Righteous indignation plays a great role in God’s solution-making.
Scripture demonstrates that there is progression involved in every emotion in the Godhead, faithful tour companion.
A sample of such progressions in the Godhead (among many possible) includes the following (God sanctioned and endorsed) emotional dynamics:
Sympathy can proceed to compassion. ( Matthew 9:36)
Respect can proceed to tender affection. (1 John 4:19)
Anger (a strong feeling of grievance and displeasure) can proceed to righteous indignation (justifiable anger because something is unfair or unreasonable). (John 2:14-16)
And righteous indignation can proceed to . . . wrath. (Romans 1:18)
As I deduce from scripture’s portrait of God’s state of mind at and during creation (God endorses reasonable, respectful thinking), neither anger, nor righteous indignation, nor wrath was active in the Godhead before the aha-moment of creation. The emotional thermostat of the Godhead community was set at peace.
With the advent of the Creation aha-moment and the dangers latent in it, the emotional gauge spikes. The emotions of anger, righteous indignation and wrath (which I label stress reactions) shoot off the charts as they return in force. Precipitants of the stress reaction abound, including disappointment, hurt, pain, loss and a sense of betrayal. These and more chaotic emotions mingle for a fraction of a second with His thinking and reasoning but under the influence of His commitment to pure goodness, are quickly modulated by His established emotional pattern, a pattern based on respect for others, the tender affection shared within the Godhead and the compassionate climate of the Godhead community (Father, Son and Holy Spirit).
By exertion of His will emotion settles to manageable levels. And God begins dealing with feelings previously alien to His resolved condition.
The stress reaction (a meaningful dynamic in the creative process) kindles compensation behaviors in the Godhead. Several coping mechanisms come into play, some previously mentioned.
In His thinking and reasoning:
- All possible emotions are cognitively sorted and emotion inappropriate to God’s value system is eternally banned from the Godhead.
- In His mind, God commits to a policy of emotional accountability. Emotional territories of expression are defined. Anger will be short-lived. Righteous indignation will be purposeful. Wrath will be cleansing. Justice will be merciful. Love will be reliable. God will have a heart for His people. And so on.
- Enriched by righteous emotion, the politics of governing emerge: In both the spiritual and physical world, He will balance cleansing and purging, employ protection and provision and combine personal intervention with arguments promoting reasonable behavior and reasonable choice among all beings.
- The provision of good against evil aligns in His mind.
- The emotions of anger, righteous indignation and wrath gain new utility against evil. God places forgiveness in the foreground of relationships as the antidotes to anger and righteous indignation, including relenting and restoration as functions of forgiveness. And wrath becomes the last measure against lawlessness. For wrath, there will be no antidote.
In His actions:
A cascade of possibilities blends with His stress emotions and emerges as an action plan. Most possibilities—nurtured by mercy—involve corrective action, or measures to restrict or contain evil throughout Creation, though some measures go farther than that, calling for confrontation, condemnation, judgment and punishment of spiritual or embodied evil. Such punishments may include exile or destruction or other means.
For example, respecting wrath as a justifiable emotion and policy, God resolves to engage evil. As we have seen earlier, in the “heavenlies”, evil foreseen in the coming person of Satan and His minions will be resisted. He foresees the necessity to marshal forces for war. He wills to overcome, judge and sentence evil, establishing Himself as Judge.
In the physical world, an assortment of provision is made for law and order, featuring tiers of resource. Foreseeing the event of failure of the Tree and of Reasonable Choice, God conceives alternative solutions—a Godly nation to be a light to the earthly nations (Israel). 10 Commandments for a behavior model. And a just yet compassionate system of law enforcement is established for protection of the people. A personal approach to relationship between God and human beings (the pinnacle achievement of His Creation) is composed.
To foster domestic tranquility among human beings, courts are planned. They will be convened by governments and presided over by judges, kings, or priests (rank and position will develop among people as a result of the fall) and are conceived to judge with fairness and mercy. Earthly armies are projected as defenders of the good on the national level. Abusers of these good plans are to be seen as culpable (guilty and subject to blame and punishment).
Further, the individual is freed of the personal burden to enforce justice—the burden goes to the state. Detailed evaluations of evil action—murder, theft, violence, perversity, lawlessness and wickedness are envisioned and designated for oversight by lawful representatives of the system, including ultimate resolution of such predicaments by appropriate means, even so far as (in order to defend and protect the public good) claiming life for taking of life.
At every turn, God’s emotion molds and fashion the creation of good government and policy.
As for Himself, God the Father anticipates with pleasure plans to walk the earth. And when Creation falls, in sorrow, plans His own withdrawal from the earthly realm. Moved by compassion, to replace His presence on earth, He will faithfully send messenger angels and prophets and pre-incarnate expeditions of God the Son into the physical world. Simultaneously, selective visitations by Holy Spirit are scheduled.
God’s energy moves on.
His vision lovingly embraces created beings—human beings, animal beings and other living creatures.
Prayer” as a forum-model is approved for communication and the meeting of minds.
He establishes the model of thinking about Him and remembering Him as requisite for relationship of human beings with Him. (John 1:28)
The Plan gathers substance: Loving relationship with human beings becomes paramount in His mind. He will create human beings specifically for relationship with Him (Genesis 1:26). Peace, love, forgiveness, anger, righteous indignation and wrath become emotional pillars of relationship. And stories of the dynamics involved in appropriate and inappropriate progression of emotion by God (appropriate) and man (both appropriate and inappropriate) will one day be found in page after page of the Bible, an enduring guide to relationships formed of the very breath of God for the benefit of any that open its cover.
His Purpose becomes clear: He will love human beings and they will love Him.
His Position develops: He will never leave human beings or forsake them.
His Promise forms: He will always delight in again and again providing for and protecting human beings.
All of this and more triggered by righteous indignation.
It is critical, thoughtful companion, in any sort-out to attempt to realize the importance of what we find as we go, in case we might err and too casually dismiss the value of those findings. It matters what pleases or displeases God. It matters how God handles emotion. His methods become a priceless model for us. It matters what God likes or dislikes.
I will always urge one and all to try to understand the character or God—what elements and boundaries of existence He defines and recommends, and the discipline, limitations and restrictions He by His own choice and in His pure goodness places upon Himself.
In the words of a Song of Worship: “Our God is an awesome God! He reigns from heaven above. With wisdom, power and love. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome God. Our God is an awesome . . . God! (Songs 4 Worship: Shout to the Lord, Disc 2, #3 Awesome God)
To be continued . . .
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