MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
Programs to help men become transformed to the image (character) of Jesus Christ.
MEN ALIVE: Jim Cunningham & Paul Estabrooks' Podcast
MEN ALIVE - 231 - Finding Peace Amidst Anger Towards God
What happens when life's greatest disappointments lead us to anger towards God? Join us on Men Alive as we tackle this profound question with host Paul Estabrooks and teacher Dr. Jim Cunningham, an expert in adult education and director of Go Teach Global. Through real-life testimonies, we explore how anger rooted in loss of control can manifest in everyday situations and significant life events, from tragic accidents to personal betrayals. Discover the fundamental question of God's existence and how your answer shapes your search for peace and meaning.
Welcome to Men Alive, a biblical journey to help us conform to the image of Jesus Christ. I'm your host, Paul Estabrooks. Our teacher is my longtime friend, Dr Jim Cunningham, consultant in adult education, director of Go Teach Global and author of Men Alive, Dr Jim.
Speaker 2:Pablo. As we listen to men talk about God, some admit publicly they are angry at God and they blame God for disappointments in their life. One man said my son died in a tragic accident. Then he added God could have prevented that accident, but he didn't. So God and I are not on speaking terms anymore. Another said my ex-spouse cheated on me for years. I finally said enough is enough, get out. God could have protected my marriage. I have not believed in God ever since then. And a third confided. I discovered churches are filled with hypocrites. They worship on Sunday, then on Monday they stab someone in the back in a business deal. I want nothing to do with God or his followers called Christians.
Speaker 1:Wow, those comments reflect some very strong feelings. How can we help angry men see God from a fresh perspective?
Speaker 2:Pablo, you and I are not psychologists, but we are blessed to be raised by parents who taught us that anger was caused by loss of control. Whenever we lose control of some situation or event, it's easier to become angry. Think of how angry some people get when they're driving their car and another vehicle goes too slow or cuts them off Poof. The offended driver becomes an angry driver, why he has lost control.
Speaker 1:We have said it before, Jim Life is a control issue. Every adult and child from about age two onward wants to be in control, and loss of control can indeed generate anger.
Speaker 2:Let's bring God into this control-anger equation. If one believes there is a God and the God they believe in does not perform according to their expectations, it's easy to see they are not in control. God exists, whether we acknowledge him or not, but the easiest way to deal with someone you cannot control is to ignore them or pretend they do not exist.
Speaker 1:One world religion has a phrase for a son or daughter who disobeys their parents' faith and becomes a follower of Jesus Christ. They ignore the child and pretend he or she no longer exists and say he has gone behind the sun. We no longer see him. It's as if he died.
Speaker 2:Okay, here's the big life question Is there a God, yes or no? If we say no, there is no God, or I don't want God ruling my life, then we spend our life avoiding the God we say does not exist. We give up even thinking about who made the trees, the mountains, the oceans, animals, humans, including me, who made our eyes to see and record the world around us.
Speaker 2:Who made the vast universe around us. And speaking of the universe, consider this fact for a moment the earth is spinning on its axis at 1,000 miles an hour and at the same time, the Earth is orbiting around the Sun at 66,000 miles an hour and the whole solar system is going through the Milky Way at 400,000 miles an hour. Thousand miles an hour and on top of all that, our Milky Way galaxy is moving through the universe at 2.2 million miles an hour. Whoa, consider the mathematics Earth spinning thousand miles an hour, earth orbiting around the sun 66,000 miles an hour, solar system moving through the galaxy 400,000 miles an hour and our galaxy moving through the universe at 2.2 million miles an hour. And we feel no motion. Does that mean that this is not real?
Speaker 2:To say there is no God greater than all he created and able to keep it under control is to pursue an endless personal search for inner peace. Without God. People try anything to find peace and a reason for their existence Meditation, alcohol, sex, crime, power, pornography, anything to be in control and have peace. Some even choose what foods they will eat or will not eat, not for health reasons, but to be in control. One abused person indicated they could not control what others did, so they would control what foods they did or did not permit to enter their body. Believing there is no God can lead to endless complications, but let's consider the positive side If we say, yes, god exists and God made the earth and everything in it. And God made us.
Speaker 2:Psalm 139 says you made all the delicate inner parts of my body and knit me together in my mother's womb. Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex. Your workmanship is marvelous. How well I know it. You watched me as I was being formed in utter seclusion, as I was woven together in the dark of the womb. You saw me before I was born. Every day of my life was recorded in your book. Every moment was laid out, before a single day had passed. We can then accept that our being alive has meaning and purpose. This living, loving God desires to have fellowship with us, his creation, and he loves us. We believe he revealed Himself to mankind through Abraham, isaac and Jacob and His selected people, the Jews, through whom came His Son, jesus of Nazareth, our Redeemer and coming Messiah. Christians have peace with God. Those without this peace with God are the angry ones chanting and screaming at protest rallies.
Speaker 1:There's an historical church document called the Apostles' Creed. It was not written by the first disciples of Jesus, but was written as a summary of what the apostles believed. Let's repeat it for our listeners. I'll start. I believe in God, the Father Almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
Speaker 2:I believe in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. He descended to the dead. The third day he rose again from the dead. He ascended to heaven and is seated at the right hand of God, the Father Almighty. From there he will come to judge the living and the dead.
