"This is what the Lord says: ‘For the many crimes of Edom, I will punish them. They hunted down their relatives, the Israelites, with the sword, showing them no mercy. They were angry all the time and kept on being very angry. So I will send fire on the city of Teman that will even destroy the strong buildings of Bozrah.’" (NCV)
They were angry all the time—very angry—and they showed no mercy.
What is mercy? Mercy is showing compassion, particularly to those who are either in distress or who are in our power. We always have the choice . . . to show compassion, to show mercy or to demonstrate power, even when that power continues to hurt. The Edomites used the sword and showed no mercy. The NKJV says:
"Because he pursued his brother with the sword, and cast off all pity; his anger tore perpetually, and he kept his wrath forever."
It doesn’t say why the Edomites were angry. In fact the reason—or intention—for their behavior isn’t mentioned because it’s not important. What’s important is what they chose to do with their anger. In Ephesians, Paul talks about this:
"Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil. (v. 26-27 NKJV).
The Lord knows that we will be angry. Sometimes it will be a sinful anger, coming out of a desire to protect ourselves and what we want, and sometimes it will be a righteous anger, anger against sin. Regardless, when we are angry we are not to sin. How do we do that? We do that by giving the people and the situation to the Lord and then living according to the fruit of the Spirit, even with that person who has wronged us.
Instead, we often stew in our anger, fantasizing about what we will do to hurt the person who hurt us. We want to get even! And so we plot our revenge, often taking that revenge when vengeance clearly belongs to God.
Anger is something that will eventually fade if we give the situation to the Father. If we walk in the fruit of the Spirit, the emotions that well up inside of us due to anger will fade and God Himself will direct how we are to respond (if and when we are given that opportunity). The Edmonites did four things that caused their downfall:
• They acted on their anger (hunting down their relatives)
• They showed no mercy
• They were angry all the time
• They kept on being very angry
They chose to fuel their anger and then they acted on it. The opposite of this is to surrender the situation to the Lord. Then there is no reason to continually fuel the anger. While we may still be angry (and have that right), we will look to the Lord for His response, not our own. We will be able to meet hurtful words softly and with wisdom. That, in itself, may be enough to defuse the situation and prevent destruction on both sides.
Here’s the reality: if the Lord can’t change someone, there’s no way that we can, regardless of how much we talk or what we do. Therefore, our anger can only lead to destruction. Better to back away and allow God to do what He does best—take charge of bad situations.
© 2014 Robin L. O’Hare. All Rights Reserved.
For permission to copy, please contact servinggodalone@yahoo.com
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