One morning Ralph woke up at five o'clock to a noise that sounded like someone repairing boilers on his roof. Still in his pajamas, he went into the back yard to investigate. He found a woodpecker on the TV antenna, “pounding its little brains out on the metal pole.” Angry at the little creature who ruined his sleep, Ralph picked up a rock and threw it. The rock sailed over the house, and he heard a distant crash as it hit the car. In utter disgust, Ralph took a vicious kick at a clod of dirt, only to remember – too late – that he was still in his bare feet. (Brian Weatherdon, New Glasgow, Nova Scotia, Leadership, Vol. 8, no.1; www.PreachingToday.com)
Ouch! Anger usually ends in agony. So how do you overcome it? How do you keep anger from overwhelming you? How do you stop anger from wrecking your life? Well, if you have your Bibles, I invite you to turn to Judges 9, Judges 9, where we learn some lessons on anger from a man who tried to establish himself as Israel’s king.
Judges 9:1-2 Now Abimelech the son of Jerubbaal went to Shechem to his mother’s relatives and said to them and to the whole clan of his mother’s family, “Say in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, ‘Which is better for you, that all seventy of the sons of Jerubbaal rule over you, or that one rule over you?’ Remember also that I am your bone and your flesh.” (ESV)
Abimelech, whose name means “my father is King,” was the illegitimate son of Gideon. Now, his father had refused the title of king, but lived like a king anyway. He had 70 legitimate sons to his many wives, but Abimelech, born to Gideon’s concubine, was left out of Gideon’s inheritance.
Even so, Abimelech had his mother’s family in a prominent city, which he intended to exploit. He would be king in place of his 70 half-brothers, who were then judging all Israel. So he appeals to his mother’s family to speak to the leaders of Shechem on his behalf.
Judges 9:3-6 And his mother’s relatives spoke all these words on his behalf in the ears of all the leaders of Shechem, and their hearts inclined to follow Abimelech, for they said, “He is our brother.” And they gave him seventy pieces of silver out of the house of Baal-berith with which Abimelech hired worthless and reckless fellows, who followed him. And he went to his father’s house at Ophrah and killed his brothers the sons of Jerubbaal, seventy men, on one stone. But Jotham the youngest son of Jerubbaal was left, for he hid himself. And all the leaders of Shechem came together, and all Beth-millo, and they went and made Abimelech king, by the oak of the pillar at Shechem. (ESV)
The leaders of Shechem make Abimelech king after giving him money to publicly execute any potential rivals to the throne – his 70 half-brothers who were the legitimate sons of Israel’s last judge. Gideon finally gets his way after being excluded by his brothers all his life. He is king over one city and its nearby fortress at least for a little while.
Abimelech’s jealousy drove him all his life. His anger over being excluded goaded him to pursue power, but that power will be short-lived.
Judges 9:7 When it was told to Jotham, he went and stood on top of Mount Gerizim and cried aloud and said to them, “Listen to me, you leaders of Shechem, that God may listen to you. (ESV)
Jotham, Gideon’s youngest son, who escaped execution, climbs the mountainside just south of Shechem, which lies in a valley between two mountains. It’s a natural amphitheater, which amplifies Jotham’s voice so everybody can hear what he has to say, which is a fable.
Judges 9:8-15 The trees once went out to anoint a king over them, and they said to the olive tree, ‘Reign over us.’ But the olive tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my abundance, by which gods and men are honored, and go hold sway over the trees?’ And the trees said to the fig tree, ‘You come and reign over us.’ But the fig tree said to them, ‘Shall I leave my sweetness and my good fruit and go hold sway over the trees?’ And the trees said to the vine, ‘You come and reign over us.’ But the vine said to them, ‘Shall I leave my wine that cheers God and men and go hold sway over the trees?’ Then all the trees said to the bramble, ‘You come and reign over us.’ And the bramble said to the trees, ‘If in good faith you are anointing me king over you, then come and take refuge in my shade, but if not, let fire come out of the bramble and devour the cedars of Lebanon.’ (ESV)
The olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine are too busy serving God and people to seek power. The bramble, on the other hand, is useless. It casts no shadow, and it offers no protection to the trees towering over it. In fact, its carpet-like growth on the forest floor is a real hazard to the trees especially in the heat of summer. That’s when high winds fan the fires, fueled by the bramble, into incredible forest fires, which threaten even the biggest trees, the cedars of Lebanon.
