Rush Hour
RushHour helps RushChurch members stay connected to each other, informs them about current RushChurch happenings, and also includes bible study/theology talk. We will speak about RushChurch specifics but also on current events, tough questions on faith, church and the Bible
Rush Hour
God's Character Part 4: God’s Long Nose
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We start with laugh-out-loud banter and real Rush Church updates, then we dig into the Bible phrase “slow to anger” and why the Hebrew image is literally “long of nose.” We rethink God’s anger as a patient, measured response to evil and learn how Jesus models righteous anger without losing compassion.
• tailgate plans and student ministry dates including Color Wars and TCTC
• Russell Mania volunteer need and why it matters
• Rush Run 5K sponsorship and giving options for youth fundraising
• school jokes and icebreakers that turn into honest conversation
• the Hebrew meaning behind “long of nose” and why it equals patience
• why God’s anger is real but not God’s default posture
• Old Testament examples of restraint and repeated mercy
• how judgment can look like God letting us choose consequences
• Jesus flipping tables for the vulnerable yet forgiving on the cross
• practical ways to be slow to anger in everyday stress and conflict
If you want other information about Rush Church, you can go to rushchurch.com.
www.rushchurch.com
Welcome And Quick Banter
SPEAKER_00Hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of Rush Hour Podcast. I'm here with my lovely co-hosts, Ashley and Brittany. And we are ready to talk to you about all kinds of stuff. Apparently, Britney can't stop laughing already. So, you good?
SPEAKER_02We love each other around here.
SPEAKER_01Fire me, please.
SPEAKER_00Well, that's not happening. You're stuck with us. Well, we were getting ready to almost hit the record button, and Britney was mean to me.
SPEAKER_01I didn't mean to, I'm sorry. And I called you out, and then you're laughing. I'm so I'm trying to apologize.
SPEAKER_00This is what you get on rush hour. You never know. Well, we're glad you're listening. For whatever reason you choose to listen to us, we're glad that you do. And we have an episode today. Let's see, what should we talk
Tailgate Plans And Student Updates
SPEAKER_00about? Announcements. How about that? Rush church stuff coming up. We got Tailgate tomorrow night. We're giving out Root Beer Floats. Tomorrow night is in Friday, September the 4th.
SPEAKER_02So when you're listening to this, it's tonight.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, if you're listening to this when it comes out. Anyway, September the 4th is a Friday night. The Tailgate party at Ben Logan. We're giving out Root Beer Floats. So if you hear this in time, come get some Root Beer Floats. If not, you've missed out. I'm sorry. Well, not necessarily. Maybe they showed up and didn't listen to the podcast and they still got a root beer float. But now they're listening, they're like, those were really good. And you're welcome. Here we go.
SPEAKER_01Those were perfect.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But we we do like tailgates. We show up and put our tent up and give out. Last time went really well. We did Eliminate Shakeups. But anyway, that's coming up. We're doing those. Every Ben Logan home game football. You'll find us out there this fall. So come see us. Student stuff coming up. Our new seventh graders moved up last weekend. Came to class, came to Rush Life Sunday night. Went really well. Good. Some new energy. Some people with a lot of energy. So I'm appreciative of them. We needed a little bit of energy infused into the group, I think. So we got that with the new seventh graders, a few of them. But yeah, we had new class, new people in class, new people at Rush Life. So that's going good. And then Color Wars coming up, where we throw color at each other for a whole night, getting the paint ordered, and gonna have Color War September 20th at Rush Life. That's a Sunday night, so and then TCTC is coming up. Sign up for Tennessee Christian Teen Convention, going to Gatlinburg in January. So hopefully. We haven't had to cancel a trip because of snow. We just went right through it.
SPEAKER_02Yep.
SPEAKER_00We just drive. Full speed ahead. And here we go. Well, it wasn't really full speed, but hopefully it was like sprawling in the Severeville that last time we went, and it's so snowy. But yeah, that's some student stuff coming up. You got anything for children's or Russell Mania.
SPEAKER_02Russell Mania. Yep. We're hoping it'll happen. Uh we're gonna do one more push this weekend for volunteers. We'll see how that goes.
