Anger Read online

  We can’t control our bodily reactions; however, we can control our mental and physical responses to anger. We’ll look at that in upcoming chapters.

  WHY ANGER?

  But first, let’s look again at the roots of anger: where it comes from and why we experience it.

  I believe that the human capacity for anger is rooted in the nature of God. Please do not think that I am being disrespectful of God. On the contrary, I stand in deep reverence of God when I suggest that human anger is rooted in the divine nature. Further, I am not suggesting that anger is an essential part of the nature of God. I am suggesting that anger derives from two aspects of God’s divine nature: God’s holiness and God’s love.

  The Scriptures proclaim that God is holy. (See, for example, 1 Peter 1:16; Leviticus 11:44–45.) The word holy means “set apart from sin.” Whether we are talking about God the Father, God the Son, or God the Spirit, there is no sin in the nature of God. The New Testament writer said of Jesus that He “faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin” (Hebrews 4:15).

  A second fundamental characteristic of the nature of God is love. The apostle John summarized the whole teaching of Scripture when he said simply, “God is love” (1 John 4:8, italics added). Love is not to be equated with God; rather, in His essential nature God is loving. This is not simply the New Testament concept of God. From beginning to end, the Scriptures reveal God as committed to the well-being of His creatures. It is God’s nature to love.

  It is from these two divine characteristics that God’s anger is derived. Please note: The Scriptures never say, “God is anger.” That statement is not, in fact, true. Anger is not a part of the essential nature of God. However, the Bible often indicates that God experiences anger. The word anger is found 455 times in the Old Testament; 375 of these refer to God’s anger. In fact, the psalmist said, “God is angry with the wicked every day” (Psalm 7:11 KJV).

  God’s anger was not limited to Old Testament times. Read the life of Jesus, and you will see numerous occasions where Jesus demonstrated anger. (For example, see Mark 3:1–5; John 2:13–17.) Because God is holy and because God is love, God necessarily experiences anger. His love seeks only the good of His creatures. His holiness stands forever against sin. All of God’s moral laws are based upon His holiness and His love; that is, they are always aligned with what is right, and they are always for the good of His creatures.

  God desires humans to do what is right and enjoy the benefits. He said to ancient Israel, “Now listen! Today I am giving you a choice between life and death, between prosperity and disaster. For I command you this day to love the LORD your God and to keep his commands, decrees, and regulations by walking in his ways. If you do this, you will live and multiply, and the LORD your God will bless you and the land you are about to enter and occupy” (Deuteronomy 30:15–16).

  Knowing the detrimental effects of man’s sin, God’s anger is kindled. It is God’s concern for justice and righteousness (both of which grow out of His holiness and His love) that stir God’s anger. Thus, when God sees evil, anger is His logical response to injustice or unrighteousness.

  “THAT’S NOT RIGHT”

  So what does all of this have to do with human anger? The Scriptures say that we are made “in the image of God” (Genesis 1:27). Though that image was marred by the fall, it was not erased. People still bear the imprint of God’s image deep within their souls. Thus, even though we are fallen, we still have some concern for justice and rightness. Find the most pagan man you know and follow him for a week, and you will hear him make such statements as: “That’s not right. He shouldn’t do that to her. She treated him wrongly.” Steal his car and see if he expresses anger. Slander his daughter or wife or girlfriend and you will find that suddenly he is an extremely moral creature, condemning your action outright.

  Listen to the young child who is beginning to put words into sentences, and you will soon hear the child say, “That’s not fair, Mommy.” Where did the child obtain that moral judgment? I suggest that it is stamped deep within his nature, tempered by parental teaching, to be sure, but the child knows when he or she has been wronged and will express it freely.

  Anger, then, is the emotion that arises whenever we encounter what we perceive to be wrong. The emotional, physiological, and cognitive dimensions of anger leap to the front burner of our experience when we encounter injustice.

  Why does a wife experience anger toward her husband? Because in her mind he has disappointed, embarrassed, humiliated, or rejected her. In short, he has “done her wrong.” Why do teenagers experience anger toward parents? Because the teenager perceives that the parents have been unfair, unloving, unkind—that the parents have done wrong. Why does a man kick his lawnmower? Because the lawnmower is not “working right.” The machine, or its manufacturer, has done him wrong. Why do drivers honk their horns when the traffic light turns green? Because they reason that the person in front of them “should be paying attention to the light and not texting and should have accelerated two seconds earlier.”

  Try to remember the last time you experienced anger and ask the question: Why did I get angry? Chances are your answer will mention some injustice. Someone or something did not treat you fairly. Something was wrong. Your anger may have been directed toward a person, an object, a situation, yourself, or God, but in every instance someone or something treated you wrongly. We are not discussing whether your perception of wrong is valid or invalid. We will deal with that in a later chapter. What we are establishing is that anger originates in the perception that something is wrong and that this sense of morality (some things are right and some things are wrong) finds its root in the fact that we are created in the image of a God who is holy and has established moral law for the good of His creatures.

