Grace through anger

In a comment yesterday, Bob mentioned how anger can separate us from God. I can see that. I also think, though, that our assumptions are often wrong when it comes to our relationship with God.

When we are angry with someone, we do feel apart from him/her. Because of that, we assume that our anger removes God from us -- that it creates a wall in our relationship.

Hang with me for a moment. The picture above is of the beach as it rained one morning. Usually, the sand under the umbrellas is darker than the rest of the sand -- in shadow. That morning, it was the opposite -- the sand under the umbrellas was dry and lighter than the wet sand in the rain. With God, there are many times when his reality is the opposite of ours.

There are times when anger is a response to our efforts to work through something that brings us pain. We might be angry with someone else or with God. It's a dark valley through which we walk and is necessary to reach the other side. There have been times in my life when anger has proceeded forgiveness and healing. I wasn't angry with God, but he was certainly present in the walk I was traveling.

While we might assume that anger separates us from God because it does create a wall between people, I think that if we allow it, even in times of anger with God, he can use that to move us through to recovery -- to the other side of anger. God never give up on us. His love is stronger than whatever emotion we might throw at him.