Three Retreats From the Blowback of Others' Anger
House Speaker Sam Rayburn advised a freshman congressman, in language later adapted by fictional presidential candidate Sen. Arnold Vinick on The West Wing, "Son, if you can't take their money, drink their whiskey, and then vote against 'em, you don't deserve to be here."
Most of us need more help resisting pressure in productive ways. Perhaps that's why one of the most consistent questions in the four months of job interviews I've gone through asks how I've dealt with upset customers or clients. Perhaps that's also why the human writer behind Psalms 7:6 was so candid that he needed help when people raged against him. All I typically get to share in a job interview are the secularly acceptable outward results of dealing effectively with people's anger. Especially since I dealt with why WE get angry last week, I thought I would share some of what ensuing verses in Psalm 7 impart to us to help us deal with other people's inflamed expectations.
(1) Trade for the genuine article. There IS such a thing as righteous anger. That's why Ephesians 4:26 commands us, "Be angry and do not sin." As soon as we sense that we are on the receiving end of someone's anger, we can compare it to God's perfect, righteous anger. That's what the psalmist does in Psalm 7:6. "Arise, O Lord," he pleads, "in Your anger." Comparing the provoked person's anger to God's perfect anger does two things. They may line up, and perhaps the person's anger is bringing our attention to something we should fix or at least confess. Since human anger is often delayed, misdirected, or wrongly expressed, even at the moment we are the target of that anger, we can thank God that His anger, His zeal for His reputation is perfect. He is Aristotle's ideal, able to be angry at the right person, at the right time, and in the right way.
(2) Imagine you and the currently angry person at God's throne. That's the psalmist's recourse as he remembers in writing, "The congregation of the people shall surround You," at the beginning of verse seven. Verse eight rests in the finality, "The Lord shall judge the peoples." Since the giver and the receiver of the angry outburst will both end up accountable at the level ground at the foot of that throne, we should consider that, whatever our station on Earth, we might be wrong. Better to check twice and repent now. Jesus is talking about that ultimate accountability of His coming in Luke 12 when He gives us the implications in our horizontal, human-to-human relationships. He says in Luke 12:58, "When you go with your adversary to the management, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there to you of paid the very last mite." If we said last week that we tend to lose perspective when we are angry, like the kings who have so much to be grateful for, we also just as prone to lose our perspective when someone is angry with us. Our injured indignation can distract from the testimony of genuine repentance. Even if we are wronged rather than wrong, looking at a petty dispute in light of the Day of the Lord is the proper vantage point.
(3) Drop your guard first. Once the psalmist establishes in his mind that God is the One Who can handle anger rightly and that both he and the person whose anger he is getting the brunt of will answer to God, he is less reactive. Psalm 7:9 shows a man who has worked his way toward defenselessness before God. "The righteous God," he says, "tests hearts and minds." He is getting the idea that perhaps one-upmanship or vindication in the current quarrel may not be paramount. Instead, this human confrontation is enduring may be a chance for his maker to show him something about himself BEFORE the Day of Judgment. If this agitation or altercation is a drill, Lord, he seems to say, make the most of it. If the angry customer, the angry client, the amorphous cloud of potential employers waiting skeptically to be pleased serves to show us the ongoing work in our hearts, we need not fear, or win, every encounter.
Most of us need more help resisting pressure in productive ways. Perhaps that's why one of the most consistent questions in the four months of job interviews I've gone through asks how I've dealt with upset customers or clients. Perhaps that's also why the human writer behind Psalms 7:6 was so candid that he needed help when people raged against him. All I typically get to share in a job interview are the secularly acceptable outward results of dealing effectively with people's anger. Especially since I dealt with why WE get angry last week, I thought I would share some of what ensuing verses in Psalm 7 impart to us to help us deal with other people's inflamed expectations.
(1) Trade for the genuine article. There IS such a thing as righteous anger. That's why Ephesians 4:26 commands us, "Be angry and do not sin." As soon as we sense that we are on the receiving end of someone's anger, we can compare it to God's perfect, righteous anger. That's what the psalmist does in Psalm 7:6. "Arise, O Lord," he pleads, "in Your anger." Comparing the provoked person's anger to God's perfect anger does two things. They may line up, and perhaps the person's anger is bringing our attention to something we should fix or at least confess. Since human anger is often delayed, misdirected, or wrongly expressed, even at the moment we are the target of that anger, we can thank God that His anger, His zeal for His reputation is perfect. He is Aristotle's ideal, able to be angry at the right person, at the right time, and in the right way.
(2) Imagine you and the currently angry person at God's throne. That's the psalmist's recourse as he remembers in writing, "The congregation of the people shall surround You," at the beginning of verse seven. Verse eight rests in the finality, "The Lord shall judge the peoples." Since the giver and the receiver of the angry outburst will both end up accountable at the level ground at the foot of that throne, we should consider that, whatever our station on Earth, we might be wrong. Better to check twice and repent now. Jesus is talking about that ultimate accountability of His coming in Luke 12 when He gives us the implications in our horizontal, human-to-human relationships. He says in Luke 12:58, "When you go with your adversary to the management, make every effort along the way to settle with him, lest he drag you to the judge, the judge deliver you to the officer, and the officer throw you into prison. I tell you, you shall not depart from there to you of paid the very last mite." If we said last week that we tend to lose perspective when we are angry, like the kings who have so much to be grateful for, we also just as prone to lose our perspective when someone is angry with us. Our injured indignation can distract from the testimony of genuine repentance. Even if we are wronged rather than wrong, looking at a petty dispute in light of the Day of the Lord is the proper vantage point.
(3) Drop your guard first. Once the psalmist establishes in his mind that God is the One Who can handle anger rightly and that both he and the person whose anger he is getting the brunt of will answer to God, he is less reactive. Psalm 7:9 shows a man who has worked his way toward defenselessness before God. "The righteous God," he says, "tests hearts and minds." He is getting the idea that perhaps one-upmanship or vindication in the current quarrel may not be paramount. Instead, this human confrontation is enduring may be a chance for his maker to show him something about himself BEFORE the Day of Judgment. If this agitation or altercation is a drill, Lord, he seems to say, make the most of it. If the angry customer, the angry client, the amorphous cloud of potential employers waiting skeptically to be pleased serves to show us the ongoing work in our hearts, we need not fear, or win, every encounter.
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