In HOPE

  In HOPE 6.23                                  back to home                        David Timms

Ministry Resource

Dr. Chris Davis and I have co-written an e-resource since Jan 2005, called Bare Roots.  Bare Roots offers a deeper analysis of Scripture with an application to today. You may find it helpful in your own study, or to stimulate ideas for devotionals, lessons, or small group studies. We keep Bare Roots to about a page and a half, and include discussion questions. If you'd like to subscribe (free), please email [email protected] and we'll gladly send Bare Roots to you.

Hope Happenings

After 25 years of service to Hope International University, first as President (1981-1990) and then as a professor (1990-2006), Dr. Knofel Staton today announced his resignation and retirement, effective at the end of this Fall semester. He and his wife Julia will be moving back to Missouri to live after a quarter century of outstanding service. 

Hope International University
Fullerton, CA 92831

 

"How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart all day long? How long will my enemy be exalted over me?"  (Psalm 13.1-2 )  

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Angry With God

We could aptly describe our day as "the angry age." Rampant road-rage, escalating domestic violence and raw aggression appear everywhere. Many folk live at the tipping point, where the slightest provocation sends them over the edge. Marriages suffer for it, children become victims of it, and the workplace is increasingly uncomfortable because of it. Churches can even be hotbeds for it.

You know we have a problem when anger management workshops are constant sell-outs.

Why are we so angry? Psychologists offer a plethora of reasons. But deep down, anger often emerges from a toxic mix of fear and isolation. Something poses a threat (or offense) to us, and sets us off. I'm afraid of losing power, or losing face, or losing something. When my "rights" feel violated, and I fear I may be trampled more seriously, anger flashes forth - even when I'm just cut off on the freeway.

Little wonder then, that immersed as we are in this culture of anger, we also find ourselves angry with God on occasion.

Why doesn't He heal my cancer? Where was He when my child died? When will we conceive a child? Why doesn't He ease the pain? Why can't I get a decent job? When will this financial struggle end? And, with a small step sideways, our questions can become an angry accusation. "He doesn't care!"

Ever been angry with God? Many of us have at some point or other.

The Psalmist felt exasperated with the Lord on occasion (Psalm 13; above). The disciples surely spoke with a touch of irritation when they confronted Jesus in the floundering boat and said, "Don't you care that we are perishing?" (Mark 4.28)

It's an age-old issue. James advised, "Let every one be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1.19-20). He's absolutely right, of course. We have a say about our anger. We need to nurture it less and resist it more.

But when it bursts forth with God, know this: He deals graciously with it. Our anger does not incite Him. Instead, He invites us to cast our anxieties and fears on Him, for He cares for us (see 1 Peter 5.7). The solution to our anguish and anger is not to suppress it but to share it and to share the roots of it, with a Father who can transform it.

He will take our accusation and turn it into transformation, if we remain open to Him. Then we, like the Psalmist, might conclude: "But I have trusted in Your covenant love; my heart shall rejoice in Your salvation. I will sing to the Lord, because He has dealt bountifully with me" (Psalm 13.5-6).

In HOPE -

David

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David Timms serves in the Graduate Ministry Department at Hope International University in Fullerton, California. "In HOPE", however, is not an official publication of the University and the views expressed are not necessarily those of the Administrators or Board of the institution. "In HOPE" has been a regular e-publication since January, 2001.

For back issues of In HOPE, see http://www.hiu.edu/inhope/