Proverbs 19:11. Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.
When was the last time you got angry? Do you remember what made you mad? Are you slow to anger? Can you easily overlook offenses? Do you get frustrated over things that should be overlooked? If so then the proverb (and God) says that you lack good sense, patience, self-control, wisdom.
One of the ways that God consistently describes himself is slow to anger. God is never hot-headed, irrational, or out of control in his wrath. His anger is always measured from out of his love for us. When Moses asked God to reveal his glory on Mount Sinai, God passed by Moses proclaiming his name and character before Moses.
Exodus 33:6. And [God] passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord, the Lord, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness.”
God’s glory was and is not just manifested as bright lights, fire, earthquakes, and the like. His glory is his longsuffering patience with us. His glory is his love. His glory is his grace. In his grace, God doesn’t hold grudges or stay offended. His love keeps no record of wrongs.
But make no mistake, the only reason God can be slow to anger and able to overlook our offenses (transgressions) is because of the cross of Christ. Neither Exodus nor Proverbs is telling us that God lets things slide. God does not shrug his shoulders at our sin. He doesn’t turn a blind eye at our iniquity. He doesn’t let wickedness go unpunished. Why? Because he is holy and just. Perfect and pure. And he is loving. Only an unloving God would let humans destroy each other with our offenses and get away with it.
However, Christ’s death on the cross took the punishment for every offense. Every unloving word and deed. Each and every lawless act of mankind was paid for by Christ’s death. This alone is what allows God to overlook. To look past our sin and see the perfect sacrifice of Jesus. The Apostle Paul explains it this way:
Romans 3:25. God presented Christ as a sacrifice of atonement, through the shedding of his blood—to be received by faith. He did this to demonstrate his righteousness, because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.
Before the cross, the perfect and holy God could leave sins unpunished, overlooked if you will, knowing that the atonement for sin was coming with the presentation of Christ’s blood on the cross. Since the cross, God can continue to overlook our sin because of what Christ has accomplished for us on the cross.
Now, in Christ, the wisdom of the cross allows us to overlook offenses too. This doesn’t mean that we should never be angry. God doesn’t want us to pretend like injustice didn’t happen to us when it did. But our union with Christ does allow us to be slow to anger, quick to understand, soon to offer forgiveness.
Why can we overlook offenses and be slow to anger? Not because God overlooked all of our offenses, quite the opposite. He punished all of our offenses through Jesus on the cross. Jesus has paid for every sin, every unkind word, every hurtful deed, every rude thought. If that is true, and it is, then we can let God be God, while we choose to show love to everyone, even when they offend us.
You: Are you slow to anger or quick to anger? Do you overlook offenses or hold grudges?
You in Christ: How does knowing that every sin is forgiven by God allow you to be slow to anger with others?
Christ in you: Is there someone Jesus can help you to forgive and release from a grudge today?
Pray: Father, you have forgiven all my sins and you overlook my offenses, all because of the cross of Christ. Help me to do the same as I remember my union with Christ’s cross. Amen.
To Live is Christ 