Jotham’s point is that Shechem is asking a useless man to be their king, who will only end up burning them in the end. You see, the best leaders are servants, not those who are driven to seek power like Abimelech.
Judges 9:16-21 “Now therefore, if you acted in good faith and integrity when you made Abimelech king, and if you have dealt well with Jerubbaal and his house and have done to him as his deeds deserved— for my father fought for you and risked his life and delivered you from the hand of Midian, and you have risen up against my father’s house this day and have killed his sons, seventy men on one stone, and have made Abimelech, the son of his female servant, king over the leaders of Shechem, because he is your relative— if you then have acted in good faith and integrity with Jerubbaal and with his house this day, then rejoice in Abimelech, and let him also rejoice in you. But if not, let fire come out from Abimelech and devour the leaders of Shechem and Beth-millo; and let fire come out from the leaders of Shechem and from Beth-millo and devour Abimelech.” And Jotham ran away and fled and went to Beer and lived there, because of Abimelech his brother. (ESV)
Jotham predicts disaster for Shechem, its fortress, and Abimelech, because they have not acted in good faith with his father. Abimelech’s jealous anger drove him to power, which will prove disastrous for everybody! Anger usually ends in agony, so...
DON’T LET ANGER DRIVE YOU.
Don’t let bitterness control your life. Don’t let resentment and revenge compel you to seek power and control.
Greg Groeschel, in his book Soul Detox, talks about his biggest struggle with bitterness. He says it started when his family discovered the awful truth about someone they had trusted in a position of authority over his little sister… He writes:
“Most kids in our small town junior high school took at least one class from [a man named] Max on their journey through the sixth grade. To many kids, Max was a favorite teacher—always cutting up, telling jokes, and handing out easy A’s. To me,” Greg says, “he became the object of the deepest bitterness that I've ever known.
“Throughout the years, Max developed special relationships with his favorite students. Though none of us were aware of it at the time,” Greg says, “we discovered years later that all his favorite students ‘happened’ to be cute, young girls. My little sister, whom I treasured and loved, became one of Max's victims…
“Some studies show that as many as one out of three girls and one in four boys suffer some sort of sexual abuse. Whatever the numbers, this tragedy must crush God's heart.” It certainly crushed Greg’s heart as a brother.
Greg says, “I remember trying to absorb the painful truth. How should I respond? Should we track him down? Have him arrested? Beat the life out of him? Make no mistake; I was furious the moment that I heard about his abuse. But the more I thought about it, my anger blossomed into rage. The seeds of bitterness planted in my heart grew to a full-blown briar patch of revenge. I prayed that Max would suffer eternally in hell, and I vowed to make him suffer on earth before facing God's judgment.”
As it turned out, Greg’s plan for revenge wasn't necessary. To his bittersweet delight, he found that Max was suffering in a hospital, fighting for his life against a crippling disease, muscular dystrophy. Greg says, “I remember thanking God for his justice in giving Max what he deserved.”
Now, most would agree that Greg’s hate and judgmental rage were more than justified, but he says his “hatred was just as sinful as Max's crime.” In that, he agrees with Jesus who said, “Everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment” (Matthew 5:22), not just those who murder.
Greg writes, “In the course of time... I learned that bitterness never draws us closer to God. Bitterness is a nonproductive, toxic emotion... I wanted [Max] to suffer,” he says, but “I was punishing no one but myself and those around me who experienced the scalding spillovers of the acid churning inside me. (Craig Groeschel, Soul Detox, Zondervan, 2012, pp. 92-94; www.PreachingToday.com)
The Bible is very clear: The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God (James 1:20). It only poisons those who are driven by it even if they feel justified in their anger. So please, don’t let anger drive you. And...