SPEAKER_00We can't do it if we don't have enough help, which is what we're running into right now. So if you like Russell Mania and your kids like it, then come hang out with us. It is fun. It's only an hour and a half, and you hang out with kids and take them to different stations. It's pretty easy. Yes. And it can be fun. Yes, it can be. Thank you, Brittany.
SPEAKER_02What's for breakfast this Sunday?
SPEAKER_01Oh, what is that?
SPEAKER_00We have Doritos. Is it French toast? It's French toast. French toast. You see that comedian where he sings a song about toast?
SPEAKER_01No. Yeah, toast. That's it. Well, that's all he sits on top. He says about toast and chorus. Hitting drumsticks on a toaster.
SPEAKER_00And then it goes, yeah, toast. And then he speaks in French.
SPEAKER_01And then he goes, French toast.
SPEAKER_00And it makes me laugh every time.
SPEAKER_01So funny.
SPEAKER_02Never heard that song in my life. Have you ever seen the French toast where they cut up the Hawaiian sweet roll pieces and then dip that and make the and they're like little dippers? No, like it, like the like the sweet Hawaiian roll. You know, little roll looks like. And then you just slice it in like threes. So they're like little three pieces. And then you dip those and fry them just like you would regular French toast. But then they just make little dippers for like I was thinking it's like a good idea for school. You know, or you just morning breakfast.
SPEAKER_00Dip the whole roll, do the whole roll and eat it that way. You don't have to slice it up into three pieces.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, that too. We will be having regular French toast on regular bread.
SPEAKER_00Pretty looks like you just described something from like a physics textbook, and she's like, I don't know what you're saying.
SPEAKER_01I mean, I can picture it.
SPEAKER_00Okay. But that's a lot of rolls.
SPEAKER_01You know what a Hawaiian roll is. Oh, yes. I guess I just the orange packages and the like try to food shame me, please.
SPEAKER_00All right. That's not what I was trying to do, but there you go. I just wanted to make sure I was trying to help you understand what Ashley's talking about. Thank you. Yeah, you're welcome. But I'm all called. No, no, no. No, just say thank you and we'll move on. All right. Any other announcements that you can think of for church?
SPEAKER_02Well, you got Rush Run Rush 5K.
SPEAKER_00Rush Run 5K. That'll be live signups on our website. You can go to rush rushchurch.com slash rush run 5k.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I guess it's in October, but end of October, but it's I need if you own a business or you want to sponsor the race, let me know because I'll put you or your business on this t-shirt and I'll shout it out. And you know how 5K's work. We need sponsors. Right. If you want to sponsor the race, we'd love that. If you want to donate, all the money we get goes to TCTC trip, goes to youth activities, mainly TCTC because it's an expensive trip. So if you give money, if you don't want to race, you can just give us money. That would work too.
unknownYeah.
SPEAKER_00Do people do that? People do that. I think so. Yeah, they'll be like, that's a good cause. For the youth.
SPEAKER_02That's yeah, that's a brilliant idea. I will pay you to not run.
SPEAKER_00There we go. Everybody at church, everybody at Rush Church, you have two options. Run a 5k or give the youth money.
SPEAKER_01There you go.
SPEAKER_00Everybody has to do one or the other. So here we go.
SPEAKER_01We're definitely getting in trouble.
SPEAKER_00We're just having a little fun. But seriously, it is a big fundraiser for our student ministry. And if you want to support us, we would love it. But we know that people support all different kinds of things in church. So if you can't, I understand. So all right. I think that's enough. If you want other information about Rush Church, you can go to rushchurch.com. You can check out our Facebook page, all kinds of stuff. So I'm going to move on to the fun part of the episode.
SPEAKER_02Ooh.
School Jokes And Icebreakers
SPEAKER_02I'm fun now.
SPEAKER_00Oh, wait, I forgot. It's Ashley's turn. Oh, it's my turn.
SPEAKER_02I'm just kidding. Go ahead.
SPEAKER_00Yes, it's the fun part. It's the jokes and the conversations that you all tune in to hear.
SPEAKER_02Well, we are getting ready to start school backup this week, so I have a few school jokes. Okay.