  Anger is not evil; anger is not sinful; anger is not a part of our fallen nature; anger is not Satan at work in our lives. Quite the contrary. Anger is evidence that we are made in God’s image; it demonstrates that we still have some concern for justice and righteousness in spite of our fallen estate. The capacity for anger is strong evidence that we are more than mere animals. It reveals our concern for rightness, justice, and fairness. The experience of anger is evidence of our nobility, not our depravity.

  We should thank God for our capacity to experience anger. When one ceases to experience anger, one has lost her sense of moral concern. Without moral concern, the world would be a dreadful place indeed. That brings us to our second major question: What is the purpose of anger? More to the point, what is God’s purpose for human anger?

  A man is about as big as the things that make him angry.

  WINSTON CHURCHILL

  WHEN ANGER CAN DO GOOD

  When we’re in the midst of an argument with our spouse or grumbling at our slow Internet, the question of God’s purpose in anger might seem theoretical. Indeed, we might think human anger would displease God.

  But I believe that human anger is designed by God to motivate us to take constructive action in the face of wrongdoing or when facing injustice.

  We don’t understand this very well because usually we get angry when things don’t go our way—like when a page is taking forever to load when we’re trying to apply for a job. We will talk further about valid and invalid anger, but our purpose here is to return to the foundational question: What is God’s purpose in human anger? The answer is, anger is designed to motivate us to take positive action when we encounter injustice. I believe this is illustrated by God Himself.

  FOR OUR OWN GOOD: GOD’S RESPONSE TO ANGER

  The Bible draws a clear parallel between God’s anger and His love. In the Old Testament, He typically sent a prophet to proclaim to the people His displeasure with their evil deeds and to call them to repentance. If the people repented, God’s anger subsided and all was well. However, if they did not repent, God took additional action. God’s message to Jeremiah demonstrates this. “Go and give this message to Israel. This is what the LORD says: ‘… Come h
ome to me again, for I am merciful. I will not be angry with you forever, Only acknowledge your guilt. … Return home, you wayward children’ says the LORD, ‘for I am your master’” (Jeremiah 3:12–14). Israel had forsaken truth and followed lies. God’s anger motivated Him to send Jeremiah to call the people to repentance.

  God took similar action in sending Jonah to Nineveh. The people of Nineveh knew God’s reputation. When Jonah warned of the destruction in forty days, the Scriptures say, “The people of Nineveh believed God’s message, and from the greatest to the least, they declared a fast and put on burlap to show their sorrow.” Soon the king declared, “No one, not even the animals from your herds and flocks, may eat or drink anything at all. People and animals alike must wear garments of mourning, and everyone must pray earnestly to God. They must turn from their evil ways and stop all their violence. Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.” The people of Nineveh knew that God’s anger was always driven by His love. So the Scriptures record, “When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:5, 7–10).

  God’s anger was expressed in positive action—declaring to the evildoer that all evil would be punished. Because of God’s love for them, He could not allow injustice to go unpunished. However, when the people of Nineveh repented and turned from their evil ways, God’s compassion moved Him to forgiveness. The wrong had been made right; God’s anger had served its positive purpose.

  Some contemporary students of the Bible have questioned God’s severe acts of judgment on His people Israel and their neighbors. They have read into these acts the picture of a vengeful and destructive deity. However, upon closer examination, one discovers that when God used such drastic measures it was for the ultimate good of His creatures. His holiness will not allow God to remain silent when His children are involved in evil activity, and His love always seeks to express His anger for the larger good of humankind.

  WHAT MADE JESUS ANGRY?

  When we turn to the New Testament and examine the life of Jesus, we find that He too took positive, loving action against the evil that had stirred His anger. Perhaps the best known of these events was Jesus’ experience in the temple in Jerusalem when He saw the merchants buying and selling oxen, sheep, and doves. He said, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” (Matthew 21:13). Much earlier in His ministry, Jesus had upbraided the moneychangers: “Stop turning my Father’s house into a marketplace!” (John 2:16). John the apostle recorded that Jesus made a whip of cords, drove them from the temple area, and “scattered the money changers’ coins over the floor, and turned over their tables” (verse 15).

  Some would ask, “Where was Jesus’ spirit of forgiveness?” We can without question assume that had the wrongdoers repented, He would have forgiven them. But remember, God’s forgiveness is always in response to man’s repentance. His action demonstrated not only to the merchants but also to the religious leaders that what was going on was inappropriate for the temple of God. In fact, John records, “His disciples remembered this prophecy from the Scriptures: ‘Passion for God’s house will consume me’” (2:17; see Psalm 69:9). The disciples clearly saw Jesus’ anger being expressed, and they attributed it to His righteous and deep concern that His Father’s house be a place of prayer rather than a place of merchandise.