DON’T LET ANGER DESTROY YOU, as well.
Don’t let bitterness ruin your life. Don’t let resentment and revenge kill you in the end like Abimelech did. Watch what happens as Abimelech’s anger boomerangs on himself.
Judges 9:22-25 Abimelech ruled over Israel three years. And God sent an evil spirit between Abimelech and the leaders of Shechem, and the leaders of Shechem dealt treacherously with Abimelech, that the violence done to the seventy sons of Jerubbaal might come, and their blood be laid on Abimelech their brother, who killed them, and on the men of Shechem, who strengthened his hands to kill his brothers. And the leaders of Shechem put men in ambush against him on the mountaintops, and they robbed all who passed by them along that way. And it was told to Abimelech. (ESV)
Shechem was at the crossroads of two ancient trade routes. So by robbing the caravans that passed through, the leaders of Shechem were able to stop trade and deprive Abimelech of any toll he might have received from the traders.
Judges 9:26-29 And Gaal the son of Ebed moved into Shechem with his relatives, and the leaders of Shechem put confidence in him. And they went out into the field and gathered the grapes from their vineyards and trod them and held a festival; and they went into the house of their god and ate and drank and reviled Abimelech. And Gaal the son of Ebed said, “Who is Abimelech, and who are we of Shechem, that we should serve him? Is he not the son of Jerubbaal, and is not Zebul his officer? Serve the men of Hamor the father of Shechem; but why should we serve him? Would that this people were under my hand! Then I would remove Abimelech. I would say to Abimelech, ‘Increase your army, and come out.’” (ESV)
Gaal, like Abimelech, is hungry for power and tries to convince the citizens of Shechem to serve him instead of Abimelech. After all, Gaal argues, Abimelech is an Israelite, and they are Canaanites, descendants of Hamar. It’s very similar to what Abimelech did when he sought to seize power from his half-brothers.
Judges 9:30-33 When Zebul the ruler of the city heard the words of Gaal the son of Ebed, his anger was kindled. And he sent messengers to Abimelech secretly, saying, “Behold, Gaal the son of Ebed and his relatives have come to Shechem, and they are stirring up the city against you. Now therefore, go by night, you and the people who are with you, and set an ambush in the field. Then in the morning, as soon as the sun is up, rise early and rush upon the city. And when he and the people who are with him come out against you, you may do to them as your hand finds to do.” (ESV)
The mayor of the city warns Abimelech about the uprising against him.
Judges 9:34-41 So Abimelech and all the men who were with him rose up by night and set an ambush against Shechem in four companies. And Gaal the son of Ebed went out and stood in the entrance of the gate of the city, and Abimelech and the people who were with him rose from the ambush. And when Gaal saw the people, he said to Zebul, “Look, people are coming down from the mountaintops!” And Zebul said to him, “You mistake the shadow of the mountains for men.” Gaal spoke again and said, “Look, people are coming down from the center of the land, and one company is coming from the direction of the Diviners’ Oak.” Then Zebul said to him, “Where is your mouth now, you who said, ‘Who is Abimelech, that we should serve him?’ Are not these the people whom you despised? Go out now and fight with them.” And Gaal went out at the head of the leaders of Shechem and fought with Abimelech. And Abimelech chased him, and he fled before him. And many fell wounded, up to the entrance of the gate. And Abimelech lived at Arumah, and Zebul drove out Gaal and his relatives, so that they could not dwell at Shechem. (ESV)
Abimelech seems to have suppressed the uprising against him. The citizens of Shechem feel safe again, so...
Judges 9:42 On the following day, the people went out into the field, and Abimelech was told. (ESV)
They go out to harvest their crops.
Judges 9:43-45 He took his people and divided them into three companies and set an ambush in the fields. And he looked and saw the people coming out of the city. So he rose against them and killed them. Abimelech and the company that was with him rushed forward and stood at the entrance of the gate of the city, while the two companies rushed upon all who were in the field and killed them. And Abimelech fought against the city all that day. He captured the city and killed the people who were in it, and he razed the city and sowed it with salt. (ESV)
Abimelech slaughters the citizens of Shechem.and spreads salt all over the city, consigning it to permanent desolation. The leaders of Shechem, however, escape.