SPEAKER_00I knew they were gonna be school jokes.
SPEAKER_02All right. Why did the student eat his homework?
SPEAKER_00Because he doesn't have a dog.
SPEAKER_02No. I'm not sure. Because the teacher said it was a piece of cake.
SPEAKER_00That was pretty uh shh. Yeah, we got the but um shush. Where's that at? I don't know what that is.
SPEAKER_01I don't know. You need to label your buttons.
SPEAKER_00I do. There we go. Found a button. Perfect.
SPEAKER_02All right. You know how much I like cats. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00You love cats.
SPEAKER_02Do you have a cat? Oh, oh my gosh. Okay. So listen, we do have a cat now. And Darren told us we were not allowed to have it inside. It's been months, and we have begged and begged and begged. I mean months, it's probably been like two months. And he finally, like this week, gave in and was like, fine, the cat can come inside now. Yeah. So now we have a cat. Okay, with moving on. What subject do cats like best in school?
SPEAKER_00Meowth. Meowth. Meowth. Perr something. Whisk. Sorry. I should try not to guess the answers to these jokes. It's whiskers and purr and meow.
SPEAKER_01Physics.
SPEAKER_00I'm gonna guess that's not the right answer.
SPEAKER_02It's not.
SPEAKER_00Okay.
SPEAKER_02Those are all really good. Oh, yeah, they were great. Sometimes when a cat gets angry, you know it hisses at you.
SPEAKER_00Oh, history. I was so close to it.
SPEAKER_02No, we were never gonna get, yeah, kind of close. Somewhat close. I mean, they're all good answers, but I don't know. Cat's favorite subject is history.
SPEAKER_00Forgot about the hissing cats. I was on meowing in math and physics for some reason.
SPEAKER_01And I kind of thought about what'd you say? Perhaps I kind of thought about like their claws, like maybe it was like a chef class or something, they cut things up.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. Could be. All right, moving on to an icebreaker because we don't know how to talk to each other. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? Because you know, like they're all going back to go to school, their first day of school. They nowadays they you know pose with a poster and be like, I want to be this when I grew up. Yeah. Back in the day, we didn't do that when we were kids. Our parents just kicked us up on the bus and said, get out of here. But so when you first started school, what was it that you wanted to be when you grew up? Um I don't know.
SPEAKER_00You don't know?
SPEAKER_02You don't remember?
SPEAKER_00Well, okay, go back to the earliest moment you wanted to be something. What was it?
SPEAKER_01Oh, when I was like 10. There we go. 10 or 11, I want to be a fashion designer. Oh and I would oh I had a notebook. Did you? I had a notebook and I would draw out outfits in it. They were like real.
SPEAKER_00What happened to this notebook?
SPEAKER_01And I still have it.
SPEAKER_00Oh, she still got it.
SPEAKER_01We need to see this.
SPEAKER_00Breaking development here on rush hour, Brittany's.
SPEAKER_01I do remember that.
SPEAKER_00You still have it for real? Yeah. No, we need to see this.
SPEAKER_01Uh yeah, I really do.
SPEAKER_00All right.
SPEAKER_01That would be good answer. Yeah. I hope I was 10. I wonder how old I am. I was like 17. No, I'm just kidding.
SPEAKER_00It was last week. She's secretly designing clothes for people.
SPEAKER_02Well, for me, I mean, this was like from grade school, my entire grade school. I wanted to be a teacher. That's every year. What do you want to be? I want to be a teacher. I want to be a teacher. And then when I graduated high school and like went in volunteer, like, you know, your senior year, you had to go like job shadow. And I did a like a little kids' classroom, and I was like, I do not want to be a teacher. Tell you that. But now I love kids. It was just that that 18-year-old person.
SPEAKER_01Like, I do not want to be there. And now you're like, now I love kids.
SPEAKER_00I'm glad that's the ending to the story.
SPEAKER_01I do love children.
SPEAKER_00I do love your kids, and I love being the children's minister at Rush Church. Oh, I do love that. I know, we know.
SPEAKER_02But there's no way I could be a kindergarten teacher. You want to get that phone all day. I will. Okay.
