But equally wise not to provoke brothers to anger.
Stirring up strife is a display of contention;
Provoking wrath is evidence of a quarrelsome nature.
If you battle a brother daily and he grows in frustration,
Are you treating him with kindness?
If you accuse him of lacking a relationship with God
Because you believe differently, are you not his judge?
In the wilderness of Sinai, Israel questioned God daily;
They lobbed complaints against Him, judging His goodness.
Did He smile on this behavior
Or reward them for their contentious ways?
No, at times He smote them down where they stood;
At other times, He relented when Moses interceded.
The LORD, who abounds in steadfast love,
Was provoked to anger after receiving daily complaints.
We are not as holy as He, and our anger is less righteous,
But we can see that provocation is to be avoided.
And yet you took it to an extreme.
You became my judge, jury, and executioner.
When you announced, “You do not know the love of God,”
You esteemed my salvation null and void.
Who are you to question what the Holy Spirit has done
In my time of sorrow and suffering?
You considered your provocation and fault-finding just,
So you executed me without a moment's remorse.
But what you did was not just;
The way you acted was not good.
When you should have been more like Christ,
You became more like the accusers who hounded Him.
Repent and turn from your contentious ways;
No longer stir up strife or prolong arguments.
Learn kindness, sympathy, and compassion,
And pray that God would remove your bellicose nature.
Against all logic,
I hand you over to the true Judge
And ask that He have mercy on you.
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