This message is primarily for those who call on the name of Jesus Christ as their own Lord and Savior from sin, and serve as a Chaplain or a gospel minister in a jail, prison or a follow-up ministry such as a rescue mission – in the United States.
All Scripture quotes are usually taken from the New King James Version (NKJV) of the Bible, copyright 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. When quoting a text, any deviation from the NKJV text is placed within parenthesis signs (). These usually occur as direct translations from the original languages, or as notes from the original setting to help apply the text to today’s culture.
ALL CAPITAL LETTERS are sometimes used to emphasize words in a text, or to make a comment about a biblical text, or emphasize a statement.
Recently, on a ministry trip I encountered two situations where people had seemingly turned away from God, after professing to be followers of Jesus Christ. The first confessed that they had been angry with God. The second situation probably involved some of the same feelings.
In each case, a noticeable departure from practicing the faith had resulted. I know you will likely encounter inmates and other people in your ministry that will come to you like these two people came to me. So, this month, I want to help you think biblically and be somewhat prepared to help them through their struggle.
The first situation involved a person who told me they had been very angry with God over a horrible experience in their early life.
They said that as a result of their anger over the hurt they experienced, they wrongly chose to leave the things of God alone for about four years. Then, they had “come back” to Him, but had many struggles over the years. Now 30 years later, they were trying to get back into serving Him by getting involved in jail ministry for Christ.
When the first person came to me - they were troubled and afraid He might not accept them back. They even thought they might have blown it forever because of what they thought the passage in Hebrews 6:4-6, was saying to them.
In one and ONLY ONE SENSE, they were right to want to deal with the question of their own salvation. That is: no one should minister in the name of Christ, in any ministry, who is not absolutely sure they are saved. You cannot be an effective tool for the Lord to use and at the same time doubt your true salvation and relationship with God.
Before I even deal with that passage in Hebrews 6, (I will because the question has been raised) I want to go over two incidents recorded in the Bible where different people were angry with God. I think you can learn from them and apply truths found that will help you to counsel any that come to you, “angry with God.”
In both cases He asked them about their anger, in effect asking them WHY they were angry with Him and IF THEIR ANGER WAS RIGHT. I will deal with then in reverse chronological order, first is the prophet Jonah, and then the earlier one, Cain. There are some striking similarities between these two characters, and some striking differences.
The main difference between the two is that: Jonah was saved, and Cain was not. Jonah repented, and Cain did not. Jonah will be with the LORD forever, and Cain will not.
In Jonah Chapter 1, God sent His prophet to do a ministry. He sent him to Nineveh to call the ancient Assyrian people to repentance and to warn them of impending judgment should they not repent. But Jonah rebelled against God’s command, until at the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3, after God’s discipline through the giant sea creature He had prepared for Jonah’s correction.
When Jonah obeyed and went to Nineveh and preached to them about the LORD’S impending judgment, the whole of the city, from the poorest to the richest even to the king, REPENTED. So look again with me at the end of Chapter 3, verse 10:
“ … God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He would bring upon them, …”
Now here is where it gets really interesting and we see Jonah’s anger at God for saving the people of Nineveh. Chapter 4:1-4
On the heels of their repentance and God withholding judgment -
1 But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, (actually to the point of Jonah physically quivering) and HE BECAME ANGRY (the word means ‘with a burning anger’ so we should say that Jonah was absolutely enraged).
The context shows Jonah was angry with God for saving the people of ancient Nineveh. Most people (true with Jonah and Cain) that confess they are angry WITH GOD, are angry BECAUSE in their thinking, somehow He did something wrong (Jonah was there).
Most people who feel anger towards God as a result of being the victim of someone else’s evil, think somehow God was to blame for the hurt and the tragedy they experienced.
“How could a God who IS LOVE let this thing happen to me?” and “Surely, He could have prevented it!” are two of the thoughts they struggle with. A third thought they often have is “This thing was (or, is) SO UNFAIR, because I didn’t do anything wrong!” Which isn’t always true. There are biblical answers for all of these statements. But for now, look at Jonah in the next verse:
2 So he prayed to the LORD, (not a prayer of repentance) and said, “Ah, LORD, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled to Tarshisah; for I knew that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. (in other words, I knew You’d do something like this)<>
3 (Jonah speaking to God) Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” (note the anger in that statement)
4 Then the LORD said, “IS IT RIGHT FOR YOU TO BE ANGRY?”
That question God asked Jonah in Jonah 4:4 is a good place to start with those that come to you angry with God. “Is it RIGHT for YOU to be angry?” By implication in that context, of Jonah 4, God was asking, “Is it RIGHT for YOU to be angry WITH ME?” So, God’s question to Jonah is a good question to ponder for anyone who is angry with God.