SPEAKER_00Be right back. It was just a spam call. No worries. We don't really want to talk to spam. Do you guys like spam?
SPEAKER_02Oh no. What? No. Spam. My husband loves it. Oh, Darren will. Yeah, see.
SPEAKER_00People love fried spam. Smells disgusting. I had a friend in fifth grade and I went to his house and they liked fried spam. I tried it. Ugh. That was good.
SPEAKER_02Nope. Okay. Oh, wait. We didn't answer. What was your answer?
SPEAKER_00Oh, I wanted to, when I was like in elementary school, I wanted to be a what I want to do for my whole life was play basketball for Kentucky.
SPEAKER_01Sorry.
SPEAKER_00Wow.
SPEAKER_01Oh. Because we thought we were laughing as a group, but actually you were pointing and laughing at me.
SPEAKER_00Yes, Ashley just gave her. We were all laughing and she said, Oh, sorry.
SPEAKER_01Oh, sorry. I actually was pointing and laughing.
SPEAKER_00Because you're so short, dude. Not athletic.
SPEAKER_02I didn't say you weren't athletic.
SPEAKER_00No, I'm not. Have you, you know?
SPEAKER_02Well, you played disc golf.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's what people think. They think athlete, they think disc golf.
SPEAKER_01I am at my prime. Prime?
SPEAKER_00But yeah, I've played I played baseball for a while and I was, but I wasn't very good at sports. So the UK basketball player didn't work and Ashley is still dying. Yeah. She's still laughing at all. Okay.
SPEAKER_01She's actually so rude, isn't she?
SPEAKER_00I'm just saying. Like, I but then okay, after that, when I realized my dreams would never come true because I'm short. Um apparently. No. I'm just kidding. Well, I wanted to be a a meteorologist or a storm chaser.
SPEAKER_02So oh yeah. That's exactly what Darren wanted to do. Y'all would make a good team.
SPEAKER_00Well, me and Darren are going to chase tornadoes later.
SPEAKER_01Sounds reckless.
SPEAKER_00Text me, Darren. We'll go. We need to get one of those big tornado chasing vehicles, though.
SPEAKER_02Yes. With a little thing on top.
SPEAKER_00We could probably make one together. Just find an old van and put some metal plates on it.
SPEAKER_02That won't look creepy at all.
SPEAKER_00No, it'll be look like a anyway, a tank. So yeah, I wanted to be a meteorologist and storm chaser.
SPEAKER_02Nice. All right. Last icebreaker. What is a TV show that you can watch over and over and over again and never get tired of it?
SPEAKER_01Friends. The office.
SPEAKER_02Okay. That was easy. You're friends. You're the office. No. Fritz. You switched.
SPEAKER_00We can't see who you're pointing to. It doesn't matter.
SPEAKER_02I am The Office. Brittany's The Office. Cody's friends. I was gonna say how I met your mother.
SPEAKER_00I love all those shows except for The Office.
SPEAKER_02Cody, you don't like The Office? I forgot.
SPEAKER_00I just forgot that I was recording, so now everybody knows that I hate The Office. So there you go. It's out there. I don't like The Office. I've only seen maybe six episodes.
SPEAKER_01If I had a dollar for every time we're talking to each other and I forget that we're recording, and then I'm like, oops.
SPEAKER_00Let us know your favorite show that you could watch over and over as long as it's not The Office. So Oh, Cody. I thought we were on a Rush Church Rush Church Pocket. We're supposed to say The Chosen.
SPEAKER_01Oh, I could watch that over and over again.
SPEAKER_00I've never seen The Chosen, so I don't know anything about it.
SPEAKER_01I've seen a couple. They're pretty good. As soon as I finish it, then I'll watch The House of David.
SPEAKER_00Ooh, I love The House of David. Now I'll watch that one.
SPEAKER_01But I have to finish The Chosen first.
SPEAKER_00It's never gonna end.
SPEAKER_01Well, I mean Alright.
