The Time for Righteous Anger

As the weekend looms before us, I want to say one more thing about Satan’s attack on our belief that God has provided everything we need for every situation. That my belief will be attacked is quite certain. That your belief will be tried is also a given. And sooner or later these attacks will provoke a righteous anger in defense of your relationship with Jesus.

Being a Vessel for His Righteous Anger

I recently wrote about a piercing word that I received from the Lord regarding these very kinds of attacks on my relationship with Him. “The enemy knows how important you are, why don’t you?!” This word exposed a glaring problem in my perception of the world—and my place in it. I cannot love Jesus Christ without loving who He loves, and that includes me.

I have worth because God loves me. I have worth because I am a vessel for the Son! And only when I am in reality about my worth will I defend my relationship with Jesus. And THAT is what Satan’s ultimate aim is: separating me from the Lord.

Satan cannot actually separate us from God, but he can create the illusion of separation and get us to power it with our belief in its reality. The Lord has let me stew in this “separation” many times and for many reasons. One of those reasons was to provoke me to defend my relationship with Him.

The Spirit provoked my lack of self-worth. He provoked my jealousy for our companionship. And He provoked a righteous anger in defense of our love, a union bought with the Blood of Christ Himself. How dare Satan tread so casually where angels never would? And how dare I let him?!

This isn’t my response every time, nor am I saying it should be. But if you’ve never roared at the enemy’s sabotage of your First Love, may I ask why not?

Righteous Anger from a Jealous God

For the Lord your God is a consuming fire, a jealous God.
Deuteronomy 4:24

When I first met Martha, I was astonished by the passion she had for the Lord. It was the kind of passion that great poets write about, and she had it for Jesus. I figured that either she was insane or else she knew Jesus as I never even knew you could. I really didn’t think that I was capable of loving God so deeply and with such fire. Yet He woos me deeper into that fire every day, and I have touched God’s own jealousy for me—for US! He provoked me over and over and over. And He still provokes me to rise up in righteous anger out of the despair and discouragement that John described so perfectly yesterday.

For those of you who have not yet seen your worth in God’s eyes, I pray that you will. I pray that our Consuming Fire will strengthen each of our individual relationships with Him until we cannot bear the enemy’s meddling at all. May we all be vessels for the roar that can only come from “a jealous God” whose beloved is under attack.