My wife and I recently celebrated our 50th anniversary. Countless people congratulated us and we were thankful. Reflecting back to the early years, I feel more lucky than smart. Being persistent, or sometimes stupidly stubborn, was helpful at many points. Then, reading the following passage from Isaiah chapter one, I found myself asking if being willing and obedient before the Lord was the key factor. Success in our endeavors, such as marriage, is never guaranteed. But if we are humble, willing to learn new things, and obedient to the wisdom offered us in the scriptures, by our therapists and counselors, and by those who have struggled with similar problems, we may find ourselves looking back upon a life which was blessed.
If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good things of the land;
but if you resist and rebel, you will be devoured by the sword. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.
– Isaiah 1:19-20
That last part about being devoured by the sword, I apply to my personal life by thinking of unresolved anger as a sword. It slays our relationships. It kills us, as individuals. Anger devours our capacity to love.
The context of this passage, however, is the Lord’s concern for the nation of Israel. Their sins are like scarlet, but God desires to save the people. I fear that we, too, have become an angry people. To return to obedience, I think we must forsake the passive-aggressive nationalism that has overtaken the religious right. Further, we must calmly repeat the timeless truths: that ill-gotten ends seldom justify illegitimate means, that becoming a student of discipline and tested process beats being reckless and lucky, that the first rule of Christianity is to love your neighbor (and few people are more challenging to love than the neighbors within your own home).