Definition

RAGE – the uncontrolled feelings of hatred and anger that move us to act against others.

Read Ezra 9:10-15

This is part of a prayer of Ezra, a priest of Israel from around 500 BCE, who led a stage of the return to their lands after being captive in Babylon and Persia for nearly a century. He saw the people of Israel all intermarried with people who did not worship God and knew, from experience, that this would anger God.

It is not hard to see in the Old Testament that God gets angry. His anger is always the result of our rejection of relationship with him. It is not even about breaking his commandments, but about violating the love he pours into his relationship with us by treating his commandments so flippantly.

Our anger and rage will break our relationship with God; and that calls down his righteous anger on us. He will act to restore us, but from our end it will feel like judgment and unless we seek his heart, we will refuse his correction.

God, when I feel the heat of your anger in my life, help me to see that it is I who has wronged and not you. You are perfect and loving; you desire the best for your children, which means you will correct me. Give me perspective on these things and help me to be drawn closer to you rather than pushing you away.