Tuesday: Righteous Indignation
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 28th of January 2025
While there are many inappropriate forms of anger, the Bible also teaches that there is “righteous indignation.”
Imagine a mother watching her three-year-old daughter playing at the playground and then, suddenly, a man attacks her daughter. Should she not be angry? Of course, she should. Anger is the proper response of love in such a circumstance. This example helps us understand God’s “righteous indignation.”
Read Matthew 21:12-13 and John 2:14-15. What does Jesus’ reaction to the way the temple was being used tell us about God’s getting angry at evil?
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In these instances, Jesus displays the “godly zeal” of righteous indignation against those who were treating God’s temple as common and who had turned it into a “den of robbers” in order to take advantage of widows, orphans, and the poor (Matthew 21:13; compare with John 2:16). The temple and services, which were supposed to typify God’s gracious forgiveness and His cleansing of sinners, were instead being used to cheat and oppress some of the most vulnerable. Should Jesus not have been angry at this abomination?
Mark 10:13-14 and Mark 3:4-5 offer more examples of His righteous indignation. When people brought little children to Jesus and “the disciples rebuked those who brought them,” Jesus “was greatly displeased”—literally “indignant.” He said to them, “ ‘Let the little children come to Me’ ” (Mark 10:13-14, NKJV).
Elsewhere, when the Pharisees waited to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath by healing on it, Jesus asked them, “ ‘Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?’ ” (Mark 3:4, NKJV). He “looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts” and then proceeded to heal the man (Mark 3:5, NKJV). Christ’s anger is associated here with grief at their hardness; it is the righteous anger of love, just as the anger attributed to God in the Old Testament is the righteous anger of love. How could love not be upset by evil, especially when evil hurts the objects of that love?
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How can we be careful not to seek to justify selfish anger as “righteous indignation”? Why is that so easy to do, and how can we protect ourselves from that subtle but real trap? |
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At some point in our human history terrible acts of injustices, wrongdoing and moral decadence were committed against humanity. Very sad and heartbreaking how were such acts allowed to take place. In fact, some of these heinous crimes were even “morally” rationalized at the time. How possibly could slavery, the Holocaust, colonialism, Apartheid, and Rwanda genocide take place? Unfortunately, some deny the occurrence of these atrocious crimes even today. These were injustices and wrongdoings of gigantic proportions. Here are some estimates of the many human beings who were affected:
1. Slavery – 12-14 million Africans
2. The Holocaust – 11 million, including 6 million Jews
3. Colonialism - 56 million Indigenous people, with an estimated of 90% of Aboriginal Australians killed.
4. Rwandan Genocide (1994) – 800,000 people were killed
5. Apartheid in South Africa (1948–1994) - tens of thousands were killed, jailed, or displaced.
Where was God’s Holy indignation? Was God’s anger against injustices, wrongdoings and morally wrongs not aroused? It might seem that God’s Holy indignation did not intervene, this is extremely far from being correct. The Bible provides us with some tips how to understand God’s response towards injustices, wrongdoings and atrocities. God is neither indifferent nor passive in the face of wickedness (Psalm 103:6, Isaiah 61:8, Exodus 3:7-8, Nahum 1:2-3, Romans 1:18). It is important to accept that as human being we are limited in understanding how God’s Holy indignation operate in its entirety.
As for us, the “Remnant Church”, by the grace of God, let us summon our courage and answer the call of Prophet Micah:
“He has shown you, O mortal, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God" - Micah 6:8
Omwenga, when people question God's seemingly lack of response to these atrocities, what explanations should we provide them?
Dear Melvin,
First and foremost, Nobody can claim to have a complete explanation how God operates in every situation. God's ways are fall beyond our capacity as human beings. However, when we read God's Word, we have some understanding how God operates.When atrocities strike and feel that God is not responding appropriately, we can only ask God to give us some understanding and revelation concering those atrocities. If we earnestly petition God on such incidents, He will give us some understanding and revelation.Secondly, We also need to seek God's courage and strength to withstand the astrocies somehow.At times all we need is strength to bear the pain caused by the atrocities.It is likely that at times in this life we may have no answers for what is happening. We can only trust and hope in God beyond this life.
Maybe we should focus on what we do understand and be content with our ability not to understand all the ways of God?
The question I asked is not new. However, at times it seems that we don't have proper answers to give to people who ask these questions. In an attempt to divert responding to questions like these, some people suggest to the questioner that he/she should not ask these types of questions. I recall sitting in an executive committee meeting at the union level and listening to a report from a survey that focused on the subject of "why are young people leaving our churches." One of the responses was that our young people were not satisfied with answers to questions like these. So how should we address issues like these? Should we ignore them, and move on with discussing issues that we are comfortable with?