  On another occasion Jesus was in the synagogue on the Sabbath, and a man came to Him with a paralyzed hand. The Pharisees were looking for an occasion to accuse Jesus of breaking the Sabbath law, so Jesus asked the question, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” The Pharisees remained silent, and Mark records that Jesus “looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, ‘Stretch out your hand.’ He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored” (Mark 3:4–5 NIV). Jesus was angered by the Pharisees’ legalistic thinking, which placed the keeping of Sabbath laws above ministry to human need. His action was to heal the man in front of their faces, rejecting their evil thinking and graphically demonstrating in front of everyone that human ministry is more important than religious observances.

  Thus, the divine model is clear: God’s response to anger is always to take loving action, to seek to stop the evil, and to redeem the evildoer.

  A MOTHER’S RESPONSE TO A TERRIBLE WRONG

  What about us? Because, as we have seen, we bear the image of God, each of us has on some level a concern for righteousness, fairness, and justice. Whenever we encounter that which we believe to be unrighteous, unkind, or unjust, we experience anger. I believe that in God’s design this anger is to motivate us to take positive, loving action to seek to set the wrong right; and where there has been a relationship, to restore the relationship with the wrongdoer. Anger is not designed to drive us to do destructive things to the people who may have wronged us, nor does it give us license to say or do destructive things to our neighbors. Anger’s fundamental purpose is to motivate us to positive, loving action that will leave things better than we found them.

  First, let us examine this in the whole area of social reform. Most readers will be familiar with the organization MADD (Mothers Against Drunk Drivers). Do you have any idea why this organization was established? I suggest to you that it was born out of anger. Mothers watched their sons and daughters being killed in the streets by drunken drivers. When these drivers came to trial, they were given a slap on the wrist, perhaps given a small fine, and returned to the streets the next day.

  The mothers said, “This is not right.” The founder, Candy Lightner, was shocked when a drunken driver plowed his vehicle into her thirteen-year-old daughter, leaving little Cari dead. Later her shock and grief turned into intense anger when a California judge gave the repeat-offender drunk driver a light sentence. She and other outraged mothers soon formed MADD. It was this anger, provoked by the injustice that they observed, that motivated Mrs. Lightner and other outraged mothers to establish a national organization that later grew to more than four hundred chapters.

  Initially, their approach was to take turns sitting in the courtroom when those who were charged with “driving under the influence” were being tried. They looked into the eyes of the judge, the lawyers, and the drunken drivers. Their presence moved judges to think twice before returning the license of a drunken driver. They also pressured state legislators to enact tougher laws against drunk driving. I don’t think I have to tell you that the penalties for driving under the influence have become more stringent the last few years, and more drivers’ licenses have been removed from those driving under the influence than ever before. All because some mothers got angry. MADD continues to seek judicial and legislative reforms.

  The organization SADD (Students Against Driving Drunk) formed in a similar manner. Students were upset about the harm caused by drunken student drivers; they began to say, “It is not right to allow a fellow student to drive while under the influence of alcohol.” These students began to organize, and committed themselves to have a designated, sober driver who would volunteer to drive the intoxicated students home. They took positive, loving action in response to their anger.

  “TO LOOSE THE CHAINS OF INJUSTICE”

  The abolition of slavery in England and America came about because a significant number of people felt anger about social conditions. The story of William Wilberforce, a great man of faith, wealthy Member of Parliament, and social reformer, is familiar to many. In 1807 Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson persuaded the British government to pass a bill against the slave trade—but that victory was the culmination of a long, sometimes lonely battle. For decades previously, Wilberforce had waged a tireless crusade, delivering passionate speeches in Parliament detailing and decrying the evils of the slave trade. Across the ocean in the United States, a number of men an
d women looked at enslavement and said within their own hearts, This is not right. Years later the evil was officially ended when President Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation. But it took people moved by anger at evil and injustice—people like Harriet Beecher Stowe, author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin—to prick the conscience of a nation.

  This is in keeping with God’s desires as stated through the prophet Isaiah: “Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people. Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide from relatives who need your help” (Isaiah 58:6–7).

  But how does this work in everyday life?

  Let’s return to Brooke, whom we met in the last chapter. She is angry with her preschool children because of what she considers to be their inappropriate behavior, mad at her husband because he doesn’t give her adequate help at home, mad at herself because she made the choice to be at home with her children, and ultimately mad at God, because in her mind He allowed her to get into this mess. At the moment, we are not concerned with what specific actions Brooke should take. We are simply asking, What is the purpose of Brooke’s anger? I suggest that it is to motivate her to take positive, loving action to deal with what she considers to be unkind, inequitable, unfair, and inhumane. She is not to ignore her anger. Anger is like a red light flashing on the dash of a car. It indicates that something needs attention.

  Anger can be a powerful and positive motivator, useful to move us toward loving action to right wrongs and correct injustice—but it also can become a raging, uncontrolled force.