SPEAKER_00Good times. Thanks for listening. Oh, we're going to the Bible
The Long Nose Of God
SPEAKER_00now. Here we go. You ready? Today's episode is called The Long Nose of God. Oh, what do you think the long nose of God means? I already told you guys earlier, so you know these things. But those of them you listening on later on, think to yourself, what the long nose of God? What does that mean? So here we go. So if you were trying to describe a person who has incredible patience, someone who doesn't, you know, fly off the handle or easily get, you know, snap at people, how would you describe them? In our language. Somebody who is like incredibly patient. Any words?
SPEAKER_02Slow to anger?
SPEAKER_00Slow to anger? Slow to lose their temper. Maybe like cool-headed.
SPEAKER_02Oh yeah, that'd be cool-headed. Chill.
SPEAKER_00Chill. There we go. I like that one. They're very chill. They're very patient. They're very kind of laid back.
SPEAKER_03Yeah.
SPEAKER_00And then, you know, kind of like thick skin, maybe too. They don't let things get to them. You can't get under their skin very easily. That's how we would say somebody has, you know, patience and they don't get angry very quickly. In Hebrew, in this culture, the authors used a phrase that sounds really weird to us, and that is a person has a long nose. Alright. So when it when we read the verse in Exodus where it says God is compassionate and God is gracious, when it gets to slow to anger, the Hebrew, if you read it in Hebrew, it literally says God is long of nose. And it's translated to slow to anger because that's the phrase that they used. Like we would say cool-headed or thick skinned or chill. They would say this person's long of nose. So that's where that comes from. Interesting stuff, hey? Yeah? Very good.
SPEAKER_02Yeah. That's not what I think it would mean at all.
SPEAKER_00So the Lord is compassionate and gracious and slow to anger. So today we're going to see that God is slow to anger, or literally word for word, long of nose in Hebrew. So why on earth would the biblical authors use this thing about noses to talk about God's patience and kind of how does divine anger actually affect the way we read the Bible? Does God get angry? What does it mean when God is angry?
SPEAKER_02He doesn't get angry very often.
SPEAKER_00Doesn't get angry, but it takes a while. But he could be angry, you know. Yeah. So it takes a while for him to get to that point, though.
How Hebrew Connects Anger And Nostrils
SPEAKER_00The Hebrew links the physical body reactions to emotions. So Hebrew word means nose or nostrils, actually. So ancient Israel, when someone got intensely angry, what physical manif manifestation did people notice first? Because somebody gets really angry, you're watching somebody, they get really what heavy breathing through their nose, they're flaring their nostrils, and hot air rushes out. So in Hebrew, if your nose gets hot, it means you are burning with anger. So there you go. That's where that's coming from. When you get angry, your face gets red and flushed and your nostrils flare, and the heat builds up really. It's kind of like this. You think, you know, we think about this today when we see like what's that cartoon movie with the emotions, the little red guy who gets really angry.
SPEAKER_02Inside out. Inside out, thank you.
SPEAKER_00You know, he's proof. This is what you see when somebody gets angry, you think red steam coming out their nose, and and so this is what they thought when they saw somebody who was angry. Red face, nostrils being all flared and kind of hot, angry. So a short temper is like a short fuse. It takes a very little time for the heat to reach the explosive point. So long nose means you don't take a long time for your face to get hot because you know. So that's where that comes from. I thought that was interesting. I like that kind of stuff. Maybe you guys are like, that is lovely. What does it have to do with anything? But it takes a long time for and you know, in in if God is this, if he's long of nose, it takes a long time for the heat of his anger to travel all the way up and burn in his face. So the Hebrew way of saying God has a long fuse, or he is not easily triggered, or you know, he takes deep breaths and he is calm. He holds back his anger to give people space to change. And that's kind of the idea of the characteristics of God is slow to anger. Doesn't say that God is what? Doesn't say that God is never angry, right? Just says he's slow to anger. His anger is real. I mean, I think God does get angry sometimes, but it's never his natural state. God's never just naturally angry all the time. Like people see God in different ways, and we've talked about it. Like some people see God as a judge per judge all the time, or God would see people like God's angry at me all the time. And that's never his natural baseline state. His baseline is what we've looked at the last couple weeks. He's compassionate, he's full of grace, and his anger is delayed reaction to evil. And I think he gets angry at evil in the world because it hurts what he loves the most. That's what God does get angry at. And so we've been talking about the Bible Project. We've been talking about this this whole series where it comes from. If you guys have listened to this, maybe you've checked out the Bible Project videos on these. I'm just gonna read a clip, read a read a clip, read a passage from a clip of one of their videos on this real quick. And so literally, God is long of nose. It's but it makes total sense in Hebrew. When you get angry, your nose gets hot and red, but God's nose is long, so it takes a long time for him to get angry. God's anger in the Bible is a response to human evil, but it's not his default setting. God is patient, giving people endless opportunities to turn around. And so we see this idea of what we should take away from slow to anger is that God is patient with his people. God's anger is in response to evil things that people do, but it doesn't always start that way. So God's anger isn't an unpredictable outburst that you don't know when God's gonna be angry at you or when he's gonna have an outburst. It's a measured response of a God who loves and a God who refuses to remain neutral towards injustices and corruption in humanity.
