Slow to Anger
“The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.” Nahum 1:3
“The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.’” Exodus 34:6-7
I don’t know about you, but sometimes I am quick to anger. Especially when it has been a long week, I have worked a lot and haven’t slept much. Those just happened to be the circumstances one night after I got done cooking dinner and was going to put the leftovers in a Tupperware container.
But you see in the small house we lived in, with a small kitchen, there was limited cabinet space so the Tupperware was in the small cabinet above the stove, ya know the one you need to be on your tiptoes to reach and even then maybe see in to. Remember how I said it had been a long week of work and I hadn’t slept much? Well throw in a cabinet out of my reach pull of unorganized, disheveled Tupperware. It is a recipe for me to be quick to get angry and frustrated.
I proceeded to stand on my tiptoes and reach up and attempt to find a Tupperware container and matching lid-when you guessed it. Almost all the Tupperware came falling out on top of me. I was so frustrated and so quick to anger in the moment. So frustrated, actually, that I cried. Over TUPPERWARE.
The good news is I am human, I am not perfect, my character wavers but God IS perfect and His character NEVER wavers. He is slow to anger, compassionate, gracious, abounding in love, abounding in faithfulness, and forgiving. How reassuring is that?!
Think about how quickly you get angry. Or think about those times you are feeling really patient and may not get angry very quickly at all. And know that the Lord is slower to anger and ABOUNDING in love and faithfulness. Because the Lord is slow to anger and abounding in love and because of Jesus’ death on the cross, we need not worry about our imperfect, wavering, sinful self angering the Lord or taking away His love.