Each week, let’s reflect upon Sunday’s teaching through further exploration…
“The Wall of Anger” (Walls Sermon Series)
Wood Sage forms the backdrop of several of my flower gardens. It’s a tall, bushy plant with lots of foliage and vibrant spikes loaded with tiny, deep pink flowers. When the wind blows in the summer, the sage softly ripples and rolls, attracting hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies. Unfortunately, if you drove by my home now, you’d think I was lying to you about this beautiful plant. What you’d see is scraggly stalks with sparse leaves, the spikes now vacant, devoid of color.
This isn’t a case of a neglectful gardener (although I don’t pour the time and energy into my gardens that I should). It isn’t the result of the rain being shut off for several weeks now. It’s the product of Popillia japonica, or what we refer to as the Japanese Beetle. I saw the first one nearly two months ago when I was walking. It was a half mile from my house. With a weary, defeated sigh, I went home to announce to Andy the ominous message, “They’re here.”
In years past, we tried to eliminate them. The harder we tried, though, the more prolific they became. Apparently, as we lured them away from our garden to capture them, the beetles emitted a pheromone that attracted more. They’d line the flowery spikes of my wood sage and the leaves of our Linden tree, taking millions of tiny bites until all that was left were skeletal remains. No more flowers. No more leaves. No more hummingbirds, butterflies, or bees.
I’ve come to loathe these pesky, putrid insects! So isn’t it quite interesting that God brought them to mind as I’ve reflected on Jonathan’s sermon about anger…
Jonathan shared that anger usually stems from undealt-with pain. It can easily become a wall built from hurt upon hurt. Like the first beetle I saw on my walk, we recognize and dread the hurt when it comes. And we’re left with a choice of what we’re going to do with the hurt. We can grow angry and bitter, or we can submit and forgive. We can be like Saul, or we can be like David.
In 1 Samuel 18, King Saul arrived home after a successful battle with the Philistines to hear the women singing, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (vs. 7). The very next verse tells us “Saul was very angry.” Hearing David get more credit than him, Saul’s pride was wounded. That one wound he allowed to fester attracted a drove of hurt and jealousy, just like one beetle attracts hundreds more. His vision became so inward focused that he didn’t realize the pattern of offense being formed. Every word spoken by others was a possible slight to him. Every deed done by others was a possible injustice to him. Saul’s life right up to the end was not just living daily life in pain and anger; it was processing every aspect through pain and anger.
David became the constant target of Saul’s hurt and anger. Saul continually threatened David and tried to murder him on multiple occasions. If anyone had a right to be angry in this situation, it was David! In his own hurt and anger, David could have killed Saul in the cave when Saul was relieving himself (1 Samuel 24). He could have killed Saul in his sleep at the Israelites’ camp on the hill of Hakilah (1 Samuel 26). However, instead of taking the opportunities to execute revenge and carry out his own judgment, David made them opportunities to put His trust in the Lord.
Psalm 57 was written by David when he fled from Saul and hid in a cave (1 Samuel 22-24). In it, David did not rail against Saul. He didn’t ask the Lord to change Saul’s opinion of Him. He didn’t plead with God to exalt him above Saul and those who pursued him in hate. Instead, David cried out to the Lord. He took his pain to the One who was, is, and will always be our refuge – the One who vindicates, saves, loves, and is faithful (vs 1-3). The result? Look carefully at David’s response, which comes right after Saul leaves the cave (1 Samuel 24:12-13 NLT):
“May the Lord judge between us. Perhaps the Lord will punish you for what you are trying to do to me, but I will never harm you. As that old proverb says, ‘From evil people come evil deeds.’ So you can be sure I will never harm you.”
What would happen if the first place we turned upon hurt/offense was the Lord instead of our pain? What if instead of focusing on what the other person has put us through and who they’re trying to make us out to be, we remember who we are in Christ and the incredible power He gives us to choose forgiveness over retribution?
We cannot go through this life without pain. We have been offended in the past. We will be offended in the future. We’re possibly even offended reading this reflection! But we must not live offended. To do so results in becoming like Saul and even those horrid beetles – allowing pain and anger to eat away at the lush, vibrant blooms of our lives. Get hurt. Forgive. Be wronged. Forgive. Become offended. Forgive. Like David, remember who you are in the Lord. Cry out to Him and resolve to proclaim, “Even though I’m hurt by what you said or did, what you didn’t say or didn’t do, I will never harm you.”