Not By Might Says the Lord

I’ll admit I’ve made my share of clumsy spiritual statements, so I recognise the impulse behind this one by Erika Kirk. And indeed, she has gone through a lot and I am sure all of us have prayed for her. 

But when I heard, “𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐚𝐦𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞𝐫 𝐢𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐡𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐭, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐦𝐞,” it struck me as the kind of thing we say when we want to sound surrendered to the will of God. I have felt sometimes that Erika may have even felt these types of statements are expected of her if she’s a genuine Christian. (𝘚𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘪𝘥 𝘪𝘵 𝘦𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘦𝘧𝘵 𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘩𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘦𝘥, 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘰𝘯𝘥𝘢𝘨𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯𝘺𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘣𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮).

Whatever her motivations though, there is a troubling concern with her statement here. This idea quietly teaches that God only works through people who have achieved emotional perfection. Scripture, however, paints a better picture. Paul, who knew what it was to feel strained and pressed, still heard the Lord say, “My grace is sufficient for you.”

That short promise pulls the rug out from under the notion that God’s power requires our emotional tidiness.

If we believe that any flicker of anger makes us unusable, we end up policing our own hearts with a harshness God never asked of us. Instead of pursuing holiness with hope, we chase an impossible standard and call it sanctification. It’s like trying to fix a leaky tap with a teaspoon — technically you’re interacting with the problem, but nothing is actually being repaired.

And anger itself isn’t always sinful. Some anger is righteous. Some is simply human and to place an extra burden of performance can be counter-productive to sanctification.

So rather than saying, “If I have anger, God cannot use me,” a healthier confession is, “When anger surfaces, I’ll try honestly to bring it Christ, trusting he can still work through an imperfect heart.” It is not Erika’s lack of anger that enables God to work through her, it is His grace alone.

Psalm 68:5. Our God is “A father of the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy habitation.” May God bless Erika and her children with His abundant grace.