Jonah obviously had forgotten what a sinner he was himself. The ancient Assyrians of Nineveh were horrible people who more than likely had hurt or even possibly killed some of Jonah’s relatives. He wanted God to judge them, not forgive them. He wanted God to hate the Assyrians just like he did.
He did not want God to forgive them and save them from their sin. In saving anyone from sin, God changes them so that they do not continue in their sinful ways. He changed the Assyrians of Nineveh. Jonah just didn’t get that.
The subsequent verses of Jonah 4, show he valued a plant more than the eternal destiny of people in a city of over 600,000 human beings! A city where the infant and toddler population was more than 120,000 (verse 11). He did not think as God did. Jonah did not have God’s compassion on lost sinners.
Ask those that confess they are angry with God, “Who is God, you or God?” You see, those that say they are angry with Him are often so upset because He did not think or act like they would have or even do presently. They then have become guilty of reinventing God in their own image!
We can on biblical authority tell people it is OK and all right to be angry at sin, but it is never right to be angry with God BECAUSE OF SIN. If and when they are hurt by the sin of others, it is ALWAYS CORRECT BIBLICALLY to tell them that God was hurt even more and offended more than they were by the sin, BECAUSE THAT SIN WAS EVEN MORE AGAINST HIM (and His righteous standard) than it was against them. We are not absolute holiness, HE IS!
Two important biblical texts come to mind that make this point:
A. Isaiah 6:1-3
1 In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, high and lifted up, and the train of His robe filled the temple.
2 Above it stood seraphim; each one had six wings: with two he covered his face, with two he covered his feet (or, trunk), and with two he flew.
3 And one cried to another and said:
“ Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; The whole earth is full of His glory!”
B. Habakkuk 1:13 – the Prophet was talking to God when he by the Holy Spirit said:
13 You are of purer eyes than to behold evil, and cannot look (with approval) on wickedness.
Remember, and remind people constantly that the God we must all face is, according to 1 John 1:5 absolute moral purity, He “is light and in Him is no darkness at all.”
Now moving on from Jonah consider Cain, whom we read about in Genesis 4:1-10.
In verses 1-2 we see CAIN’S PROPAGATION.
1 Now Adam knew Eve his wife, and she conceived and bore Cain, and said, “I have acquired a man from the LORD.”
2 Then she bore again, this time his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, but Cain was a tiller of the ground.
So we learn of his birth and life up to a point.
Next, in verses 3-7, we see HIS PROBLEM WITH GOD.
3 And in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.
4 Abel also brought (an offering) of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat.
From Hebrews 11:4, we must understand that the LORD God must have commanded this offering and specified what it should be to both Cain and Abel, because it says:
4 BY FAITH Abel offered to God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain,
“Faith” is always an act of obedience to God’s revealed will through His word. God must have said to them what He wanted. Abel in faith obeyed God, Cain did not. So we read in the rest of verse 4 and verse 5:
… and the LORD respected (or, regarded, meaning accepted) Abel and his offering,
5 but He did not respect (He did not regard or accept) Cain and his offering. And (as a result) Cain was VERY ANGRY (he was extremely hot with rage), and his countenance fell (in other words, it was written all over Cain’s face).
Who was Cain very, very angry with? The answer must be, “with God!” because He did not accept Cain’s self-invented form of worship, which was in disobedience to His revealed way of worship. But God, in extreme grace, reasoned with Cain. Note it in verse 6.
6 So the LORD said to Cain, “WHY ARE YOU ANGRY? And why has your countenance fallen?
7 If you do well, (in other words, ‘if you thoroughly do’ what I have asked) will you not be accepted (literally, ‘lifted up,’ implying a change of countenance in knowing you are right with God)? And if you do not do well, sin lies (is crouching) at the door. And its desire (as a carnivorous beast wants to leap on and kill prey) is for you, but you should rule over (or, dominate) it.”
Now in verses 8-10, instead of repenting and obeying God, we see HIS PROTEST.
8 Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
He did this out of hateful anger against God. How do we know that? Because, 1 John 3:12 in speaking of the children of the Devil and the children of God says -
…
12 not as Cain who was of the wicked one (the Devil) and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his works were evil and his brother’s RIGHTEOUS.
The word translated “murder(ed)” in this verse, suggests Cain slit Abel’s throat! The word is the same word that was used for slaughtering an animal, and in Genesis 4:10 God spoke of Abel’s “blood” being poured out on the ground. There must have been a lot of it!