Speaker 1:I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Universal Church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting. Amen. You are listening to Men Alive with Dr Jim Cunningham of Go Teach Global, jim. We did a program earlier on causes of anger, but the focus of today's program is helping men overcome their anger with God. How do we do that?
Speaker 2:Pablo, we agree, life is a control issue. Everyone likes to be in control, but it's time for a reality check. I did not control whether I would even be born. I had no control over what day I would be born or where I was born, to whom I was born, or what size, shape or color I would be. When I was born, I did not choose my mother or my father. I did not choose what time in history I would be born or in what country I would be born.
Speaker 2:I love the story of the young Jeremiah in the Hebrew Bible. The Lord gave him a message and said I knew you before. I formed you in your mother's womb, before you were born, I set you apart and appointed you to be my prophet to the nations. Jeremiah responds and says O sovereign Lord, I can't speak for you, I am too young. And the Lord replied Don't say I'm too young, for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you, and don't be afraid of the people, for I will be with you and will protect you. I, the Lord, have spoken. Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said Look, I have put my words in your mouth Today. I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some, you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others, you must build up and plant.
Speaker 1:And the prophet Isaiah reminded the people listen to me, descendants of Jacob, all you who remain in Israel. I have cared for you since you were born. Yes, I carried you before you were born.
Speaker 2:Here's the bottom line. Men, god is in control. God made us and God makes the rules. We would be the most foolish man on earth to be against God, to not accept his plan for our life and his salvation through faith in his son, jesus of Nazareth, as God's redemptive Passover, sacrificial lamb slain for our sins buried and risen from the dead to give us life forevermore, hallelujah.
Speaker 1:Jim, careful, you're getting more excited than normal, and we have both survived one heart attack already.
Speaker 2:Can't help it. Pablo, my prayer is that men who are angry at God or disappointed at life's events will come to accept the beauty of surrendering to our Heavenly Father, who is a kind, gentle, loving shepherd who wants the best for us and wants us to spend eternity with Him in Heaven, where he is currently preparing a place for us. That is our Heavenly Father. You cannot stay angry at a father like that, even if he does not let us do everything we want to do or allows things to happen in the short term that we cannot understand or even appreciate. Take the story of Joseph In the book of Genesis. He had every reason to be angry at God. His brothers hated him, considered killing him and instead sold him into slavery. Ouch, then the wife of his slave master falsely accuses him of trying to rape her and he ends up in prison. Whoa.
Speaker 2:While there he interprets a dream that later gets him released to interpret dreams for the pharaoh and poof, he ends up number two in command of all of Egypt, only to meet his brothers. He forgave them and said you meant it for evil, god meant it for good. Joseph ended up saving his father, his brothers and all 75 family members. Imagine if Joseph had got angry and said hmm, god and I are not on speaking terms. What if Joseph had rejected God, gone morally wild as the number two leader in Egypt, and all of his family would have starved to death in the seven-year famine? Joseph accepted that God was in control, even when things went contrary to his game plan. He told his brothers you meant it for evil, god meant it for good.
Speaker 1:My favorite Bible story of a man who could have been super angry at God is the man called Daniel, but he was determined not to defile himself by eating the food and the wines given to them by the king. Bible scholars believe Daniel was captured and exiled to Babylon as a young man, given a Babylonian name, Belteshazzar, and probably emasculated to serve in the king's court. Once again, we don't read of Daniel getting angry at God for all these events that Daniel did not choose or agree to. When asked to interpret the king's dream, Daniel said the following in Daniel 2, 20-21.
Speaker 1:Praise the name of God forever and ever, for he has all wisdom and power. He controls the course of world events. He removes kings and sets up other kings. He gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He reveals deep and mysterious things and knows what lies hidden in the darkness, though he is surrounded by light. I thank and praise you, God of my ancestors, for you have given me wisdom and strength. You have told me what we asked of you and revealed to us what the king demanded.
Speaker 2:Great example, Pablo. Rather than getting bitter, Daniel got better. Rather than getting angry at God, Daniel strengthened his faith in a God that he knew personally, the Lord of Heaven's armies, who can and will do all things after the counsel of His will. I pray that none of us becomes angry at the most compassionate, loving, eternal heavenly Father we could ever have. When we get to heaven, God will be in total control. If you say I don't want to be around God and accept His plan of salvation through believing in His Son, Jesus, the Messiah, I do not like the way he's running the earth and my life, Then be cautious, men. You might just get your wish and be separated from God for eternity, all the while angry at yourself for being so foolish.
Speaker 1:There you have it, men. It's not worth being angry at God, no matter how bad the events have been in your life. Today is the right time to invite Christ into your life and begin enjoying a new relationship with a holy, loving God for all eternity. Men Alive is a production of Go Teach Global Until next time. I'm Paul Estabrooks with Dr Jim Cunningham, encouraging you to be men alive under the control of God's Spirit and becoming more and more like His Son Jesus.
