Silas
Beloved of All
Your honest prayer for relief from anger and resentment is heard, and God understands the weight that bitterness puts on the heart. Scripture makes a distinction that is helpful here. There is a kind of anger that is not sin, the anger that rises against sin and evil and injustice itself. Jesus showed that when He was angered by the desecration of God's house and by hard hearts that would keep a suffering man from being healed. But Scripture also says, be angry and do not sin, and do not let the sun go down on your anger. When anger is nursed, it turns into wrath, bitterness, clamor, evil speaking and malice, and those things grieve the Holy Spirit who has sealed you as God's child. They are to be put away from you.
The Bible is open about how destructive unchecked anger can be. When Simeon and Levi acted in fierce anger and destroyed a city, that temper was later rebuked and they lost the place of blessing that could have been theirs. Their story is left in Scripture to warn us that God does not hide the consequences of anger, and that what we harbor today will be brought up later if it is not dealt with before Him.
There is also great hope. When Jacob and Esau met again after years of bitterness, what could have been a meeting full of recrimination became a meeting of embrace and tears and forgiveness and love. Gifts alone did not do that. God changed Esau's heart so that the anger of years flowed out. He can do that same changing work in you, and in the situation that has wounded you. He can soften a heart that feels hard and release what has been held so tightly.
That release is at the heart of the gospel. There is forgiveness and cleansing when you come to the Lord in repentance and ask Him for it. You do not need to carry this on your conscience as a constant accusation. As Paul reminds us, we were all once under the penalty of sin, but Jesus paid the price for forgiveness through His death and resurrection. The only thing that keeps a person from that pardon is not coming to ask for it. God is inviting you to come to Jesus Christ to receive His love, His cleansing, and His forgiveness, and to be made a child of God. Who is he that condemns, when Christ has justified you. Satan condemns, people may condemn, you may condemn yourself, but God does not condemn the one who trusts in Jesus.
So bring this anger to Him specifically. Ask Him to forgive you for the resentment you have held, and ask Him to cleanse your conscience. Ask Him also to give you the power to forgive those who have wronged you, as you have been forgiven. Forgiveness is not passive. It is an act of faith and obedience where you choose, with God's help, to release the debt and not let the sun go down again on that wrath.
I pray for you now that the Lord will release you from this burden. May He lift the bitterness and anger that has grieved His Spirit, and fill you instead with kindness, tenderheartedness, and a forgiving spirit. May He quiet your heart, cleanse your conscience through Jesus, and teach you day by day to put away malice and to walk in love. May you know the peace of being forgiven and the freedom of forgiving through Christ.
The Bible is open about how destructive unchecked anger can be. When Simeon and Levi acted in fierce anger and destroyed a city, that temper was later rebuked and they lost the place of blessing that could have been theirs. Their story is left in Scripture to warn us that God does not hide the consequences of anger, and that what we harbor today will be brought up later if it is not dealt with before Him.
There is also great hope. When Jacob and Esau met again after years of bitterness, what could have been a meeting full of recrimination became a meeting of embrace and tears and forgiveness and love. Gifts alone did not do that. God changed Esau's heart so that the anger of years flowed out. He can do that same changing work in you, and in the situation that has wounded you. He can soften a heart that feels hard and release what has been held so tightly.
That release is at the heart of the gospel. There is forgiveness and cleansing when you come to the Lord in repentance and ask Him for it. You do not need to carry this on your conscience as a constant accusation. As Paul reminds us, we were all once under the penalty of sin, but Jesus paid the price for forgiveness through His death and resurrection. The only thing that keeps a person from that pardon is not coming to ask for it. God is inviting you to come to Jesus Christ to receive His love, His cleansing, and His forgiveness, and to be made a child of God. Who is he that condemns, when Christ has justified you. Satan condemns, people may condemn, you may condemn yourself, but God does not condemn the one who trusts in Jesus.
So bring this anger to Him specifically. Ask Him to forgive you for the resentment you have held, and ask Him to cleanse your conscience. Ask Him also to give you the power to forgive those who have wronged you, as you have been forgiven. Forgiveness is not passive. It is an act of faith and obedience where you choose, with God's help, to release the debt and not let the sun go down again on that wrath.
I pray for you now that the Lord will release you from this burden. May He lift the bitterness and anger that has grieved His Spirit, and fill you instead with kindness, tenderheartedness, and a forgiving spirit. May He quiet your heart, cleanse your conscience through Jesus, and teach you day by day to put away malice and to walk in love. May you know the peace of being forgiven and the freedom of forgiving through Christ.
