12 In that day you will say:“I will praise you, O Lord.Although you were angry with me,your anger has turned awayand you have comforted me.2 Surely God is my salvation;I will trust and not be afraid.The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song;he has become my salvation.”3 With joy you will draw waterfrom the wells of salvation.4 In that day you will say:“Give thanks to the Lord, call on his name;make known among the nations what he has done,and proclaim that his name is exalted.5 Sing to the Lord, for he has done glorious things;let this be known to all the world.6 Shout aloud and sing for joy, people of Zion,for great is the Holy One of Israel among you.”The Holy Bible : New International Version. 1996, c1984 (electronic ed.) (Is 12:1-6). Grand Rapids: Zondervan.
I’m reading through the book of James with another group of men in preparation for a Quest next week, but this morning, before I read my chapter in James, Papa had me turn to Isaiah 12. I like this passage a lot! As a songwriter, I think it would be a great worship song and am working on it! But that’s not the direction Papa took me this morning. I got really hung up in verse 1.
I have an NIV/The Message parallel Bible that lets me view the passages side by side and here is verse 1 in The Message version.
12 And you will say in that day,“I thank you, God.You were angrybut your anger wasn’t forever.You withdrew your angerand moved in and comforted me.Peterson, E. H. (2002). The Message : The Bible in contemporary language (Is 12:1). Colorado Springs, Colo.: NavPress.
The last line is what caught my eye. “You withdrew your anger and moved in and comforted me.”
God has modeled the process for anger. He has modeled forgiveness – even outside of the gospel of Christ. Anger is active. Forgiveness active.
First off, Isaiah says that God’s anger wasn’t forever. God made a decision that the anger wasn’t eternal (Thank you Lord!) and that he was choosing to forgive. That’s the first step is the decision.
“…withdrew your anger…” – this is an active verb – to withdraw means “to take back or away”; “to remove from use”; “to remove from a place of deposit”
This implies that we put our anger somewhere; we deposit it and keep it in some place of use. Where is that place?
24 Make no friendship with a man given to anger,nor go with a wrathful man,25 lest you learn his waysand entangle yourself in a snare.The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (Pr 22:24-25). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
Proverbs 22:24-25 says “…lest you learn his ways…” Our soul is made up of three parts: the mind, the will, and the emotions. Anger is an emotion. That place we deposit anger is in the soul, it only makes sense that we process it from there (decision to release the anger – to withdraw the anger – actively)
What is anger all about?
- Why do I get angry? Why am I angry?
- Who am I angry at?
- What am I angry about?
- How long have I been angry? How long do I plan to stay angry?
When I begin to process these questions, I find that the MAJORITY of the time, my anger is about me and something in my life not going the way I think it should – rightly or not rightly so. I get angry because someone, some thing, or some something steps on, inhibits, refuses, hinders or ignores my rights, my feelings, my opportunities, my character or whatever.
There are cases of righteous anger (see John 2:13-17 when Jesus cleared the temple of the corruption in his Father’s house) and while they are righteous, they still cannot last forever. Righteous anger needs to be processed as well.
But for the non-righteous anger – which for me is the majority of the anger I deal with – God follows the pattern of Is 12:1.
After God decides to withdraw his anger, the next part of the verse says “…you [God] moved in and comforted me…”
Is this not exactly the Gospel message? God moved in – he became flesh and moved to earth to be crucified, buried and resurrected so that he could restore us to right relationship with God the Father (John 3:16). God comforts us – He is the God of Comfort (2 Cor 1:3-7)
Obviously, this could become a very long post, so for the sake of brevity, ask yourself the questions above. Ask Papa if you’re harboring any anger and how to actively decide and withdraw your anger. Ask Him what it looks like to move in and comfort the one you are angry at.
The book of James says if we lack wisdom, all we have to do is ask and He’ll give it freely (James 1:5-6).
Running After Papa…
What a great message, Bryan. I appreciate the time you take to deliver what God puts on your heart. This particular post was EXACTLY what I needed to hear this morning!