Judges 9:46 When all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem heard of it, they entered the stronghold of the house of El-berith [a pagan temple]. (ESV)
The Tower of Shechem is Shechem’s nearby fortress, to which all the leaders of Shechem fled.
Judges 9:47-49 Abimelech was told that all the leaders of the Tower of Shechem were gathered together. And Abimelech went up to Mount Zalmon, he and all the people who were with him. And Abimelech took an axe in his hand and cut down a bundle of brushwood and took it up and laid it on his shoulder. And he said to the men who were with him, “What you have seen me do, hurry and do as I have done.” So every one of the people cut down his bundle and following Abimelech put it against the stronghold, and they set the stronghold on fire over them, so that all the people of the Tower of Shechem also died, about 1,000 men and women. (ESV)
Abimelech’s fury knows no bounds. He slaughters not only the laborers of Shechem, but also all its leaders. Then he travels to the next city and tries to destroy it too!
Judges 9:50-52 Then Abimelech went to Thebez and encamped against Thebez and captured it. But there was a strong tower within the city, and all the men and women and all the leaders of the city fled to it and shut themselves in, and they went up to the roof of the tower. And Abimelech came to the tower and fought against it and drew near to the door of the tower to burn it with fire (ESV) – like he did at the Tower of Shechem.
Judges 9:53-55 And a certain woman threw an upper millstone on Abimelech’s head and crushed his skull. Then he called quickly to the young man his armor-bearer and said to him, “Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, ‘A woman killed him.’ ” And his young man thrust him through, and he died. And when the men of Israel saw that Abimelech was dead, everyone departed to his home. (ESV)
Abimelech’s reign of fury is done, disgracefully killed by a woman, who threw a heavy millstone on his head. Abimelech let anger drive him all his life, and it destroyed him in the end.
Please, don’t let anger destroy you too.
Herman Melville's Moby Dick tells another story of a man driven by anger and revenge. In the story, Captain Ahab loses a leg to a white whale, which drives him on a life-long quest to kill that whale in revenge.
As his anger grows, so does his lack of wisdom. The driving force in his soul begins to override good judgment, putting Ahab, his crew, and his ship into insanely hazardous situations. Everything else is secondary to killing the white whale.
Then, as Captain Ahab hurls man and ship into the perilous seas of hate, his opportunity to take vengeance finally arrives. The white whale is within Ahab's grasp. He chases the whale for three days, and his crew realize that Ahab's folly may mean doom—not for the whale, but for themselves.
Starbuck, Ahab's first mate, and the only one who dares to question the captain, cries out, “Oh! Ahab, not too late is it, even now, the third day, to desist. See! Moby Dick seeks you not. It is you, you, that madly seek him!”
But it IS too late. Ahab's desire for revenge grows deeper, ignoring every danger. In the end, the ship is lost; everyone dies except one crewmember, and Ahab loses both his quest and his life. (Howard Butt, Who Can You Trust? Waterbrook, 2004, pp. 55-56; www.PreachingToday.com)
My dear friends, revenge never saves anybody. On the contrary, it destroys all who pursue it.
Frederick Buechner put it this way: “Of the Seven Deadly Sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back. In many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you. (Frederick Buechner, Wishful Thinking: A Theological ABC, Harper, 1993; www.PreachingToday.com)
So please, don’t let anger drive you, and don’t let anger destroy you. Instead...
LET GOD DEAL WITH THOSE WHO HURT YOU.
Trust God to pass the appropriate judgment on the evildoer. Relinquish your right to retaliate and rely on God to do it for you.
That’s what God did to Abimelech and the city of Shechem. They had acted treacherously, so God returned their treachery.