God’s Patience Across The Old Testament
SPEAKER_00So when God when God does get angry, what are some things that he gets angry at, do you say?
SPEAKER_01Disobedience.
SPEAKER_00Disobedience, and why would he be mad that we disobey? Is it because he's egotistical? That he wants everybody to worship him?
SPEAKER_01I mean he wants us to only worship him.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. But why? Why is that the case? Why is obedience something that God wants for us?
SPEAKER_01Because he wants what's best for us?
SPEAKER_00He wants what's best for us. He deserves our worship, he deserves all of it. But he wants it for us because it's for our benefit that we only worship the one true God, the one that created everything in him. And so he wants us to obey because everything he asks us to do is for us. And so he gets when he does get angry. See God get angry when we disobey. It's because he loves us. He wants what's best for us, and he gets angry that we're not following those things because he knows what could be if we did. Right. It could lead to destruction. Yeah, leads to destruction, basically. Yeah. And so think about that. Think about God's slow to anger. He's patient. He doesn't he doesn't want to be angry. But sometimes he is. And it's for these reasons of love. It's for because he cares. Because he sees us. And so when you read the Old Testament, people often complain that God seems angry all the time. And you'll be like, well, these people, they can be like, God seems really angry. And He's doing all these things in the Old Testament. He flooded the whole world. And then He, you know, Israelites cracked the earth open and swallowed people. And you're like, there's some seems like God's pretty angry. I don't know what you're talking about, but God says he is slow to anger.
SPEAKER_01And so how bad must it have gotten for like I was gonna say, I used to think that until now I've read enough of the Old Testament, and I'm like, come on, guys, get it together. Like he's given you quite a bit of direction before he got mad.
SPEAKER_00Yep. You look closely at the timeline, like Brittany's talking about. That's my next point. And the exact opposite is true. God's not, you know, angry all the time. Right. He's patient. Yeah, he tries really hard. He tries really hard. Israel in the wilderness, after God delivers them from slavery in Egypt, how do they respond? They complain. They complain and they complain. They complain about food.
SPEAKER_01We're not bringing it up mana.
SPEAKER_00What happens when God?
SPEAKER_01We're not bringing up manna.
SPEAKER_00Scratch my first point.
SPEAKER_01Just kidding, you can go.
SPEAKER_00And they're complaining. We're hungry, and what does God do?
SPEAKER_01Feeds them, brains it down.
SPEAKER_00Rains it down some fish? No, no, sorry.
SPEAKER_01Some bread.
SPEAKER_00Bread, manna. Bread from heaven. So they complain right out the gate, and God feeds them. They complain about water. God provides a rock that gives them water. They build a golden calf to worship instead of God. God reissues his covenant, comes back to his people, and says, I still want you. Over and over for 40 years, Israel rebels over and over again. God takes a long breath and patient with them. He's patient. Psalm 20 or Psalm 78, yet he was merciful. He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. See, he could have just been done with them altogether. He wanted to. And Moses is like, whoa, take a deep breath, God. God's like, I'm slow to anger. You know, it's like repeating his own mantra. It was God showing Moses. He letting Moses see that he is slow to anger, that you know, this is. And he decides not to destroy Israel. He decides not to abandon them. And this is what Psalm 78 is talking about. He forgave their iniquities and did not destroy them. Time after time, he restrained his anger and did not stir up his full wrath. Imagine that. If you read the Old Testament and you think God's pretty angry, God's pretty mad at his people. Read it this way. He's slow to anger. He's been patient. He's actually been holding back. You know, imagine if he did not. Imagine if he was not slow to anger. We wouldn't be here.
