Thorn in the Spirit

Fully embraced, anger can grow into a controlling obsession and deny us rest. Fanned to burn, anger can scorch the soul and lead to chronic pain or depression. Brandished, anger paralyzes love. Unleashed, anger may place at peril both heart and health. Unrestrained, anger fractures friendships, embitters marriages and isolates us from others and from God.

Anger "stirs up dissension, and a hot-tempered one commits many sins" (Proverbs 29:22). Fathers, especially, should not provoke their children to anger, "lest they be discouraged" (Colossians 3:21). Anger gives the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27). Consequently, "man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires" (James 1:20). How can we escape the tyranny of anger?

A Biblical understanding of anger recognizes that it can be either appropriate or dangerous. What matters most is what we do with our anger, whether we hold onto it, in which case it may lay hold of us, or submit it to the lordship of Christ.

Wrenched Away from Apathy

Much to the annoyance of serene contemplation, anger refuses to be denied its voice. One can learn to suppress anger, but unless conciliated, it will continue to linger beneath the surface. Bitterness will fester as an abscess and slowly weary the spirit. Anger turned inward over time can lead to clinical depression. Prodded by someone’s careless or unkind word, it may erupt again, often out of proportion to what provoked it.

Anger will not go away because the Creator placed in every heart the capacity for anger in order to instruct us. A moral emotion, anger cries out for justice in response to violation. Just as a cut or intrusion into bodily tissues triggers pain, transgression of personal boundaries or moral rules provokes an urgent, compelling, disagreeable signal that cannot be ignored. Just as survival is impossible without the capability of experiencing physical pain, equally necessary is anger, which convicts us that moral boundaries exist and that there is such a thing as evil.

There is a rare medical condition in which one is born without the capacity to feel physical pain. The victims are indifferent to injury and usually do not survive to adulthood. Also the common condition of peripheral neuropathy may result in a loss of the capacity to feel pain in the feet. Unaware even of the small assaults of minor trauma, one’s joints may become gnarled and the toes disfigured. The smallest cut in an anesthetic foot can progress to gangrene and loss of limb before one has any warning of distress. What would be the spiritual prognosis for a people incapable of anger and thus apathetic to the ravages of sin? Could such a people recognize the need for a Savior?

Chronic pain is far more common than lack of pain. Many people experience relentless pain when there is no threat to the body, no ongoing injury. Likewise human beings often react in anger inappropriately or at too low a threshold.

The Cost of Anger

Isaiah warns those who habitually conceive trouble and do not know the way of peace that their hands therefore are stained with blood. The prophet adds, ". . . your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear" (Isaiah 59:2-8).

Occasional anger also can signify lack of faith. Even Moses, the most humble of men (Numbers 12:3), when pressed by the quarrelling multitude, reacted with rash words and struck the rock to which the Lord had commanded him to speak to bring forth the waters of Meribah. Because Moses did not trust enough in the Lord to honor his holiness, saying, "must we bring you water out of this rock?" he incurred the high cost of not entering into the promised land (Numbers 20:7-12, italics added).

It is impossible simultaneously to embrace anger and fellowship with God, to wear the mask of anger and see the face of God, to shake one’s fists in anger and fold one’s hands in prayer, to shout in anger and hear God, to pursue vengeance and receive mercy.

As the Deer Pants for Water (Psalm 42:1)

The urge for anger derives from a thirsting for justice and for the Lord. Many try to quench angry feelings with excessive quantities of alcohol, but while alcohol wets the throat, it dries the soul. The first sip brings a transient calming effect that more alcohol cannot recapture. More alcohol only removes inhibitions so that one more readily acts out anger. Once the intoxication wears off, one feels a rebounded intensification of unrest and brittle agitation.

Human anger cannot be soothed by alcoholic spirits, but only by the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 5:18). "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6). Let us come unto Jesus, and he will give us living water (John 4:10-14; Revelation 22:17).

