Nehemiah 5:6-7 - Homiletics

Righteous anger.

"And I was very angry when I heard their cry and these words. Then I consulted with myself, and I rebuked the nobles, and the rulers." Anger is always dangerous, often evil. The anger is sinful which has its root in selfishness, which is excited by slight causes, or is blended with hatred, or issues in malice or revenge, or lasts long in any form. But there is an anger which is righteous, and the absence of which, so far from being a commendable meekness, may be occasioned by indifference to great principles, and to the general welfare of men. The text illustrates—

I. THE NATURE OF RIGHTEOUS ANGER .

1. Whence it springs. Love to God and man; love to righteousness, hatred of sin.

2. By what it is excited.

II. ITS USES . To stimulate to—

1. The rebuke and restraint of evil-doers.

2. Efforts for their reformation.

3. The discovery and application of remedies for the mischief they have wrought.

III. ITS BEST PRESERVATIVE FROM EVIL . Reflection before acting. "I consulted with myself." No passion more demands self-control, that it run not to excess, nor hurry into unwise and sinful words and deeds. A pause to consider, and the exercise of reflection itself, will supply the needful corrective, and enable us so to govern and guide our anger that it may subserve the ends for which this passion was given.