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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 3 - Advanced)
Topic: Angry (08/02/07)
There is a time to be born
And a time to die.
There is a time to shout out
And a time to be quiet.
There is even a time to gather stones.
But what of those?
I really don’t know.
But down through the pages
Of God’s written Word
I see that He has always reserved
A time to be angry.

What makes God angry?
I read of other gods and
See His jealousy
But how does that affect me today?
I certainly don’t bow down to
Statues of wood and clay
Or do I?

Maybe the clay god I serve
Is really myself,
Proved by all the time I spend
Pursuing things He’s already given me,
Trophies already won and
Paid for by the finished work of the cross.
Things like:
Self-worth, purpose, a position in His Kingdom,
Gifts of service to spend on others,
Words of life to bring
Like glasses of cool water
In the desert of loneliness
Where so many live.

Maybe the jealousy He feels comes from
My attention being riveted
By the fleeting fame and recognition
I crave and seek through
Demanding that my position
Should be exalted above His will.

I’m beginning to believe that there is
A time for me to be angry
Yet without sin.
But the only kind of sinless anger that lives
Is letting those things that
Stir the heart of God
Stir me.

I need to be angry enough to
Find the heart of God
Amongst all the glitter and excess
That surround me.
I need to scrape back all the layers of faces
I wear, and that I see on others,
To find the part yet celestial despite
Time spent on planet earth.

And when I find the beating part of God,
That part reserved for me to feel and hear
And wear on my sleeve,
I will be complete in a way that is beyond
The physical realm.

I will finally see them:
The desperate,
The widow,
The orphan,
The sick,
The dying,
The imprisoned and impoverished.

Then and only then
Will I be angry without sin
I will be full of the passion that results
In a revolution of the soul,
A revolution against the systematic thinking
That keeps me imprisoned in flesh,
That denies the Spirit to speak the truth to me.
When the passion runs it's course
And heaven's fire is in my veins,
I will finally to be free to embrace
The time to be angry.
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This article has been read 1313 times
Member Comments
Member
Date
Kristen Hester
08/10/07
Yes! There is a time to be angry. Thanks for sharing this meaningful poem.
Lynda Schultz 
08/10/07
Very profound take on the subject. Great message and well-done.
Jan Ackerson
08/15/07
Very enlightening musings on appropriate anger.

I'd have liked to see more poetic language here--perhaps stronger imagery, or some metaphor. I love free verse, but it stands out even further when it reads substantially differently from prose.

The conlcusions you came to in the end set a perfect tone for the poem overall, which almost reads like a Psalm. Quite nice.
Dee Yoder
08/15/07
Justified anger for the down-trodden is reflected in God's word, and you did a beautiful job pointing out that kind of anger can only be useful once we lay down our own selfish intentions. Very intuitive thinking.
Brenda Buikema
08/15/07
You touched a lot of hot spots in this Christian today. Thanks for sharing this.
Joanne Sher 
08/15/07
Extremely thought-provoking. This was a great read.
Verna Cole Mitchell 
08/15/07
Your poem is very deep and convicting as well, for us to be sinlessly angry for what makes God angry.
Julie Arduini
08/16/07
That last stanza is just gorgeous. Well done overall, but that end really jumped out to me.