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Anger is one of the emotions God created within us. As
such, we must manage our anger, like we do all our emotions.
God And Jesus Have Been Angry
God was provoked to anger by Jews who disobeyed Him in the
wilderness.
Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if
you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts as when
they provoked Me, as in the day of trial in the wilderness,
where your fathers tried Me by testing Me, and saw My
works for forty years. Therefore I was angry with this
generation, and said, They always go astray in their
heart, and they did not know My ways'; as I swore in
my wrath, They shall not enter my rest'" (Heb. 3:7-11).
God was also angry with people who worshiped the beast,
as described in Revelation.
Then another angel, a third one, followed them, saying
with a loud voice, "If anyone worships the beast and
his image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on
his hand, he also will drink of the wine of the wrath
of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of
His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence
of the Lamb" (Rev. 14:9-10).
And Jesus, when healing a man on the Sabbath, was angry
with the Jews who sought to falsely accuse Him of sin.
After looking around at them with anger, grieved at
their hardness of heart, He said to the man, "Stretch
out your hand." And he stretched it out, and his hand
was restored (Mk. 3:5).
God and Jesus have been angry in the past. And there's
no reason to think they're not angry today, with disobedient
people.
God Provoked The Jews With Anger
God provoked the Jews with anger, and turned them back to
Him.
But I say, surely Israel did not know, did they? First
Moses says, "I will make you jealous by that which is
not a nation, by a nation without understanding will
I anger you."
Not only has God been angry in the past, He has used anger
to turn people from sin.
Expect To Experience Anger
It's not wrong to be angry. Paul says, "Be angry, and yet
do not sin. . . ." (Eph. 4:26). It's not a sin to be angry,
otherwise God would have sinned by becoming angry. But anger
can become sinful, if we don't handle it properly and control
it.
Knowing everyone experiences anger, we should anticipate
our anger and deal with it in a godly manner.
Be Slow To Anger
James tells us to be "quick to hear, slow to speak and slow
to anger; for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness
of God" (Jas. 1:19-20).
We'll be angry from time to time, but we must be careful
not to fly off the handle, reacting in a fitful rage. We
should be slow to anger, displaying godly characteristics
that allow us to control our anger love, virtue, patience,
perseverance, and forgiveness.
Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Your Anger
Paul says, "Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the
sun go down on your anger" (Eph. 4:26).
The phrase, "do not let the sun go down on your anger"
doesn't forbid us from being angry for more than one day.
God was angry with Israel forty years, because of their
sin (Heb. 3:17).
Rather, the phrase tells us to immediately deal with our
anger. In particular, we should deal with the source of
our anger, confronting it, and preventing it from building
and becoming stronger.
By immediately dealing with our anger, we can control
it, rather than allowing it to control us.
Summary
We should expect to be angry from time to time.
When we're angry, we should control it, immediately dealing
with the source by applying principles from God's word.
If we do, we won't sin. We'll control our anger, rather
than letting it control us. We'll be angry, and not sin.
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