My Epic Journey

I am a passionate person.  Very little people see it, but I am definitely a passionate person.  When I am happy, I am passionately happy.  When I am contemplative, I am passionately contemplative.  When I am generous, I am passionately generous.  When I am angry, I am passionately angry.  It is that last part I get most nervous about.  When I get angry, I have this passion come over me to right the wrong.  As a result, I have often said something I regret and didn’t mean or did something that was selfish and inappropriate.

Then I read Isaiah 34.  I see that God gets angry as well.  And though, for a second I may feel justified with my anger, I notice some differences between God’s anger and my own anger.

1.  God’s anger is a righteous anger.  God is angry about a lack of respect for Him and His people.  My anger is mostly centered on my own pride and how I feel hurt.

2.  God’s anger is just.  He is angry only toward those who deserve His anger.  He doesn’t just “fly off the handle.”  He is calculated and fair.  I, on the other hand, take it out on everyone, if they deserve it or not.

3.  God’s anger is complete.  After reading Isaiah 34 I sit in silence at how extravagant God’s anger is.  He says in verse 10 that it will span generations.  Sounds extreme, but God’s anger is complete.

After reading Isaiah 34, in anticipation I look forward to reading the next chapter and see that in the end, it is with that vengeance that He comes to save those He loves (35.4).

I must remind myself that my anger is is never appropriate if it isn’t a righteous anger, an anger directed at direct disobedience of God.  I must also remind myself that vengeance is never mind to give.

I, like many others, struggle with the concept of Resolutions.  I am always challenged by what the New Year brings but frustrated over the fact that I failed so miserably with the previous year’s resolutions.

Last year I changed it up though and challenged myself to make one verse my resolution verse for the year.  That verse was:

1 John 2:6 (NIV)
⁶ Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.

Though I didn’t do this to the fullest, I did strive to do all I could to walk as Jesus walked.

This year my verse resolution is,

Proverbs 4:25-27 (NIV)
²⁵ Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you.
²⁶ Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm.
²⁷ Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil.

My heart’s desire is that this verse would be upon my mind and heart throughout the entire year!

I am the kind of person that loves to hear only the good things about life and really don’t enjoy hearing any thing negative and yet I am reminded that a loving parent will discipline their child.  God, who is a more loving parent than I am, will therefore show His love sometimes by disciplining me when I step out of line.  My reaction?  Well my reaction is normally to push away, much like a child who pushes away from their parent during discipline.  Isaiah 30.9-11, records God’s frustration when we only accept that which is pleasing and ignore that which is needed:

Isaiah 30:9-11 (NIV)
⁹ These are rebellious people, deceitful children, children unwilling to listen to the LORD’s instruction.
¹⁰ They say to the seers, “See no more visions!” and to the prophets, “Give us no more visions of what is right! Tell us pleasant things, prophesy illusions.
¹¹ Leave this way, get off this path, and stop confronting us with the Holy One of Israel!”

May I not be afraid to be confronted by a loving Heavenly Father, knowing that His love will often bring discipline to this often wayward child!