Judges 9:56-57 Thus God returned the evil of Abimelech, which he committed against his father in killing his seventy brothers. And God also made all the evil of the men of Shechem return on their heads, and upon them came the curse of Jotham the son of Jerubbaal. (ESV)
According to B. G. Webb, God exacts judgment with “almost mathematical precision.” 1st, Abimelech went to Shechem to incite its leaders to conspire with him against Gideon’s 70 sons (vs.1-2), after which Gaal incites Shechem’s leaders to conspire with him against Abimelech (vs.26-29). 2nd, The ambush set by the men of Shechem (vs.25) was answered by the ambush set against them by Abimelech (vs.34). And 3rd, Abimelech himself, who killed his brothers on a stone (5, 18), was killed beside a stone which was dropped on his head (vs.54) –B. G. Webb, New Bible Commentary, 4th ed.
God knows how to deal justly with evildoers, so trust Him to do it for you. The Bible is very clear on this matter. It says, “Never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, ‘Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord’” (Romans 12:19).
It’s hard for people to imagine a loving God displaying wrath and anger against evildoers, but that’s exactly what He does. And He displays that anger not despite His love, but because of it.
Tim Keller, in his book The Reason for God, says, “If you love a person and you see someone ruining them – even they themselves – you get angry.” Then he quotes Becky Pippert, who says, “Think how we feel when we see someone we love ravaged by unwise actions or relationships. Do we respond with benign tolerance as we might toward strangers? Far from it... Anger isn’t the opposite of love. Hate is, and the final form of hate is indifference... God’s wrath is not a cranky explosion, but his settled opposition to the cancer... which is eating out the insides of the human race he loves with his whole being.” (Timothy Keller, The Reason for God, Viking, 2008, Page 73; www.PreachingToday.com)
So trust your loving Heavenly Father to deal justly with evildoers, even those who hurt you.
That’s what Jesus did. Peter, one of His closest companions testified, “When he was reviled, he did not revile in return; when he suffered, he did not threaten, but continued entrusting himself to him who judges justly” (1 Peter 2:3).
The cross was he greatest injustice ever perpetrated on an innocent victim – the sinless Son of God. Jesus had every right to retaliate, but He did not. Instead, He entrusted Himself to a just God, who vindicated Jesus by raising Him from the dead. More than that, God used the cross to justly forgive every believer of their sins and to publicly humiliate the powers of evil.
The Bible says, “You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins. He canceled the record of the charges against us and took it away by nailing it to the cross. In this way, he disarmed the spiritual rulers and authorities. He shamed them publicly by his victory over them on the cross” (Colossians 2:13-15, NLT).
So put your trust in the Lord, first of all, to forgive YOU of YOUR sins, then to deal justly with those who have sinned against you.
For that’s the only way to deal with your anger without letting it drive you or destroy you in the end. Give it to God, and rely on Him to deal justly with those who have hurt you.
Just this last fall (October 2019), Randy Smalls discovered that his daughter had participated in the bullying of another girl at her middle school. So he took swift action, but not with the typical punishment.
He used the money he had intended to spend on his daughter and took Ryan Reese, the target of the bullying, on a shopping spree. Ryan was grieving the loss of several family members, so Randy wanted to show her some compassion in place of the bullying she had received. He took his daughter along to help pick out Ryan’s clothes.
Then after dropping his daughter off at church, Randy took Ryan to a beauty salon for a makeover. He even convinced several other salons to donate their services so that Ryan could be styled twice-a-month for several months. (Elise Sole, “Father treats child bullied by his own teen daughter, to shopping spree,” Yahoo Lifestyle, 10-26-19; www.PreachingToday.com)
Oooh! How that must have hurt Randy’s daughter, but she learned a very important lesson that day.
Trust God to do no less for you. Trust God to return good for the evil done to you, and to exact the appropriate punishment on the evildoers.
Please, don’t let anger drive you, and don’t let anger destroy you. Instead, trust God to deal appropriately with those who hurt you.
Miroslav Volf, a Croatian theologian, once said, “To triumph fully, evil needs two victories, not one. The first victory happens when an evil deed is perpetrated; the second victory, when evil is returned. After the first victory, evil would die if the second victory did not infuse it with new life.” (www.PreachingToday.com)
Please, don’t infuse the evil with new life. Trust God to deal with it in His time and His way. Then experience His peace in the midst of your pain.
