slow to anger
Been on vacation and haven't had the opportunity to make an entry in my blog.
This morning I read Psalm 145 and got stuck on verse eight, "The Lord...is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Hmmm...I thought. The words reverberated deep inside me. "Do you believe this Mike?" the Lord seemed to ask. "Yes and no," was my reply. I want to believe that the Lord is SLOW to anger and ABOUNDING in steadfast love. I want to believe that the words written are not a doctrinal statement made by a professional theologian of long ago, but a statement of experience with the living God. The writer of the psalm experienced God's love and slow anger it seems. It's as if I was meeting someone for the first time and the other person introducing me to this new friend would say, "This is Joe, he is a great guy...slow to anger and loving."
I want to believe that God's anger is slow and love abundant, but deep down, honestly, I have a hard time rooting it in my heart. I've experienced God's grace, divine patience with me, and guidance. Yep. I believe God is more gracious to me and to all of us than we can ever ask or deserve. He loves us, "for who we are, not as we should be because we'll never be as we should be," but there is a nagging reality that keeps me from embracing Psalm 145:8; my experience with people in this life.
There have been important people in my life and others I have met that have been the verse in the psalm. They are the antiPsalm 145:8. My experience with some people that they are "Quick to anger and lacking in steadfast love." It's troubling to be around people like this. Reality is that before we root ourselves in the Scriptures, our conception of God is formed lots of times by the people around us in a good or bad way. Growing up, I experienced quick anger and little love. It imprinted me and became, for a long time, the lense through which I viewed God. While those lenses don't fit for me any longer, I realize this morning that they are still a lense I choose to look at God through. I lay my experience, however wrong it was, over the truth of the Scripture. I can choose today who to believe...the ancient writer of the psalm whose experience with God was slow anger and abundant love, or my experience as a child and adult with imperfect human beings who did not mimic God's heart and character to me. They were conterfeit gods. I think I will choose the psalm writer today.
One of the ancient disciplines of the Christian church is to allow God to direct us to a word or phrase from scripture and let it spin over and over in our hearts and minds. I compare it to an animal chewing on its cud all day. Today, I will chew on Psalm 145:8, "The Lord is...slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." allowing the truth of the statement permeate my being.
Thanks for reading.
This morning I read Psalm 145 and got stuck on verse eight, "The Lord...is slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." Hmmm...I thought. The words reverberated deep inside me. "Do you believe this Mike?" the Lord seemed to ask. "Yes and no," was my reply. I want to believe that the Lord is SLOW to anger and ABOUNDING in steadfast love. I want to believe that the words written are not a doctrinal statement made by a professional theologian of long ago, but a statement of experience with the living God. The writer of the psalm experienced God's love and slow anger it seems. It's as if I was meeting someone for the first time and the other person introducing me to this new friend would say, "This is Joe, he is a great guy...slow to anger and loving."
I want to believe that God's anger is slow and love abundant, but deep down, honestly, I have a hard time rooting it in my heart. I've experienced God's grace, divine patience with me, and guidance. Yep. I believe God is more gracious to me and to all of us than we can ever ask or deserve. He loves us, "for who we are, not as we should be because we'll never be as we should be," but there is a nagging reality that keeps me from embracing Psalm 145:8; my experience with people in this life.
There have been important people in my life and others I have met that have been the verse in the psalm. They are the antiPsalm 145:8. My experience with some people that they are "Quick to anger and lacking in steadfast love." It's troubling to be around people like this. Reality is that before we root ourselves in the Scriptures, our conception of God is formed lots of times by the people around us in a good or bad way. Growing up, I experienced quick anger and little love. It imprinted me and became, for a long time, the lense through which I viewed God. While those lenses don't fit for me any longer, I realize this morning that they are still a lense I choose to look at God through. I lay my experience, however wrong it was, over the truth of the Scripture. I can choose today who to believe...the ancient writer of the psalm whose experience with God was slow anger and abundant love, or my experience as a child and adult with imperfect human beings who did not mimic God's heart and character to me. They were conterfeit gods. I think I will choose the psalm writer today.
One of the ancient disciplines of the Christian church is to allow God to direct us to a word or phrase from scripture and let it spin over and over in our hearts and minds. I compare it to an animal chewing on its cud all day. Today, I will chew on Psalm 145:8, "The Lord is...slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love." allowing the truth of the statement permeate my being.
Thanks for reading.
posted by Mike Weaver at 7:04 AM
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