Do you ever notice that what we get frustrated and angry about says so much about us? Do you notice that what doesn’t arouse our anger also says something as well? Think about the story of Jonah. Jonah had so little regard for the people of Ninevah, a very pagan city. Yet, he became angry when his shade was taken away. Our anger says a lot about what we value.
1. Ever notice that many of us get so frustrated and put out with anything that interrupts our comfort? (At the moment I am frustrated over a leaking chimney–that was supposed to have been fixed!)
2. Ever notice that we often get frustrated and even angry over things that really have no eternal significance? We just know that we don’t like what is going on!
3. Ever notice that we Christians often get agitated about things that are nothing more than our preferences, our opinions, etc. "I don’t like it!" Far, far too often, we pay much more attention to people who utter those words than those things that deeply disturb God.
Meanwhile, I’ve noticed that so many of us (including myself) do not get frustrated and even angry about the things that I know must anger God. Maybe that’s the point. I want to have a heart like God. That means that my heart is to break with what must break God’s heart. I think that means that I must feel some kind of frustration/anger when God feels that way.
I want to feel a righteous anger when I read in my morning newspaper (as I did this morning) of a 7 year old and his little sister who were used as sexual toys by the perverted mind of a former prostitute.
I want to feel disturbed when my daughter tells me of a child who came to his day care after having been beaten by a "parent." All of that taking place in a small community just a few blocks from a Christian college.
I want to feel troubled by hunger, poverty, and injustice still exists for too many people in this world. (Note the number of believers who are being persecuted today
I want to feel some deep concern for people who are living without Christ and who will die without him.
I am not trying to suggest that we walk through life upset or angry most of the time. I am concerned, however, that so many Christians are losing any sense of a prophetic edge. We just become numb to the abuse, suffering, and injustice that exist in the world. In the meantime, our anger is reserved (like Jonah) for our broken air conditioning or leaky chimney.
May our hearts break when God’s heart is broken.