We’re looking at God’s condemnation of Edom as He speaks through His prophet Amos: “I will not turn back My wrath, because he pursued his brother with a sword, stifling all compassion, because his anger raged continually, and his fury flamed unchecked” (Amos 1:11-12).
Edom’s resentment of Israel had led to the point that the Edomites had even taken Israelites “into slavery” (Amos 1:9). By refusing to let go of past hurts, Edom “pursued his brother,” Israel.
Please carefully note the progression of unchecked anger:
(1) “He pursued his brother.” We see that the Edomites were still brooding over the past. You’ve heard me say this before, but it bears repeating: Life is a forward journey; dang the history. If it’s not productive, forget it. If you can’t change it, drop it. Unless you can name a positive forward-moving action that will result from thinking on a past event, you need to consciously rebuke that recollection every time it comes creeping into your mind.
(2) “Stifling all compassion.” Christ doesn’t merely have compassion – He is Compassion Incarnate. If we are to be like Him, we must pursue compassion, not past hurts. The first step in the road to bitterness is “stifling… compassion.” As a child of God, His indwelling Holy Spirit places within you Himself, the Root of Compassion. The only way for bitterness to grow in your life is for you to keep smothering the voice of the Root of Compassion by: (a) willfully ignoring Him and (b) by choosing to pick at old wounds.
(3) “His anger raged continually.” When we ignore the voice of God, our anger doesn’t subside – it worsens. Or to put it another way, when we ignore the positive, we expand the negative. The first step in a long slippery slope into a broken relationship with your Savior is to refuse to leave past negative experiences where they belong: behind you. The second step on that slope is to refuse to practice compassion. The third step is a result of the first two steps: you’ll be an angry person.
Notice that every step of our lives – negative or positive – is a choice. We CHOOSE what direction we’ll take. We CHOOSE how we’ll respond.
(4) “His fury flamed unchecked.” Fury is anger fanned to explosiveness. When we allow anger to keep festering within, it’s going to come out; and the results can have devastating lifelong and even eternal consequences.
Don’t let your past dictate your future. Move forward. Look forward.
“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith” (Hebrews 12:2a).
Unless otherwise stated, all Scripture is from the New International Version (NIV).
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