As 2008 ends and 2009 begins, we are quick to notice that wars continue, that economic woes have not disappeared, and that we are prone to the grayness of winter days! We look for relief as we open new calendars, but we find that true refreshment comes only from opening our hearts and minds to the Spirit. And we praise God that we can begin a process of renewal at any time, whether or not the calendar implies that we should do so! Psalm 4’s exclamation, “You alone, O Lord, bring security to my dwelling,” seems a good place to begin our Bible Study sessions of 2009.

Psalm 4:4 speaks of “trembling,” in some translations, and “anger,” in others. The Hebrew word, which means “deeply moved,” by whatever the emotion might be, turns up in Greek as “anger,” thus giving us the well-known Ephesians 4:26 “be angry, but do not sin” - and its corollary admonition, “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” Emotions are an undeniable part of human life. Perhaps one could say that they are “neutral,” in the sense of being neither good nor bad, in and of themselves. Both verses would seem to imply that anger (or being deeply moved with emotion) is not a bad thing. But “where we go” with our anger and with our other emotions matters much.

Psalm 4:7 praises God for gladness that reaches beyond the pleasures of good harvest and abundant food and drink. And this verse would seem to be a good reminder to us to look beyond events, beyond our emotions (joyful or angry), in order to seek to understand God’s will (God’s “agenda”) - and in order to try to discern what God is doing in the midst of and through the circumstances we and others face.

Although drawing a definite line between anger and sin is difficult, we would do well to ask ourselves: Am I seeking fairness, or am I seeking revenge? Am I interested in maintaining my own reputation and that of those who oppose me, or am I resorting to name-calling or ridicule? Am I intent on responding in a measured fashion, or am I giving free rein to emotions in a way that I might later regret?

We rejoice in the James 1:5 reminder that our God is pleased to give us wisdom - “generously and without reproach”!