Chapter 6: Cease from Anger and Forsake Wrath
Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:8-9).
Quite often we can find allegories in nature that illustrate a spiritual lesson far better than human explanation. One example is an allegory found in nature that explains wrath. Earthquakes, Tornadoes, Hurricanes, and Volcanoes provide a spiritual allegory that can help us understand the consequences of wrath.
Wrath is a product of anger. One plausible explanation for wrath is that wrath is anger taking action. Through this allegory, nature demonstrates to us what will happen if we allow wrath to overtake our heart.
Earthquakes
The first natural disaster we will examine are earthquakes. I will ask the reader to please remember that this is not a scientific explanation of each natural disaster, but rather a layman’s outline of what produces each event.
Earthquakes occur when seismic waves create shifts in the tectonic plates beneath the earth’s crust thus generating a quake along fault lines. Earthquakes reveal that we inhabit a living planet, a planet which only appears stable when we look at the surface. However, beneath the crust and on through to the earth’s core, the earth is constantly moving. The shifting of pressures within the earth reveal that anything that is built on the earth is inherently unstable.
Paul, in the letter to the Hebrews, used the example of an earthquake to compare the stability of God’s word to the instability of the world. See that ye refuse not him that speaketh. For if they escaped not who refused him that spake on earth, much more shall not we escape, if we turn away from him that speaketh from heaven: Whose voice then shook the earth: but now he hath promised, saying, Yet once more I shake not the earth only, but also heaven. And this word, Yet once more, signifieth the removing of those things that are shaken, as of things that are made, that those things which cannot be shaken may remain. Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved, let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly fear (Heb.12:25-28).
Earthquakes reveal the instability of all things temporal. The conclusion that we must consider is that our foundation must be established in that which cannot be shaken.
The spiritual comparisons that we can draw from an earthquake are two fold. The first, is the awareness that placing our confidence in something of the earth is inherently unstable and destined to fail. The second, is an emotional comparison to internal pressures which, when they are released, result in destruction. Internal pressures, such as anger, build in response to either an external or internal influence. The force of that pressure, if it is released, is beyond our ability to control.
Our emotions signify that we are alive, that we are ‘experiencing’ life on a personal level. Much like the movement beneath the earth’s crust signifies that we inhabit a living planet, our emotions signify that we are a living being. Anger is an emotion within the normal range of healthy human responses. However, if the pressure of anger is allowed to simmer and grow into wrath, then we will experience a quake that will produce destruction.
Tornadoes and Hurricanes
Tornadoes and Hurricanes are created by opposing pressure systems. A layman’s explanation of these events is: a warm low pressure system collides with cold high pressure system. The collision results in a vortex that develops either into a funnel, as in a tornado, or in a depression which becomes the eye of a hurricane. This natural occurrence provides an allegory for what happens when two human-will’s collide.
There is something in the nature of man that persuades him of his own “rightness”. It develops into a self-sustaining force, comparable to a pressure system. When that force collides with a resistant force equal in strength, a storm ensues.
When a hurricane makes landfall it creates a tidal surge. The surge is a product of the vortex created by the eye of the hurricane. Just before a hurricane makes landfall the eye draws the tide water away from the shoreline then, as it makes landfall, the pressure is reversed and the tidal waters surge back. If the tidal water’s normally stand at three feet, a surge can generate a wave that is 2, or ten, or x amount of feet greater than the normal tide height.
A similar phenomenon happens when human-will’s collide. Right before the main battle begins, when one side crosses the point of no return, the offended party “inhales”, gathering their force before they attack. It is as if that storm’s eye moves into the center of their being and draws power inward before exploding outward.
Hurricanes and tornadoes leave paths of destruction. It is difficult to predict the level of damage that will occur, or where it will strike next. Anger and wrath do not limit their consequences to the two “pressure systems” that created the storm. The destruction is unpredictable and unstoppable.
The overpowering emotion of anger, when allowed to fester and develop, becomes wrath. When human wrath is unleashed it is comparable to a tornado or a hurricane. The “pressure system” involved is human-will, and the expression of that will is opinion.
If something is a fact then we do not feel as obligated to defend it because most facts defend themselves. Opinions, however, are something that have a high level of personal commitment. They are our opinions. We are personally attached to our opinions, therefore we obligate ourselves to defend them. Unfortunately opinions do not have to be right or true.
Ironically, when something is self-evidently right and true it moves out of the realm of opinion and into the reality of Truth. Our level of commitment to our opinions can result in a storm. Hurricanes and tornadoes need two opposing pressure systems to develop. If only one pressure system is present then a storm cannot form. When our opinions are challenged, humility is our only recourse to avoid the storm.
In the fourth chapter of Matthew we read of the encounter between Jesus and Satan in the wilderness. Satan came to tempt the Lord trying to entice the human spirit within Jesus to sin against his Father. Jesus, when responding to each temptation, began his answer by saying: It is written (Mt. 4:4; 4:7; 4:10). Jesus did not respond with opinion, he responded with Truth. It was through humility of spirit that Jesus avoided the temptation to rely on his own opinions when answering Satan.
