to you. Follow me …
2. Quite a Paradox
Anger is not a sin; it depends on how one manages it. Moses got so angry that he went out of bounds, striking a rock that God had instructed him only to speak to. He lost entry into the Promised Land for that (Numbers 20:3-13). Jesus was so angry at the commercial trespassers in the house of God that He promptly made a cane and trashed them out of the place; something never done by that great Teacher who told everyone to turn the other cheek to their aggressors (Luke 6:29). That was outright physical violence, we might say, but it restored sanity that opened the atmosphere to the mighty healings that followed in that place. Those offensive traders had been blocking the visitation of God in that holy place (John 2:14-15; Matthew 21:12-14). Quite a paradox, we might say: one got sanctioned for his anger, and another was blessed for a similar emotion. Hmmm, this Bible …
3. Rewarded for Anger
Some audacious youths were fornicating right in the camp of Israel, at a time when God was angry with everyone for those idolatrous trespasses, and thousands had been slain. A young Levite got so angry at their ungodly temerity that he took a javelin, marched straight into their sinful tent, and struck them in the act, pinning them both to the ground. Everyone was welcome to witness the slain sinners and his bloody godly angry reply. As recompense from God, that young man was rewarded with “an everlasting priesthood.” God even said that the offer was a “covenant,” which meant that it could not be reversed, forever (Numbers 25:1-13). I am amazed: rewarded for anger and for killing? God made it clear that the young man’s holy anger averted what could have been a more deadly divine anger! Wow, human anger that averted divine anger? Let’s go…
4. Anger Minus Sin…
Anger is no sin; it only depends on how one manages it. God even says, “Be ye angry,” except that He does not allow us to let it become a lifestyle, with which we go to bed and wake up day after day. That has tragic consequences, as we are soon to find out (Ephesians 4:26).
“Be ye angry…”: is that an instruction, or a consent to let out hot steam before it bursts into atomic conflagration? According to that passage, it is possible to be angry yet not sin. Unfortunately, for some, they have excused it as a lifestyle, careless about the many promised lands from which it has shut them out, like Moses.
5. The Angers of Saul
I just found a strange scripture … never saw it in that light, until now. Come with me:
4 Then came the messengers to Gibeah of Saul, and told the tidings in the ears of the people: and all the people lifted up their voices, and wept.
5 And, behold, Saul came after the herd out of the field; and Saul said, What aileth the people that they weep? And they told him the tidings of the men of Jabesh.
6 And the Spirit of God came upon Saul when he heard those tidings, and his anger was kindled greatly (1 Samuel 11:4-6).
King Saul heard a sad news and the accompanying lamentations in the land that made him angry, very angry. In fact, it says that the anger was the product of “the Spirit of God” coming upon him. It was anointed anger. It was no small anger but one that was “kindled GREATLY.”
In my conservative Christian head, I had expected that the Spirit of God coming upon anyone should make them calm, sober, quiet, and gentle like a dove. But here … I hope I’m not beginning to read my Bible up side down.
That historic anointed anger reignited the people’s love for the new king; it hastened the moves for his ratification as king in Gilgal; it won him a people who stood so faithfully with him that many years after, those people he had delivered by his holy anger would risk their own lives to stand by his corpse to honour him with a befitting funeral despite the calamities he had brought upon himself for his backslidings (1 Chronicles 10:11-12). By that anger, he had sowed a seed for a future honourable funeral when everyone else would have deserted him as a demon-possessed and God-rejected man.
Whereas one holy anger was to bless him years later, one bad anger was the beginning of his troubles. David had killed Goliath, and the innocent women of the land had composed a spontaneous praise-song, announcing that whereas the king had killed only a thousand, the young David had killed ten thousand. The song sounded very ugly in the proud ears of the king, and it made him “very angry.” By the “very next day,” an evil spirit had entered into him (1 Samuel 18:8, NLT). How did that happen? His jealous anger had opened a door to the devil. He went to bed that way, whereas the advice is to “let not the sun go down upon your wrath” (Ephesians 4:26). He had not managed his anger well. He slept with it, and woke up with a devil inside. Blinded with jealousy, he had crossed the red line and not cared, or not realised, that he had gone beyond the limits. That was a significant beginning of his demon-possession. Years later, it was said that he had died as though he had never been anointed with oil (2 Samuel 1:21).
Keep thy heart with all diligence; for out of it are the issues of life (Proverbs 4:23).
From The Preacher’s diary,
June 3, 2024.
This is very instructive. One must be careful about his/her anger, and know the spirit moving it.
The Preacher: You never cease to activate streams of inner transactions with the Holy Spirit when you are read with an open mind. Never thought along the lines of this piece before now. Surely, some actions triggered by anger are divine. Oh! How quick we often are ,albeit with good intent, to condemn many that have received a thumbs up from God, for actions we considered rash and not properly thought through.
Thanks for being such a blessing to those privileged to read you. This piece is worth sharing and I am doing just that. MORE GRACE, SIR.
Very insightful.
I’ve been greatly enlightened.
GOD bless you sir.
MAY The Good Lord continue to show us His WAY; THE WAYS OF THE KINGDOM. I was very blessed. Dr Mrs OkwuChukwukwuru
I have been so richly blessed by this write up. But I have a disturbing question: God said ” thou shalt not kill,” but he eternally blessed someone for killing. Are there also anointed killings? Under what context can someone in this dispensation be blessed for killing? I pray that God baptizes me with anointed anger. Thank you for sharing.
Bless you Prof for this teaching……but I feel the write-up is not completed……it seems you stopped me half way…..please kindly continue with the part two, Sir..Thanks
Thank you for this piece Sir. Happy Father’s Day ????
This God is a mystery and the Bible too deep to master. The more you learn, the more you need to learn. Teach me the more, Lord. God bless The Preacher