Anger is “I’m against that!” You encounter ‘that’, you assess ‘that’ as wrong, you deem ‘that’ as important to you and hence you move to oppose ‘that’. This is anger in action.
While there is righteous anger, most of the anger expression we see daily belongs to the sinful anger category – irritability, argumentative, resentment, bitterness, nursing grudges, physical violence, vindictive words . . .
James was talking about sinful anger when he called us to be slow to wrath “for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20). Sinful human anger doesn’t work. Consider . . .
(a) You shouted at your children in anger because you’ve asked them twice to pack up and nothing moved! Seeing your seething anger, they started . . . it works, right? No, because the next time, you may have to shout even louder and maybe bang the table before they will move! Our sinful human anger does not work (not effective and not for long).
(b) So irritated by the behaviour of your younger sibling, you started to use vindictive words and before long, physical violence starts to appear . . . Would your sinful expression of anger change your spouse? Unlikely! More likely, it will breed resentment and bitterness in him/her . . . Anger breeds anger . . . It is contagious!
The wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. Remember this – regularly, constantly, daily! It does not work. It is not effective. In fact, it is counterproductive. The situation only gets worse, both of you are worse off and God is dishonoured.
So do you mean to tell me that I must never be angry? No, the call is not “don’t you ever be angry” but “be God-like in your anger”! The Bible does portray God being angry, angry with our sins. How does He express His anger? How does He ‘handle’ anger?
Remember That God Is Slow To Anger.
This is one of His glories, isn’t it? The LORD is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy. (Psalm 103:8). When God encounters sin, He is against it! Definitely!! But He is not quick, not eager, not can’t-wait to give us the wrath that we sinners deserve.
We are called to imitate Him: He who is slow to wrath has great understanding, but he who is impulsive exalts folly. (Proverbs 14:29). To be slow to anger does not mean that we are indifferent to the wrongs being done, that we condone or compromise with the sinful behaviour. We are against it. However, we want be S-L-O-W in our expression of anger, like God.
This is especially important for us because unlike God, we are not sinless. We need to be slow to anger because we are so often unaware of what gods we are serving in our hearts as we get angry. Maybe we are angry, not just because of the sinful conduct of that person, but because our security, our peace, our pleasure, our _______ is being threatened. We therefore need to go S-L-O-W, to examine our anger, to ask, “What does this anger say about my heart?”
David says in Psalm 4:4, “Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed and be still.” David was wrestling with the wrong and unfair treatment meted out to him by his enemies. Wrong and unfair treatment is wrong, and David is against that! But instead of acting quickly in anger, speaking rashly, lashing out, he is calling himself to go S-L-O-W and seek to understand his anger. Maybe I am overreacting . . . Maybe I have misread the situation . . . How would I know? Ask the Lord to search my heart. Before the sun goes down, I must meet my Lord so that I will know what to say and how to approach it. In simple words, he is calling himself, as well as calling all of us, to be still before the Lord, to let Him search our hearts and to hear what He has to say!
There are other aspects of God’s anger management that we will look at in the coming weeks. But till then, here’s one aspect to learn and imitate:
Be S-L-O-W to anger. So God help me!
WEI En Yi