Foundations of Faith
ANGER (II)
In Part I of this series, we learned that some of us need to learn to be angry-that is, to express righteous anger in the appropriate situations. However, before any of us is qualified to express and act upon righteous anger, we must be absolutely certain that we can properly, scripturally, differentiate between righteous anger and sinful anger.
In the previous issue it was noted that there are over 40 people, or groups of people, reported in the Bible as having sinful anger. There are various reasons for these people’s anger:
Cain was angry at his brother Abel because of envy (Gen. 4:5,6). God accepted Abel’s offering and not Cain’s. There is no evidence that Abel had done anything personally against Cain. It was a simple matter of wounded pride on the part of Cain.
Jacob was angry at his wife Rachel because she complained to him about not giving her any children (Gen. 30:2).
Simeon and Levi were angry at Shechem for violating their family honor (Gen. 34:7).
Moses was angry when the Israelites complained about having no water (Num. 20:10,11).
Balaam was angry at his donkey when it didn’t go where he wanted it to go (Num. 22:27).
Balak was angry at Balaam because Balaam didn’t do what Balak had hired him to do (Num. 24:10).
Asa was angry at the prophet Hanani for rebuking him (2 Chron. 16:10).
Namaan was angry at Elisha when told he would have to wash in the Jordan River in order to be cleansed of his leprosy (2 Ki. 5:11).
Haman was angry at Mordecai because Mordecai did not bow down to him (Esth. 3:5).
The older brother was angry at his father for treating his prodigal brother so kindly (Luke 15:28).
Herod was angry at the wise men because they did not tell him where he could find the child Jesus (Matt. 2:16). (See Assignment 3)
Let us try to summarize the categories of reasons behind these people’s anger. If we were able to interview these people in the Bible and ask, “Why were you angry?” here is what they would have said (if they had been honest):
1. I’m being treated unfairly.
2. I’m being blamed for something that is not my fault.
3. I or my family haven’t been treated with proper respect.
4. That person didn’t do what I wanted him to do.
5. That person dared to tell me that I was wrong.
Notice how each of these reasons has a strong element of self and pride in it. Furthermore, the anger of several (Cain, Balaam, Balak, Asa, Naaman, Haman, and Herod) was directed at one who was simply doing what God wanted him to do. These examples in the Bible should give us much pause the next time we are about to blow up at someone.
There are also examples in the Bible in which sinful anger was directed at a person who had sinned:
Esau and Jacob. Jacob had lied to his father, and Esau responded by plotting to kill his brother.
Jacob and Rachel. Rachel was sinfully complaining, and Jacob lashed out at her in anger rather than suggesting they pray together about it.
Simeon and Levi. Shechem had raped their sister, and Simeon and Levi got even by massacring all of the men in the village.
Moses and the Israelites. The people were sinfully complaining against God and Moses responded with anger rather than letting God deal with the people in His way.
If a person sins against me and I respond in anger, does the fact that it is a response to sin automatically make my anger righteous? Not necessarily. In each of these examples there is evidence of wounded pride; the anger is not used to make a godly appeal to the person to repent of his/her sin, but to attack and/or get even with the sinner. Here are reasons why I ought to be slow to anger when I think that someone is sinning against me:
1. My thinking may be wrong; I may have misunderstood or misinterpreted the person’s words or actions; thus my anger would be totally wrong.
2. My thinking may be correct, but if my anger is expressed only for the purpose of punishing the person, it is wrong, because I am to leave vengeance in the Lord’s hands (Rom. 12:19).
3. “The discretion of a man defers his anger; and it is his glory to pass over a transgression” (Prov. 19:11). Christ is our example in this, as already mentioned.
All are familiar with Peter’s angry denial of Christ when people kept insisting that they recognized him as a disciple of Jesus. The people were right and Peter was lying to them. So why did he get angry? As a means of control, I suggest. The situation was getting out of control, and he feared for his life. So he used anger as a means of getting the people to back off. This is a very common use of anger-for controlling other people and getting them to do what I want them to do. There is no Scriptural support for this:it is a result of pride and selfishness through and through.
Running the Race
WHAT MAKES YOU ANGRY? (I)
In response to a question posed to young people, “What makes you the angriest,” the most frequent response was “people who are mean, harass me, or make fun of me.”
Is it wrong to be angry when people are mean to us? How did the Lord Jesus respond when people were mean to Him? He always took it meekly and silently and prayed for the mean people, didn’t He? And He tells us to do the same (Matt. 5:44).
When people make fun of us, it often means that they have problems in their life. Maybe by seeing you get angry they feel less guilty about their own anger. When people are mean or make fun of you, try gently, lovingly asking them why they are doing it and if they would care to talk about what is “bugging” them or going on in their life.
Assignment 3: (a) Why were King Saul and his son Jonathan angry in 1 Samuel 18 and 20? (b) In each case was it righteous or sinful anger? (c) Write out an incident in which you expressed sinful anger.