Anger that is harnessed is fuel for
rage that rallies against fear in faith that converts to resilience. This is
not an anger that violates anyone. It’s a force that turns what angers us into
fuel for goodness.
And by resilience I don’t mean some
buzzword that has been here for some years but has a use-by-date like
everything else. This is a truth of the ages. It’s nothing new. I’ve found it
has served me well personally throughout various stages of my life when I have
used it.
It’s biblical as it happens — try these,
for instance: “You are more than conquerors through Christ who loved you…”[1]
“Consider it pure joy when you face trials of many kinds…”[2]
“I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me…”[3]
and “Do not fret; it only causes evil…”[4]
When I do this one thing when fear
threatens to entrap me, I begin to see the wile of the enemy.
When I’m overwhelmed, though it
might take a moment to refix my gaze, I can and therefore, I’m one decision away
from — “I do.”
When I’m aware of the naysayer, I
choose to believe God, who knows me, who believes in me, who has a plan for me.
Immediately I can be content and relax. All is in hand. All will be as it will
be. Nothing need change. God wins and therefore so do I. And everyone who is on
God’s side. And at these times I don’t need to defend myself. Indeed, I see the
folly in it.
When I see my circumstances thwarting
my goals, frustrating my aims, turning over my expectations, I’m reminded of
the pride that rises without my accounting. The bedevilling circumstance simply
reveals my need to turn it over as another thing I cannot control. At this
point I must remind myself that everything will work out fine.
This one thing: “if God is for us, who could be against us?”[5]
So, therefore, we can know this. We can rest in this unchanging knowledge.
Nothing can threaten us, just us we’re
to threaten nothing.
Indeed, this is why this knowledge
earns us victory even as we sleep…
From John Chrysostom (349 – 407) … please
linger on this:
“Yet those that be against us,
so far are they from thwarting us at all,
that even without their will,
they become to us causes of crowns,
and procurers of countless blessings,
in that God’s wisdom turns their plots
unto our salvation and glory…
so far are they from thwarting us at all,
that even without their will,
they become to us causes of crowns,
and procurers of countless blessings,
in that God’s wisdom turns their plots
unto our salvation and glory…
“See how really – no one – is against
us!”
See what this is saying? I have
always seen this as saying, the more someone is against me, the more God turns
their plots toward me if and as I get out
of the way. The more someone despises me, the more blessed I am when I take
the opportunity to refuse offense. The more someone or life circumstances set
themselves against us, the more we’re primed for a victory that was predestined,
from before time began, for those who leave their justice to God.
When we accept this truth that is
embedded eternally in the Word, without any doubt, the power inherent in God
becomes us, because we are weak!
Not because we pretend we’re strong.
But because we admit we’re weak,
knowing full well that weakness doesn’t disqualify us;
it qualifies us!
But because we admit we’re weak,
knowing full well that weakness doesn’t disqualify us;
it qualifies us!
This spirit in us that says, “Well,
I shall prove them wrong” is not a spirit that we just made up. It has its
roots in all humanity, in eternity, in God no less. Every chapter of the Bible
echoes victory out of the clutches of defeat — and indeed the gospel of the cross
is its magnum opus.
Nothing can defeat you. If you choose
to give up the fight, turn the anger in upon itself, and just do what God
requires.
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