Anger does not have a single origin. There are times when we feel anger because of a perceived offense. Other times we feel anger when we have been offended. Sometimes we are in the wrong, but sometimes we are in the right. Paul, in his epistle to the Ephesians cites the 37th Psalm, writing: Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: neither give place to the devil (Eph. 4:26-27). It is not possible to eliminate our emotional reactions, but we can control where those emotions take us. We cannot eliminate anger as an emotional response, but we can keep anger from developing into wrath. If we allow anger to become wrath, then we become a “pressure system” colliding with an opposing “pressure system”, culminating in a natural disaster.
Volcanoes
In parts of the southwest we can find country referred to as the “malpais”. This name was given to the lands that were covered with ancient lava flows. The molten lava, when it cooled, left a ragged volcanic surface of basalt rock. These areas known as the “malpais” (bad country) are barren stretches of land that extend for miles. The country is unusable and, in most cases, has become state or federal park lands.
The eruption of magma onto the earth’s surface is also a product of pressure systems. The pressure released from lava in the form of gas, when it overpowers the downward pressure of the weight of the earth’s surface, forces its way out. It can either be explosive, like a volcano, or it can pour out in the form of a magma flow.
The spiritual allegory that we find in a volcano is seen in the “malpais”. The unusable bad lands that are the unavoidable consequence of wrath. When our anger becomes wrath there will be a destructive influence that lasts for generations.
In the book of Genesis we read of Simeon and Levi, two of Jacob’s sons, taking vengeance on the Hivites because a man amongst them, Shechem, had defiled their sister Dinah. And Jacob heard that he had defiled Dinah his daughter: now his sons were with his cattle in the field: and Jacob held his peace until they were come. And Hamor the father of Shechem went out unto Jacob to commune with him. And the sons of Jacob came out of the field when they heard it: and the men were grieved, and they were very wroth, because he had wrought folly in Israel in lying with Jacob's daughter; which thing ought not to be done (Gen. 34:5-7).
Then we read: And Shechem said unto her father and unto her brethren, Let me find grace in your eyes, and what ye shall say unto me I will give. Ask me never so much dowry and gift, and I will give according as ye shall say unto me: but give me the damsel to wife. And the sons of Jacob answered Shechem and Hamor his father deceitfully, and said, because he had defiled Dinah their sister: And they said unto them, We cannot do this thing, to give our sister to one that is uncircumcised; for that were a reproach unto us: But in this will we consent unto you: If ye will be as we be, that every male of you be circumcised; Then will we give our daughters unto you, and we will take your daughters to us, and we will dwell with you, and we will become one people. But if ye will not hearken unto us, to be circumcised; then will we take our daughter, and we will be gone. And their words pleased Hamor, and Shechem Hamor's son (Gen. 34:11-18).
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city boldly, and slew all the males. And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went out. The sons of Jacob came upon the slain, and spoiled the city, because they had defiled their sister. They took their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses, and that which was in the city, and that which was in the field, And all their wealth, and all their little ones, and their wives took they captive, and spoiled even all that was in the house. And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and I being few in number, they shall gather themselves together against me, and slay me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house. And they said, Should he deal with our sister as with an harlot? (Gen. 34:25-31).
Years later when Jacob was dying he spoke to each of his twelve sons. When Jacob spoke to Simeon and Levi he said: Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel (Gen. 49:5-7).
The account of Simeon and Levi and their reaction to Dinah’s tragedy is a story of anger and wrath. Simeon and Levi, along with their other brothers and their Father, had every right to be angry. Jacob’s daughter and their sister had been violated. But the anger burned too hot in Simeon and Levi, and they contrived in subtlety a way to weaken their enemy. When their enemy was weakened then they came and destroyed them. They showed no mercy. Their actions far outweighed the crime. They destroyed people that had no connection to the incident between Shechem and Dinah.
The pressure within Simeon and Levi built up and the heat of their anger exploded to the surface. In its wake was death. They drew their other brothers in and they partook of the spoils. Their father Jacob years later still remembered the incident and the effect it had on their character. You became instruments of cruelty. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. Jacob in the immediate aftermath of their actions said: Ye have troubled me to make me to stink among the inhabitants of the land. The cruelty of their wrath had ruined Jacob’s testimony.
At the beginning of the following chapter we read that God called Jacob back to Bethel. There were other factors in play, but there was also the reality that Simeon and Levi had made it impossible for their family to stay where they had been.
Simeon and Levi’s anger became wrath. The consequence of their actions resulted in a metaphorical “malpais”.
Conclusion
The natural disasters that exist within the creation can be interpreted as spiritual allegories, allegories which provide literal examples of what happens when we become overpowered by certain emotions. These examples help us to recognize the inherent instability of all things natural; they caution us against becoming a “pressure system” (becoming overly infatuated with our own opinions); and ultimately, they warn us against allowing our anger to become wrath. The consequences of these natural disasters help us to see the inescapable end that awaits those who allow wrath into their heart.
The antidote to the power of anger is found in humility and love. Love is another all consuming emotion. Love is the essence of our Creator, and through love and humility we can cease from anger and avoid the consuming power of wrath.
Ultimately, we learn that there are certain things that we must forsake. Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil. For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth (Psalm 37:8-9). We must forsake wrath.