The gospel commission is for everyone, John 3:16. 1 Cor 12:4-11 and Ephesians 4:11-16 speak to the issue of spiritual gifts and the fact that these gifts are given by the Holy Spirit as He chooses. The purpose of these gifts are for the work of the ministry, for the edification of the saints, so that all individuals in our churches can be brought up to God's standards and not be running to and fro and be tossed about by every wind of doctrine. This applies to everyone. None should be excluded. True Christianity is to seek to be used by the Holy Spirit to meet the needs of the church. Are we seeking to be used by the Spirit? If we cannot provide answers to questions like these, are we seeking guidance from the Holy Spirit, are open to such guidance if chosen by the Spirit?
Melvin, I have the feeling that you may have some suggestions regarding how to answer such questions. Why don't you share them?
Omwenga provided some ideas of his own when he wrote
I believe that we have a better foundation for answering such questions than most other Christians have because the controversy between Christ and Satan provides a framework. We know that there cannot be love without freedom of choice. And that's why God created humanity with the freedom to choose to serve God (and be good) or to choose to serve Satan (and be evil.)
Rather than "answer" our young people, I think it would be wiser to ask them some questions, such as the following, not necessarily in that order:
I'm sure there are many more questions that could be asked to instigate some active reasoning. The Lord Himself invites us to come and reason with Him. (Isa. 1:18)
I think we make a grave mistake when we judge young people incapable of reasoning and try to make them accept our answers - answers which we have hopefully formulated with much prayerful study and reasoning. And if we haven't arrived at our conclusions that way, we have no business to try to foist them on others - whatever our "answers" may be!
We need to realize that the "answers" we give people most often don't stick - even when they seem to be accepted. The conclusions people reach by their own prayerful study and reasoning are the ones that "stick."
Okay, so I wrote much more than I planned .... I do hope that you will still share what has worked for you.
Here is a little episode in the Bible:
Something to think about when we think we are acting with righteous indignation.
Hmmmmmm! So how do we strike a balance?
Great Question, Sarah D!
How do we strike a balance if we believe God is both Destroyer AND Restorer?
Many Christians exist inside of this tension, because we say that Jesus is the same God in the OT, but we don't see Jesus acting in the same way in the NT, so we allow this cognitive dissonance to remain.
If Jesus truly revealed the Father, but Jesus never hurt, killed or ordered the killing of anyone then how do we reconcile what we read in the OT where it appears that God did ALL of these things?
Did Christ present the wrong picture of God or have We been presenting the wrong picture of God? Who do we trust, Christ's perfect revelation of the OT God in His life or man's fallible interpretation of the OT God?
If we attempt to "strike a balance" by saying that God sometimes destroys and sometimes God destroys. Where is the biblical principle, tool or exegetical device that we employ to determine when each of these "sides of God" is being expressed?
And how does claiming that God changes His attributes align with the myriad of scriptures pointing to an unchanging God?
James 1:17 - Every good gift and every perfect gift is from ABOVE, and cometh down from the Father of LIGHTS, with whom is NO VARIABLENESS, neither shadow of TURNING.
At the end of it all, the question we need to answer is, Do we trust the Logos (Word) of God or do we trust the logic of man?
Being empty of self and full of God's love should always be our goal. Practically, being most of the time in contact with the Father of us all. (From Monday's Lesson, a big nose might help).
How can we avoid justifying selfish anger as “righteous indignation,” and why is it so easy to fall into this trap?
We can avoid justifying selfish anger by examining our motives, asking if our anger is about God's will or our own, and staying rooted in Scripture. It’s easy to fall into this trap because anger feels empowering, and we often rationalize our emotions to avoid accountability. Regular prayer and self-reflection help guard against this.
Justifying selfish anger as "righteous indignation" is a subtle trap because anger can feel empowering, and we often rationalize our emotions to avoid accountability. Spiritual blindness makes it easy to misjudge our motives. We must ask ourselves, “Is my anger truly about God’s will being violated, or is it about my own will not being met?”
Regular self-examination is essential. Stay grounded in Scripture and allow God’s Word to shape your perspective on anger and justice.
Amen, We do have to be grounding in the word and ask God to intervene when we get in the way of being anger with anyone you love or don't. Stop trying to be the savior and let Christ do work in us.
Amen. Thank you
By whose authority do we conduct our relationship with God — our own or His? Scripture clearly addresses all aspects of humanity's interaction with our Creator, leaving no doubt about whose authority we are to follow in matters of conduct with Him and others.
God’s anger is perhaps better understood when seen as His response to humanity's spiritual rebellion, especially in matters of worship. As a 'jealous' God, He does not tolerate the inclusion of other ‘gods’ that would corrupt our relationship with Him. His strong and decisive reaction underscores the seriousness of maintaining His rightful place in our lives.
I consider God's indignation to arise from His deep desire to protect us from the dangers of self-justification — relying on our own understanding rather than His Truth. Taking time to reflect before acting can help ensure that our decisions align with the 'Spirit of His Will'. We stand on solid ground when our actions are rooted in trust and obedience to Him rather than being driven by the 'foolishness' of our own understanding and desires.