Turn to Scripture, Away from Anger

Unlike philosophies that attempt to soften anger by diminishing its meaning, the Bible deals squarely with the problem of anger. The Bible does not abandon the physical world with all its anger and pain in favor of some inner or higher other realm of the spirit. This world, according to the Bible, was created as good (Genesis 1), and in all things God continues to work toward good purposes (Romans 8:28). The Bible does not dismiss the tribulations that arouse us to anger, but acknowledges them poignantly and encourages us to persevere despite them.

Meeting Us at the Place of Anger

Several English nasal expressions further define the contours of this Hebraic idiomatic face of anger. The phrase "to look down one’s nose" at someone reveals anger’s abettor, pride. In a fit of anger one may "cut off one’s nose to spite one’s face." Someone easily provoked to anger can be controlled by anger and be "led by the nose" down a "nosedive" path of destruction. They who embrace anger will, no doubt, pay the consequences "through the nose."

Righteous Anger

The Lord Jesus, who never sinned (Hebrews 4:15), became angry at the money changers at the Temple (John 2:15-17) and at the stubbornness of the Pharisees’ hearts (Mark 3:5). Jesus understands how we feel when we are angry.

Anger itself is not sinful. But at the moment one, in anger, condemns another person in his heart, sin has entered in. Whoever speaks out against his brother or sister in anger, Jesus cautions, will be subject to judgment (Matthew 5:22). The Lord says, "Vengeance is mine" (Romans 12:19, KJV). "Judge not, that ye be not judged" (Matthew 7:1, KJV).

While human anger is sometimes justifiable, only God is capable of truly righteous anger. Human perceptions of moral violation are almost always distorted by selfish interests or by ignorance of the other person’s full circumstances. We easily misjudge or overreact, sometimes even fail to react when we should. But "the law of the Lord is perfect" (Psalm 19:7), and "He will judge the world in righteousness" (Psalm 96:13). Human anger tends to dominate, but God is never capricious or controlled by anger. His anger is a measured response to sin and a necessary response, for God is holy. His wrath is poured out to accomplish good.

Anger presumes the authority of judgment and, when the Sovereign Lord seems to be inactive, challenges his righteousness. Out of the storm the Lord answered Job’s plea for justice with a question: "Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?" (Job 40:8). As a father admonishes a son, the Lord entreats Job to consider his anger from a greater perspective. He says to Job, "Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at every proud man and bring him low… crush the wicked where they stand…. Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you" (Job 40:11-14).

Too Wonderful for Me to Know (Job 42:3)

Every Biblical description of God’s anger is incomplete, and wrath is never his final word. Nine times Scripture maintains that God is "slow to anger," but "abounding in love" (Nehemiah 9:17, Psalm 103:8, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Nahum 1:3) and "faithfulness" (Exodus 34:6, Psalm 86:15), "forgiving sin and rebellion" (Numbers 14:18), and "rich in love" (Psalm 145:8). "Time after time he restrained his anger" (Psalm 78:38) when Israel was unfaithful. The Lord assured wayward Israel, "In a surge of anger I hid my face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you" (Isaiah 54:8). "For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime" (Psalm 30:5).

Seek Humility (Zephaniah 2:3)

Who are we to direct anger against someone to whom the Lord would show mercy? To speak contempt against a brother or sister whom the Lord loves? To harm one whom the Lord created in his image and intends to save? For he does not want "anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance" (2 Peter 3:9).

Answer Me When I Call to You, O My Righteous God (Psalm 4:1)

Anger overrules reason, and willpower is too weak to restrain all aggression. Human effort can never rescue itself from the clutches of anger. But "the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer" (1 Peter 3:12). The Psalms assure us also that the Lord hears the cry of the afflicted, the righteous, those who wait patiently for the Lord (Psalm 10:17, 34:17, 40:1).

The first response of someone who waits for the Lord, when provoked to anger, is to restrain the immediate urge to strike back, even as the Bible affirms that God holds back his wrath. A good practice is to make a conscious decision beforehand always to ignore the first impulse to retaliate, at least for one full day. "Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools" (Ecclesiastes 7:9). "A hot-tempered man stirs up dissension, but a patient man calms a quarrel" (Proverbs 15:18). "Better a patient man than a warrior, a man who controls his temper than one who takes a city" (Proverbs 16:32).