SPEAKER_02No.
When Anger Looks Like Letting Go
SPEAKER_02No way.
SPEAKER_00God's anger in the Old Testament is almost always expressed in one specific way. And when God's when God gets so angry and he decides that he's had enough, he usually comes through in this way. He lets people have what they ask for. He lets people go through life without him. He's like, all right, fine. You don't want to listen to me. My anger comes through as do it your way and see what happens. And you see that in, you know, the stories that we read through the Old Testament. God gets angry, He hands people over to what they want. He's like, you know, I'm done. Go have it your way. When humanity insists on destroying themselves through all the things that we do, you know, idols, violence, God eventually respects their choice. He hands them over to the consequences of their own decisions. Biblical anger isn't God losing his temper, it's God honoring our freedom, even when it breaks his heart. I kind of would you agree with that or not?
SPEAKER_01I agree with that. It's nerve-wracking. It is, I mean, it is scary because I haven't always walked a great life, and I'm so grateful that he was patient with me and didn't hand me over to my own request, my own want. And then seeing others who maybe don't know any better yet. And you hope that they find what true love and happiness is before they get what they want.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_01I mean it's just kind of a a sad thought.
SPEAKER_00I I think so too. When God wants to be a part of your life, God wants to be with his creation, he wants to be with you, and he says, This is how it is supposed to be, and this is what I want you to do because it's what's best for you. And to have people reject what you know, to I don't want to say put yourself in God's shoes, but like think about what God's giving you chance after chance, and he's saying, This is what's best for you, and then people still reject you, and then so it can be kind of you can see where he would get angry at this, like I've given you chance after chance to kind of do this, and then and then the anger comes through as you know, go do whatever you want, then and you know, it's kind of like that's even worse. Like, oh man. And so that's kind of a picture
Jesus Shows Righteous Anger
SPEAKER_00of it. We'll go to the New Testament really quick before we finish. When Jesus enters the scene in the New Testament, we see slow to anger what it's like to be slow to anger for us. So we've seen examples of God being slow to anger, being patient, and now we get to see God living the human life and what it means for us to be slow to anger and be patient, I think. Jesus shows it off. Does Jesus get angry?
SPEAKER_01Yes. Yes. Yeah, he flipped tables. Oh, you saw him.
SPEAKER_00Flipping tables. What makes him angry though? So you can say you have that picture of Jesus. Yes, he does get angry, but what does he get angry at? He gets angry in the temple when religious leaders turn a place of prayer into a financial market that exploits the poor people. He gets angry when religious folks care more about Sabbath rules than healing a man's illness. Those are the kind of things that God gets angry at. Because if we look at Jesus, we're supposed to see the full glory of God in Christ, in Jesus. You see who God is through Christ. So these are things he gets angry at. He gets angry at hypocrisy. He gets angry at things that prevent people from experiencing God's love how it was always supposed to. He gets mad the most at the Pharisees and the church leaders. That's who he's angry at. He's angry at those people because they're keeping people from knowing who God is. His anger is always directed as like trying to protect the vulnerable people. Right? Jesus, when he does get angry, when he gets upset, when he uses harsh words, it's usually towards people that are treating other people terribly or oppressing people or doing these different things. So it's very counter-cultural, it's very against human nature. So he is angry at those people. He does not get angry at the people that put him on the cross, the people that are mistreating him in all these different ways. You know, towards those who betray him, mock him, make fun of him, put him on a cross. Jesus shows the ultimate slow to anger or ultimate patience. Standing at the site of his own execution, he doesn't call down fire from heaven. Instead, he says, What? Father, forgive them. They don't know what they're doing in Luke 23. That's the slow to anger. That's what I think of when I think of God as slow to anger. He does get angry. He does get upset, but he gets upset at the things that he should be angry at, I think. And then we think I should be angry at these type of things. I should show my anger towards these type of things. On the cross, Jesus absorbs the consequences of human evil into himself, offering forgiveness rather than retaliation. And that's what he did his whole life. We saw Jesus live out slow to anger. And so, how do we take what do we do with this today?
