From Anger, to Anguish, to Complete Peace, Rest, and Trust

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we are comforted by God.  For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant, through Christ."  

2 Corinthians 1:3-5

We live in a sin encrusted world, where bad things happen to us, and the result is pain and suffering.  Perhaps you have lost a job and the result from that is you have lost your home.  Or maybe like me, you've experienced sexual abuse by your father.  Mine was minor, but yours was full blown rape. It causes anger to spring up from our hearts.   Perhaps you are suffering with an illness or you are watching a child suffer with an illness.  Circumstances come into our lives because we live in this sin encrusted world, and when it does it brings pain and anguish and we respond in different ways to the pain and anguish we are experiencing. Sometimes we feel abandoned by God, and sometimes we experience anger towards God. We have raised our fist, questioning how He could let this happen to us. 

Let's look for a moment, at Jesus, and step into His place. 

On the road to the cross, and on the cross, Jesus experienced the vitriol and hatred of man, in the form of spit, lashes on His back that ripped His flesh open, a crown of thorns crushed into the skin on His head, and nails driven through His hands. He knows physical pain and suffering because of the wickedness of man's heart. If you have ever experienced physical pain or emotional pain because of a wicked heart, Jesus has been there. He understands the suffering you have gone through, or might even be going through now. He can identify with it, and does. Isaiah 53:11 tells us Jesus had anguish in His soul but we know He harbored no anger towards those who put Him on the cross.  At one point, He looked upon those who drove the nails and said these words, "Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do."   The Roman soldiers had no idea they were crucifying the Creator of the universe, the Son of God, very God Himself, the One who gave them physical life. I want to look for those Roman soldiers in heaven.  The fact that Jesus forgave them gives me a hint that they possibly came to Christ later on. This forgiveness given to them by Jesus is also an example to us, that we are to release, to put off anger towards those who have sinned against us, and live with a spirit of forgiveness. 

Do you live with a raised fist toward God, angry at your circumstances and what has happened to you?  Jesus understands the pain, the anguish in your soul with what has happened to you, the circumstance in which you find yourself. God's Word tells us He has never abandoned us. He never leaves us. We cannot flee from His presence. Let your raised fist relax into an open hand.  It is ok to ask why. Jesus asked why, in His anguish and pain and suffering. We know God the Father turned His back on His Son because He'd become sin, so we could be clothed in His righteousness.  Any anger we feel towards God needs to be directed back to the sin against us.  It was sin, too, against God.  Then, release it into anguish over how sin put our Savior on the cross. Our very own sin.  The truth of God's Word tells us that what man intends for evil, God means for good. The suffering of Jesus brought us the wonderful gift of salvation - it restored our broken relationship with God. Joseph suffered under the hands of his brothers but learned later it took him into Egypt where God would later use him to preserve His chosen people, because the Savior would come through his lineage. In our suffering, we can live with expectation that God is going to use us in the future to bring benefit and His goodness to others, like Jesus' suffering did, and Joseph's suffering did. 

God is not responsible for the evil in this world. If we are angry at Him, our anger is directed at the wrong thing.  He is angered and grieved by sin and we need to be angered and grieved by sin, but not angry at God.  For His children, in His wisdom and love for us, He causes evil to bend to His wishes, He turns evil into benefit.  

We don't always have the clear picture why, like Joseph did, but let these truths sooth your soul and bring you to a point of complete peace, rest, and trust - you've never been abandoned, Jesus is always with you, and you are loved with an everlasting love.

(***Friends, I believe anger at God is never justified.  As our knowledge of our Gracious Heavenly Father grows, we will come to see that His love and presence and grace was always with us, during our trial.  Any anger we have towards God now, or have experienced towards God in the past, we need to confess and repent of it.  I was never angry at God over what my father did.  I was angry at my father.  This was written to help any of my friends who have ever been angry at God.  Love you all.)