Welcome back to week 38. We hope the past week has been a blessed one for you. Last week we briefly consideredhow depression develops and is alleviated. It develops by not repenting from sin. It is alleviated by repenting from sin. 

This week we will briefly examine the topic of anger. So many people, especially in our current culture, are angry. Is that okay? Today, we will answer the question of anger by biblically defining it and giving some examples of how people deal with it. Then, make some observations and see some implications. Let’s get started!

Anger is an emotion. That’s not new information. However, it may surprise you that anger is an emotion that Scripture actually commands us to have. Furthermore, God enables us to be angry for a good reason. He enables us to be angry in order for us to accomplish His righteous purposes (Eph. 4:26;1 Sam. 11:6).

Anger can be a righteous emotion. For example, God is always righteous and He is angry. God is angry with the wicked every day (Ps. 7:11). There are other examples in the Old and New Testaments of anger. 

Jesus, our model of a perfect man, was angry over sinful unbelief and irreverence for God (Mark 3:5; John 2:13-18). Paul was angry at Peter’s sin of distorting the Gospel and confronted him (Gal. 2:11-14). David was angry over sin which he heard from Nathan’s report about an abused man, and sought to set things straight (2 Sam. 2). These are biblical examples of right anger. Not all anger is wrong. Some is very right and appropriate to have. 

However, as with most things, sinful man distorts true, righteous anger. James describes one way that people distort anger and deal wrongly with it. They do that when they hastily reject the Gospel (James 1:18-20). Being angry at the Gospel is unrighteous anger, inappropriate, and sinful.

People also deal with their anger, whether godly or ungodly, in sinful ways. Some vent their anger in disobedience to Scripture. Someone might say that they just want to “vent” about their work day, but Proverbs 29 warns against such thinking. Verse 11 states, “A fool always loses his temper, but a wise man holds it back. “Scripture teaches us to be wise, not foolish (Prov. 4:5, 7). To vent our anger is to be foolish and disobedient. 

The sin does not stop with “venting.” People who vent their anger are often also those swift to cut someone with their tongue (Prov. 14:17, 29; 29:20). They go from zero to furious in .3 seconds (cf. Prov. 29:22), They pick fights with others (Prov. 15:18). They turn off communication with others (Ps. 4:8; Eph. 4:26). They seek revenge (Matt. 5:38), and they murder (Gen. 4:8). These are all sinful examples of anger and sinful ways of handling anger.

On the other hand, and in addition to the examples of God, Jesus, and Paul displaying righteous anger, one can also deal righteously with anger. We can do this by holding back venting (Prov. 29:11). As a suggestion, someone could accomplish this by counting to 50 or 100 in order to give himself time to deal with his heart response. Another way to accomplish this could be by restraining anger and overlooking an offense (Prov. 19:11), by being very slow to anger (Prov. 14:29; 15:18). We could deal righteously with anger by being lovingly angry enough to let a foolish man bear the consequences of his sinfulness (Prov. 19:19). We could also accomplish a right response to anger by praying that God would avenge us (Ps. 23:5; 25:2; 31:15). We could do this by being angry enough at sin to keep it at a distance and allow it no counseling opportunity into our life (Prov. 22:24-25). 

Anger can be righteous or sinful and it can be dealt with in righteousness or sin. God is righteous in His anger and how He deals with it at all times. His motives and actions in anger are always right because He’s God, He’s the standard of right. And, because that’s true, His motives and actions with anger all revolve around His righteousness and glory. God seeks to bring Himself more glory through right anger and the actions which flow out of that motive. 

If we want to be right in our anger, we ought to have the same motive; God’s glory. Our anger is right or wrong depending upon our motive. Is our motive biblical (i.e., God’s glory), or is it sinful (i.e., our glory)? Is our anger about our rights, or God’s right over us? Whose glory are we angry about? God enables us to be angry for a good reason. He enables us to be angry in order for us to accomplish His righteous purposes (Eph. 4:26;1 Sam. 11:6). Whose purposes are you seeking to accomplish with your anger; yours or the Lord’s? Be in prayer about your motives. Ask trusted friends and / or family members, who are fellow believers, to help you think through the issue at hand, and be emersed in Scripture so that it’s counsel shapes your thoughts, words, and actions.

We hope our short time considering the topic of anger was helpful. Lord willing, next week we will be a little more “hands on” and give some typical homework assignments for one who is depressed and one who worries. Until then may our Lord bless you and keep you.