The first thought that came to me, as I began to peruse this pamphlet, was that it might contain God-talk with great-sounding spiritual platitudes, but that it might not, in the end, quite jibe with the actual experience of "life-on-the-ground." I was pleasantly surprised at the transparency of the persons in the examples given, who, as one person expressed it, wanted to follow, in their anger, a different trajectory than that of merely "pasting on a smile."
The opening story deals with the very real pain of betrayal in a case where a spouse has not only committed adultery with another woman, but has, beyond that, decided to leave her, and to live with that other woman. This story illustrates the fact that anger often moves beyond being directed at the betrayer, only, to being directed at God, inasmuch as He, obviously, has not prevented this horrible experience.
The pamphlet proceeds: Joni Eareckson, a paraplegic known to many, relates a story from her early days in hospital, when anger of this type turned into despair. She documents her journey -- helped by a sensitive but tough-love nurses' aide-- from despair to feeling.
The latter part of the pamphlet reviews for us the kinds of prayers that people in the Bible prayed during their toughest moments -- prayers that were totally realistic and that came from the space in which they, at those moments, found themselves in.
One or two of the Psalms are cited as particularly good examples of how to pray. A quotable quote from the pamphlet is one that tells us that these ancient songs of praise and worship, and, sometimes, despair give us the nouns and verbs and grammar to go through the process of anger, and even rage, and to come up and out of it into a better space.
The author of the pamphlet, nonetheless, cautions us against railing against God, against accusing Him of plotting evil, and against bringing down His name before friends, but, at the same time, encourages us to find, in these same Psalms, for example, prayers that express our situation -- often rather precisely--and to then use the language of the Psalms to direct our own feelings and petitions towards God.
The author exhorts us, furthermore, to direct our indignation against the real enemy--Satan--and reminds us that, out of such real and even extreme anger against evil have come movements such as "Mother Against Drunk Drivers," and the like.
I found this pamphlet to be genuinely helpful, well-grounded in reality, yet, even more, based in Scripture, and, in particular, the Psalms and would have no hesitation in giving the pamphlet to a suffering Christian friend, since I do not think that the friend would say, "But they don't understand."
We are encouraged, in this pamphlet, to see that God meets us where we are at, not at some place, where, fictionally, we are supposed to be. And, by the way, for those who don't, at this moment, find themselves in extreme dilemmas, there is a small section at the end dealing with the anger that comes from small, daily irritants.
N.B.: Rose Publishing has provided me with an advanced reader copy.
