Today, a prayer and four proverbs for our devotional. Because we minister in a world that is so very different than our ideal, we are particularly inclined to feel upset at the discord of living in two worlds. This can be both stress and anger producing, to say the least. Today’s prayer is offered for those who might struggle with anger, whether righteous or otherwise. One warning: don’t be too quick to deny that you struggle with anger; such denial can be dangerous.
O Lord, today we seek your help,
Your wisdom, your direction.
Your Spirit tells you of our moanings,
Of the mutterings of our troubled hearts;
And of the snarlings of our often angry,
Too-often angry spirits.
You know, All-knowing One, every place that
This world, as we have shaped it, falls short
Of our well-intended designs and expectations.
You know, Great Heart, every hurt,
Every bruise, and disappointment
Inflicted by a world too pointed, too hard,
Too random, too resistant, or too rowdy
For our simple, though well-intended, schemes,
Our hard-headed thinking,
And inadequate assumptions.
O how, Great Creator, how do you cope
With a world that has become
So very unlike the world you shaped,
The world that you envisioned?
How, Holy God, do you hold back
When the reality we create with our action
Is so out of time with your creation,
Is so out of tune with your holy word?
How, Righteous God, do you hold back
Your righteous wrath, when human unrighteousness
Invokes it by injustice, intolerance, and even inhumanity?
We do not hold back, you well know,
When we are crossed, our purposes frustrated.
Heaven help the spouse who has another point of view;
God protect the friend who has a second opinion;
Spirit save and soothe the child who exercises
Freedom of choice against our adamant will;
For we show no mercy, know no grace.
We presume to know your righteous wrath,
And we are swift to improve upon the speed of it.
We are quick to wield your terrible, swift sword;
We cry, “Peace, peace!” while we still swing it.
We cry, “Peace, peace!” yet we refuse to swallow peace:
A drink too bitter for those drunk on the sweet wine of revenge,
High on the potent amphetamines of anger.
No wonder we are not ourselves.
How great must your love be to see
The person that we might be,
The human that you intended for us to be
And still receive the person that we
Have limited ourselves to be.
Heal our emotions, O God;
Help them to be to us that
Which you intended for them to be.
May we neither deny anger’s power,
Nor yield control to that power.
So cultivate in us the virtues of love,
Peacefulness, patience, and understanding
That our anger shadows yours:
Slow to appear, quick to yield to love.
Shape our love to be like your love,
Empower our patience to mirror yours,
And teach us, Father, to be quick and sure
To set aside our wrath in preference for
Your forgiveness, your mercy, and your grace,
In hopes that we might receive from you
Those very great and saving gifts.
May we be more like Jesus,
As we pray in his name.
Amen.
Think on these proverbs through the course of your day:
Proverbs 14:29 - Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding,
but one who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
Proverbs 15:18 - Those who are hot-tempered stir up strife,
but those who are slow to anger calm contention.
Proverbs 16:32 - One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and one whose temper is controlled than one who captures a city.
Proverbs 19:11 - Those with good sense are slow to anger,
and it is their glory to overlook an offense.
NRSV
Grace, and peace,
Ron
