Thursday, September 11, 2008

1 Samuel 11 - angry?


"the spirit of God rushed upon Saul and he burned with anger (v6)"

Of all the things that the Holy Spirit does, anger is not one of the first things people tend to think of. This is probably because when i get angry it tends to be selfish - something hasn't gone the way I wanted it to. That kind of anger is sinful, but not all anger is - Jesus got angry but never sinned. The anger that the Holy Spirit produces in Saul is not selfish - it is a response to oppression of God's people and results in action. My anger is in response to myself and results in self pity - that is not the work of the Holy Spirit! Too often i am totally unmoved by injustice. Those are the times that I need righteous anger stirred up in me producing action.


Towards the end of the chapter we see (possibly for the last time) humility in Saul. He's just won an important battle, his supporters are lapping him up, it looks like a good time to punish the people who doubted him or at least say "i told you so". Saul doesn't. he focuses the attention back on God. When things are seemingly going well for me, am I trying to put the attention onto God?

No comments: