Receiving Anger for Righteousness - Job 32-33 and Acts 14
One of the things we have to face as believers is that we will make other people angry just because we are doing God's will. It doesn't seem fair to receive anger when we are being righteous, but that is how it works. We need to be prepared for this.
Elihu, the youngest of Job's friends, was listening to Job's responses to the other friends. Job's answers made him angry. He was angry because Job was claiming to be righteous before God. I think Job was righteous. He should not have been questioning God, but it was not any sin that was causing his suffering. Therefore, he was right to assert his righteousness. However, it made Elihu angry to hear him speaking about being right with God. I know I have had this happen to me. If another believer has a hard time believing that another person can be righteous and live a victorious Christian life, when they hear someone talking about it, they become angry. It is really because they think you are lying, or they feel guilty because of their own sin. Whatever makes them angry, it is hard for us to receive anger from other believers, when we are righteous. We need to stand firm in the Lord and love them, even though they are angry with us.
Paul and Barnabas were just preaching the Good News and helping people everywhere they went. Why would people get angry with them? They were not hurting anyone. The unbelievers were angry with them, though. They did not agree with their beliefs, and they did not want change, so they were angry. They were angry enough to try to kill them. That is how Satan works. He enrages people against the Lord and against His people. He tries to make us afraid to do God's will because it causes others to be angry. We must not give in to this tactic of Satan. We must persist in our righteousness, even though it angers unbelievers. In fact, we need to love them more, because we realize they are being manipulated by the Devil to resist the things of God. Their anger should not cause us to leave them alone, but to pray for them more. We must just understand that their anger is normal.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 34-35 and Acts 15:1-21.
Elihu, the youngest of Job's friends, was listening to Job's responses to the other friends. Job's answers made him angry. He was angry because Job was claiming to be righteous before God. I think Job was righteous. He should not have been questioning God, but it was not any sin that was causing his suffering. Therefore, he was right to assert his righteousness. However, it made Elihu angry to hear him speaking about being right with God. I know I have had this happen to me. If another believer has a hard time believing that another person can be righteous and live a victorious Christian life, when they hear someone talking about it, they become angry. It is really because they think you are lying, or they feel guilty because of their own sin. Whatever makes them angry, it is hard for us to receive anger from other believers, when we are righteous. We need to stand firm in the Lord and love them, even though they are angry with us.
Paul and Barnabas were just preaching the Good News and helping people everywhere they went. Why would people get angry with them? They were not hurting anyone. The unbelievers were angry with them, though. They did not agree with their beliefs, and they did not want change, so they were angry. They were angry enough to try to kill them. That is how Satan works. He enrages people against the Lord and against His people. He tries to make us afraid to do God's will because it causes others to be angry. We must not give in to this tactic of Satan. We must persist in our righteousness, even though it angers unbelievers. In fact, we need to love them more, because we realize they are being manipulated by the Devil to resist the things of God. Their anger should not cause us to leave them alone, but to pray for them more. We must just understand that their anger is normal.
Tomorrow, I intend to read Job 34-35 and Acts 15:1-21.