It's good to think more deeply about the mercies of God in times of crisis. To help guide us in this effort, we'll consider Paul David Tripp's collection of meditations from Psalm 27 called "A Shelter in the Time of Storm." You can get your own copy on Amazon here.

For false witnesses have risen against me,
and they breath out violence.

Psalm 27:12

Nothing impacted my own spiritual growth more than when I first started to understand the depth of the fall. It's something I've studied extensively and thought a lot about. Even so, Tripp's description of its effect in this meditation shocked me.

"Imagine a human being, made for loving worship of the Lord and loving community with others, getting to the place where he has fallen so far from God's original intention that he actually exhales violence!"

"So, we don't actually love our neighbor. No, we're jealous of him, or we see him as an obstacle in the way of what we want, or we treat him as an adversary, or we ignore him altogether."

"And we don't love God with our whole hearts. No, we put creation in his place. We'd rather have the temporary pleasure of physical things than the eternal satisfactions that can be found only in him." 

Why would we want to understand just how far we've fallen? So that we can understand the magnitude of God's grace. We weren't 98% there and just needed God's help with the last 2%. We were 100% hell-bound and needed God to provide 100% forgiveness and 100% righteousness. We need grace.

Not just "needed" grace, but "need" grace. Grace isn't just about moving us out of wrath and into glory - it's also about getting us through the day. We're made to be in relationship with God and with one another, but without constant grace those relationships descend into destructive chaos. 

"Sin causes us to set up our own little kingdom of one, where our desire is the functional law of the land. And as little kings, we want to co-opt the people around us into the service of our kingdom purposes, and when they refuse or unwittingly get int he way of what we want, we rage against them." There are a lot of ways - obvious and subtle - through which we breath out violence. 

When you understand the fall you start to realize that our sin and selfishness isn't amazing or even surprising. What's surprising is "how much peace and cooperation exist[s] in our relationships" at all. How can it be? Grace. "Every day God keeps us all from being as wicked as we have the potential to be." 

We all want the tips and tricks, the shortcuts, to maintaining healthy relationships. It's certainly good to learn about effective communication, listening skills, and the like. But don't kid yourselves - what you need most is grace. Only by God's grace can any of those tactics bear good fruit in your relationships. Want to get along better during this period of "sheltering in place?" Start by praying for grace.

Questions to Consider

The questions are Tripp's. I included my answers in case they're helpful to read.

1. How are you dealing with the low-grade or high-intensity anger of those around you?

- How am I? I provoke it. I see it simmering and often, instead of trying to help them overcome it, I poke at it to see if they'll give in to sin and let me be (and play) the victim. How should I? I should pray for grace in those moments and I should say and do the things that communicate it to them.

2. Is there a place where God is calling you to face your own anger, and as you do, what new things is he calling you to do?

- There are likely many, but I need to think and pray for God to show them to me. In general, I'm too quick to go on the attack when provoked. It would be better for everyone if I would instead take a deep breath, pray for grace, and stay silent or be proactively empathetic.