Delaying action gives one the freedom to pause and consider the full consequences of all the options and to respond to a challenge, not by brute reflex, but with the thoughtfulness and care of a forgiven human being. Most importantly, it sets aside time to submit the concern to prayer. God desires that we would have a relationship with him, especially during the most difficult times. It may be that, as we learn to see our enemies from God’s perspective, we will look upon them with compassion while our problems diminish as we draw near to the very King of the Universe.

When You Are on Your Beds (Psalm 4:4)

For anxious insomniacs clinical psychologists recommend slow deep breathing and focusing on alternately tensing and relaxing key muscle groups. But for someone who goes to bed in rage, such exercises may prove no more calming than ice cubes dropped into the mouth of a volcano. Come morning, the tired mind that vigilantly raced with thoughts all the night, and the stiff and aching muscles that never once let down their guard, are only mild physical signs of a more deeply wounded spirit. Paul warns, "Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry" (Ephesians 4:26). Harboring a grudge is, in fact, so grave a condition that Jesus urges us to settle matters quickly and seek reconciliation with one’s brother or sister, even when one is not at fault (Matthew 5:22-26, 18:15-17).

Search Your Hearts (Psalm 4:4)

Anger is sometimes a subconscious defense reaction to the threat that a personal failure might be found out. Beware of the leaven of those Pharisees, whose external semblance of righteousness could not conceal their hypocrisy from Jesus. Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, "You shut the kingdom of heaven in men’s faces" (Matthew 23:13). "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourself" (Philippians 2:3). Anger discredits one’s witness to the Gospel and dishonors God.

And Be Silent (Psalm 4:4)

James writes, "Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry" (James 1:19). The quiet humility that is slow to anger comes from a disciplined awareness of the holiness of Almighty God. "But the Lord is in his holy temple; let all the earth be silent before him" (Habakkuk 2:20). We must learn to cease striving in our own strength, but follow the counsel of the psalmist: "Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him" (Psalm 62:5). "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).

Trust in the Lord (Psalm 4:5)

The Biblical instruction for dealing with anger is simply this: give it up to the Lord. Hostility is a terrible burden to bear, but being merciful frees us. If we trust in the Lord even when it seems that evil has gotten its way, if we humbly call upon his Name with a broken and contrite heart and obediently submit our anger to him, we may believe that he is faithful to answer our prayer and be for us a refuge in times of trouble (Psalm 62:8). Almighty God, who shakes the heavens and the earth (Haggai 2:6), "will judge the world in righteousness" (Psalm 96:13). "It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31). Yet in his wrath he remembers mercy (Habakkuk 3:2, John 4:2).

Let the Light of Your Face Shine upon Us (Psalm 4:6)

The Lord’s face is also the face of Truth, which exposes our contemptible faults. Unable to bear having his faults seen, Cain conceived a mortal hatred of the truth. Incapable of nullifying the truth itself, he destroyed it in his brother. We, like Cain, often react in anger when someone unknowingly reminds us of the truth of our own failures and wrongdoings.

"Therefore, there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus" (Romans 8:1). Freed by his atoning sacrifice from our slavery to sin, we may now seek his face and accept his invitation to "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).

O, Lord (Psalm 4:8)

Jesus directs our attention also to the root of murder. "You have heard that . . . anyone who murders will be subject to judgment. But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment" (Matthew 5:21-22). Before God all who devalue the lives of others become guilty of murder.

Sleep in Peace (Psalm 4:8)

One cannot cling to anger and cleave to God. In the refining fire of life, one must choose whether to wallow in cinders and smolder and sputter in anger, or in humility to count offenses against oneself as nothing, thereby yielding to the hand of our Father in heaven, who desires to lift us up that we might shine brilliantly in testimony to his glory. Do not let your anger hinder God from refreshing you with the light of his countenance. "Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:5-7).

Jesus beckons, "So be earnest, and repent. Here I am! I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in" (Revelation 3:19-20). The next verse promises eternal victory "to him who overcomes." No matter what beasts we have posted by our doorways, Jesus persists in knocking and promises that, through him who loves us, we are "more than conquerors" (Romans 8:37) of what Cain was unable to master alone. Our beastly anger would destroy us, but Jesus desires to save us.