Practicing Patience In Real Life
SPEAKER_00Means you can be honest with God when you see evil in the world. You can be, you know, God isn't indifferent to suffering, abuse, or all these things that evil that we see. If you're angry about evil, know that God's also angry about it too. He cares more than we do. And so slow to anger doesn't mean that he is just indifferent. He doesn't care about all the things that we see. And so the thing is it challenges how we treat people who frustrate us. You guys ever get frustrated with people in your life?
SPEAKER_01No.
SPEAKER_00Nope. I didn't think so. All the time. Oh. I mean, me and Brittany never get frustrated with people. You're the only one.
SPEAKER_02It's all right. I'm not lying here.
SPEAKER_00In our culture that we live in, where we there's all kinds of people with short fuses, opinions, instant outrage about all different kinds of things. Sometimes I'll find myself being outraged, or you know, I'll find myself frustrated at things that I really shouldn't be, or you know, I shouldn't let it come out the way it does sometimes. Followers of God are called to reflect his slow-to-anger characteristic. Be patient. Deep breath. Long nose, if you will. Take a deep breath before reacting. Give people space to give people space to learn and give them a chance to apologize or change. God's patience isn't a weakness, it's the strength of the love that He has for us. He refuses to give up on us. He refused to give up on humanity all those times. And so we should reflect who he is in our relationships with people around us. So next time you want to be angry or get frustrated or snap back at somebody, think about is it really worth being angry about at the moment? There are things that we should be angry about, I think. Jesus showed us that. Jesus showed us we should be angry about certain things, how people are being treated in different ways and different things, but being cut off in the McDonald's drive-thru line, the person that wasn't supposed to go next, and you get really angry and you yell at them, or when you're driving, or little individual things in life that you know, if you stop and think about it, this really has no effect on things like that. And so I think it's a challenge because we do tend to be quick to get angry and quick to want to prove our point or let people know that we're right, or you know, all these different things.
SPEAKER_02I think it's a really common thing too for people to get really short nowadays. Like I like you said, the fast food, I really I noticed that sometimes like if something that I've ordered for my kids or something come out and they're apologizing, like I'm so sorry. And I'm like, it's okay. Yeah, it's fine. I had to wait five minutes. It's perfectly fine. And then they're not as shocked, you know, because I'm not yelling at them. I'm like, I really wish people would just calm down, chill out, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yes. So I think, yeah, just be more patient with people. Be angry at the right things, be angry at the right times, and you know, respond in appropriate ways because you know, we should be upset, we should be angry about certain things, but other things we should not be so we shouldn't let it get under our skin, or we shouldn't let it affect the rest of our day, or things like that. So that's just uh intro to the idea of slow to anger, how God is slow to anger. And then I liked the example of you know Jesus showing us how to live that out, be patient with people around us, and so all right, let's pray, and then we'll be done for the day.
Prayer And What’s Next
SPEAKER_00God, thank you so much for this time. Thank you for this opportunity to talk together and laugh and be a little ridiculous sometimes and just have fun. And thankful that you are compassionate, that you are gracious, and I'm pretty grateful that you are slow to anger and that you are patient and that you give us chance after chance, and you continue to show up even when we don't deserve you to keep showing up for us. So thankful that for that. Thank you for letting us have that idea of who you are, and thankful for Christ. Jesus pray. Amen. All right, we'll see you next time on Rush Hour. I think next time we're gonna continue in the last loyal love or unfailing faithfulness, and how God is loyal, how he is always faithful even when we're not. So you see these characteristics of God as a pattern. You know, we don't deserve any of these different things. And God's like, I'm gonna drag you along with me, you know. Come on. But all right, signing off on our shower. Till next time. Have a good week.