Misplaced Anger or Composed Anger?

Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

Ephesians 4.26-27

James Martin, (is an American Jesuit priest, writer, and editor-at-large of the Jesuit magazine America) He has written a beautiful book Seven Last Words: An Invitation To A Deeper Friendship With Jesus. He shares the following story in the book.

One elderly monk in his community used to show his displeasure with other monks in a highly creative way. As you may know, most monastic communities chant the psalms several times a day together in chapel. Well, if this elderly monk was angry at someone, every time the word “enemy” came up in a psalm, as in “Deliver me from my enemies,” he would look up from his prayer book and glare at the monk he was angry with.

Buddha warned his followers, “Holding on to anger is like grasping a hot coal with the intent of throwing it at someone else; you are the one who gets burned.”

According to a survey, “The average person feels some degree of anger or its lower-grade cousin, frustration, ten to fourteen times a day.”

In his book, Anger: Taming a Powerful Emotion, Author Gary Chapman’s view is that we get angry because we have been created in the image of God. And I know that sounds wrong and almost blasphemous but bear with me for a bit. Chapman suggests that anger derives from two aspects of God’s nature. His holiness and His love. It is from these two characteristics of God, his love and his holiness that we see his anger displayed, when justice and righteousness are neglected or rejected.

Now we need to understand that God is not “anger”, but without a doubt God does get angry. One source says that the word anger is mentioned 455 times in the Old Testament and 375 of those refer to God’s anger.

It is because of God’s holiness and because of God’s love that God experiences anger. Because God wants the very best for us, and because he knows the destructiveness of sinful behaviour, he experiences anger. Chapman writes, “When God sees evil, anger is His logical response to injustice or unrighteousness.”

If anger were a sin, we had better tell God to count to ten and cool it because He gets angry every day. Ninety percent of the Scriptures dealing with anger are referring to God’s anger. Where God’s love is refused or God’s holiness mocked, God cannot remain indifferent. To do so would put Him beyond feeling; it would make Him impersonal rather than compassionate. The more you appreciate God’s love, the more you can respect His anger. And God’s love is just as true in the Old Testament as God’s anger is in the New.

If God gets angry, then it can be godly to get angry. Jesus got angry, so it must be possible to be angry without sinning. The problem is that our anger often leads to sin. Anger is an emotion, a response to a threat — whether to our life, our character, our opinion, our property, our time. What we do after that emotional response of anger determines whether we sin or not. All too often we say or do something, and that’s when we get into trouble. God warned an angry Cain to get a hold on himself because sin was crouching at his door (Genesis 4:7). God asked Cain “Why are you angry?” so he would face up with his response and deal responsibly with it. Cain didn’t. Cain was angry with God but he took it out on his brother.

The ability to be angry is a God-given emotion. Florence Nightingale was known for her anger against inadequate hospital care. William Carey was angered by the inhumane slave trade in Africa. Martin Luther King Jr. was angry, Mahatma Ghandi was angry, Hitler was angry, and Osama Bin Laden was angry. Few will go down in history as heroes and few will always be villains.

Like fear, anger can be positive, but it often is not. It finds expression in cutting remarks, pouting, silence, withdrawal, or attack. Our age has been dubbed “the angry generation.” Unable to cope with life’s stresses, people are pulling out guns on the freeway.

The Bible reminds us that God is slow to anger. Not so with most of us. An unkind word can set us off in a moment. Our anger is misplaced. We are angry at the wrong people, for the wrong things. That’s where society is right now. We are at a place where if we perceive that we’ve been wronged, then we’ve been wronged, and we get angry. But is that right?

In his book, Chapman tells us there are certain reasons why anger is wrong, a mere disappointment, an unfulfilled desire, a frustrated effort, a bad mood. When they spark anger, it’s the wrong type of anger.

In other words, deal with your anger right away. Jesus said, “Make friends quickly with your accuser …” (Matthew 5:25). Paul said to put away anger. Anger neglected leads to bitterness, and bitterness is a sin. Paul I believe wanted to tell us this: you will control your anger, or your anger will control you.

This Lenten Season let us resolve to be slow to anger and communicate truthfully and honestly and at the same time be patient so that anger doesn’t build up in our homes, churches and society.

God Bless You