Psalm 119:139 – Zeal

I am overcome by my zeal,
because my enemies have forgotten your word.

What exactly makes you angry about another person?

Few of us can claim that we have not been provoked to anger by something about another person. The question is whether or not the cause of our anger is valid. But, you say, we’re talking about zeal. True, but more precisely we’re talking about an emotion regarding other people that is overwhelming.

So let’s use “zeal,” as I did in the translation. What gets you feeling zealous? What gets you to take action about something?

And that’s where we can join the Psalmist. For him, what gets him going is that there are people out there who have forgotten God’s word. I wonder what he did about it.

Often we speak against anger (or sometimes any emotion) as though the emotion itself is bad. I don’t think this is right. I’ll note that when Jesus spoke against anger, it was against anger at your brother that could lead you to doing harm.

I can get very angry, but my most common approach to interaction is reconciliation. I want to get people talking to one another, or having a dialogue with me, with the hope that we’ll work out some good solution to our problems. I may want to convince them of the (obviously excellent!!!) approaches that I absolutely know are right. Even so, I generally want a solution reached through dialog. One of the things that bothers me most is that so many times people just won’t talk. Either they’ve talked too long already, or the other person is too far off the map for them to engage with.

And I admit that there are times when these people are right. I have the experience of wasting time talking with people and trying to create meetings and discussions to bring reconciliation when the parties simply weren’t sincerely interested in a peaceful or friendly solution.

I don’t entirely like the word “balance,” but there is a balance needed here. Or perhaps an integration. Strong emotions exist for a reason. We need to get angry in order to bring ourselves to action. When there is injustice, when people are being hurt, when people’s lives are destroyed, we need to be angry. And if we consider the law as I discussed it a few days ago, as summed up by loving one another, then when we see people hurting others, our zeal should overcome us, because they have forgotten God’s word.

On the other hand, we find it much easier to get angry at the other people because they annoy us and not because they have forgotten God’s law. Then we like to pretend tat we’re angry about their failure to serve God properly, while it’s really just that they rub us the wrong way.

What should you be angry about today?