In anger, Cain could not kill God, so his violent rage against God fell on one who represented Him, RIGHTEOUS Abel.
9 Then the LORD said to Cain, “Where is Abel your brother?”
He said, “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” (note the unappeased tone of anger against God in Cain’s answer)
10 And He said, “What have you done? The voice of your brother’s blood cries out to Me from the ground.
Wew learn from Jonah and Cain that anger against God that is un-repented of, takes us farther away from God and deeper into sin.
The second situation involved a young adult child of a minister of the gospel. Their father had been suddenly dismissed from a ministry position he had loved and held for eleven years. He was “let go” for really no good reason. As a result, the young adult was saying things like “look how these Christians have treated my dad. If that’s the way it is, I don’t want to have anything to do with Christianity.”
In both cases, rather than running FOM GOD in anger, these two individuals should have been counseled to RUN TO GOD in faith and hope of His comfort and guidance. It is all right and OK to be angry at sin, but never to be angry WITH GOD, because of it.
Remind those that have experienced bad things as a result of the sin of others of these two verses:
Genesis 50:20
20 … as for you, you meant evil against me; but God MEANT IT FOR GOOD, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive.
Romans 8:28
28 And we know that all things work together FOR GOOD to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.
So, why does God allow bad things to happen to His own beloved spiritual children? Here are three answers based on biblical truth:
- To drive us TO HIM even more. (This theme is repeated throughout the Psalms)
- To MATURE US spiritually (Maturity comes through trials - consider both Joseph and Job!).
- To help us have a FUTURE MINISTRY OF COMPASSION to those that will suffer similar things. (See, 2 Corinthians 1:3,4)
Now as I close this message, I must tell you how I handled the first person and their fear of not being accepted back by God, since out of anger they had deserted Him for about four years. The text they were concerned about was Hebrews 6:4-6.
4 For it is impossible for those who were once enlightened, and have tasted the heavenly gift, and have become partakers of the Holy Spirit,
5 and have tasted the good word of God and the powers of the age to come,
6 if they fall away, to renew them again to repentance, since they crucify again for themselves the Son of God, and put Him to an open shame.
7 For the earth which drinks in the rain that often comes upon it, and bears herbs useful for those by whom it is cultivated, receives blessing from God;
8 but if it bears thorns and briers, it is rejected and near to being cursed, whose end is to be burned.
Here in a brief form is what I told the first person that came to me and was concerned that they might not be accepted back by God on the basis of the words of verse 6, “if they fall away.”
1. Verses 4-6 are not talking about saved people. Verses 9-10 prove that –
9 But, beloved, we are confident of better things concerning you (a different group), yes, things that accompany salvation, though we speak in this manner (to the other group).
10 For God is not unjust to forget your work and labor of love which you have shown toward His name, in that you have ministered to the saints, and do minister.
2. There are at least seven warning sections in the Book of Hebrews addressed to what we might call “fence sitters.” That is, people who know about Christ, BUT HAVE NEVER TRULY COME TO HIM COMPLETELY. They are somewhat intellectually convinced about who He is, but for fear of losing something they want to hold on to elements of their old life (and man-made religion). THIS SECTION IS ONE OF THOSE WARNING SECTIONS.
3. After the word “impossible” in verse 4, there is a long parenthesis down through the words “fall away” in verse 6. The sense then is, “It is impossible to renew to repentance” those described in the parenthesis.
They were “enlightened.” They only “tasted” the things of God, heavenly things. They were only “associated” with the things the Holy Spirit was doing. That’s the sense because the word “partakers” in verse 4, IS NOT a form of “koinonia” (to be in a participating partnership with) but ANOTHER WORD which is not as deep relationally as koinonia, and only means they were around or associated with.
Verse 5 says they had a head knowledge of end time prophecy. BUT, all of that closeness to the things of God in Christ never caused them to repent and truly commit themselves to follow Him, so the fell away for good.
That parenthesis therefore DID NOT describe the one I was counseling. The very fact that they were now seeking the things of the Lord, and were concerned about their relationship with Him was a witness to their true repentance and faith in Christ.
Lastly, in this sin filled and sin cursed earth, awful things happen. When an unbeliever is victimized by sin, they too should see the incident being allowed by God as a jolt to get their attention on Him, AND COME TO HIM in true repentance and faith in His salvation offered ONLY in Jesus Christ, the Conqueror of and Savior from sin.
Rich Hines
Aurora Ministries – Minister to Chaplains (and Christian correctional volunteers)
