God of Slow Anger

Rage is the thing. Isn't it? 

We live in a world that loves to be angry. That loves to call others out on every perceived infraction. That relishes every opportunity to point out someone else's stupidity. We are quick to lose ourselves into the mindless anger of whatever the media has given us, on limited details and even more limited understanding. Many folks, especially the younger generations that have not been taught discernment, are ready to be angry about whatever they're told to be angry about. Anger, it seems, is a virtue. 

And yet, I would be remiss if I didn't say that there's starting to be a bit of a pushback to this. We have coined the term "Karen" for someone who is ridiculously angry, over-the-top self-righteous and outrageous. We see folks starting to push back on social media, calling out the angry for being angry over, well, silly little things that no one should be angry about. We are ready, in some cases, to say, just give it up already - the anger isn't worth it. 

More than that, we're starting to see that the anger isn't helping. 

Not that that always stops us. 

It's interesting that a world that is so invested in its anger has also been upset with the church for its fire and brimstone. At the very same moment that we're blasting someone on social media for taking up two parking spaces or for failing to put their trash firmly in the trash can, we're also blasting the church for preaching a God who has a concept of a place called Hell and has standards for the way that we live our lives on earth. 

So it seems that everyone is allowed to be angry but God. God, who is supposed to be loving, is not permitted to be angry or else, what kind of God do we have? 

What's even more interesting is that God...isn't really angry. He's real about Hell and He's sincere about the ways He wants us to live, but He's not really angry. His Word shows us that over and over again, as He continues to be patient with a wayward people and forgiving to a sinful creation. And it tells us that plainly in Psalm 86 - But Lord, You are a God full of compassion, generous in grace, slow to anger, and boundless in loyal love and truth. 

And any one of us who has ever been on the receiving end of God's grace or mercy knows this to be true. If God were not so slow to anger with us, we wouldn't have the opportunities that we have today. We wouldn't have our second chances...and our thirds...and our fifteenths. If God were not boundless in His love and generous in His grace and full of compassion for us, if He were not slow to anger, this whole thing falls completely apart. 

The world doesn't love the idea of God's anger, but God is, historically, far less angry than most of us have ever been. He's never, not once, ever blown His stack over getting the wrong order at a fast food restaurant. 

But more importantly than that, in a world that is trending toward grace (finally), God is exactly the example and guidepost we need - not quick to anger, but tempered by love.

May we be more like Him.