A Chinese proverb once said,
忍一時風平浪靜，退一步海闊天空。
Rěn yīshí fēngpínglàngjìng, tuì yībù hǎikuòtiānkōng
Which translates to:
"If you are patient in one moment of anger, you will escape a hundred days of sorrow"
This statement is an aphorism that holds some truths but is not entirely correct. That in our anger there are only sorrowful consequences, yet to be angry is more complex than the premise😱. In today's post we will explore how anger can be righteous as well as destructive.
A few weeks ago, I experienced a "moment of anger"😡. To which I felt a raging fire inside me🔥. It's hard to describe. But I felt uneasy. My chest hurts. I felt restless, anxious, and confused. I couldn't accept what just happened. So why did I get angry?
Essentially because:
"
Sinful anger is an expression of the fact that “I am not pleased with what is going on right now with you, you jerk” — or whatever is the variant thereof. The Greek or Norse mythology is just great in this. It presumes a Zeus or a Thor or some guy throwing thunder bolts, because the world is not going the way he wants.
"
-Desiring God: The Root of Sinful Anger-
Recently a closed loved one broke a promise and for me personally and I abhorred the act. I couldn't accept the reality happening. And in my rage I started to become angry. The question now becomes— is my anger justified? Is it righteous? Or destructive?
Righteous Anger
When we think of anger, we think of a negative connotation. Yet time and time again God was and is "to be angry" or more specifically קָצַף qatsaph at— the world, His chosen people, etc. The word "qatsaph" means angry, become angry, wrathful, provoked, enraged, etc. It appears about 34 times in the Bible.
God is holy and righteous.
When He sees sin and injustice as a Holy God, He disdains it.
God has a right to be angry.
When He gives mercy and people ignores it, can you imagine how upset God must feel?
God is right to feel wrathful at those who undermine Him.
One attribute of God is righteousness in standing up against evil.
To which also occurs during Jesus' time:
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. Matthew 21:12 😡⛪
As Jesus went into the temple, He saw how the money-changers oppressed the poor's status by selling what should have be an offering:
"If his offering to the LORD is a burnt offering of birds, then he shall bring his offering of turtledoves or pigeons. Leviticus 1:14 🐦
During this time, the money-changers were selling the most basic needs for the Lord's burnt offering...
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they were taking advantage of the non-Jewish people who had traveled far to just get to the temple. What probably started as a convenient idea turned into a huge distraction and opportunity for corruption.
Probably, the money changers would give the traveler a terrible exchange rate for their foreign money and then the bird salesmen charged an arm and a leg for the sacrificial pigeons. If that wasn’t bad enough, the pigeons were the sacrifice that the poor were permitted to bring if they could not afford a lamb! (See Leviticus 1:14) In other words, they were preying on the poor!
"
-David Worcester-
Jesus had every right to be angry. As Bernardino Mei's "Christ Cleansing the Temple" depicts Christ's righteous anger towards the money-changers:
I love how the Artist here depicts the sense of urgency in Jesus' eyes. The portrait exudes the righteous anger Jesus must have experienced. As Jesus knew that this injustice had to stop. He did not stood idly by. He took quick action despite being the only one rebuking.
He said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” Matthew 21:13 👤💰
Jesus rebuked them to know that the Lord's temple is a holy place. Not a place off commerce. It is especially NOT a place where merchants may abuse and cheat of the poor! And Jesus showed a great example in acting quickly as James would write:
So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin. James 4:17 🙅♂️🚫
This raises the question—when we see injustice, do we sit idly by? Do we passive aggressively agree? Jesus certainly did not do so. He was not only angry; He also acted in accordance to the Father's righteousness.
As Thomas Aquinas best describes it:
To be angry is good as Aquinas reminds us that anger looks to the good of justice. To live amid injustice without anger, makes us both immoral as well as unjust. So the next time you see people cheating, or a crime being acted on, don't just stay quiet..!
Destructive Anger
The question now becomes—if anger maybe for good, when does anger become not good? Paul reminds us:
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Ephesians 4:26-27 😠🌇⛔
The caveat to anger as Paul reminds us is "do not sin" and not letting "the sun go down". Which means for us to not be angry for too long a duration. Nor should it it overwhelm our lives.
Or as the Psalms would remind us, we should refrain and not hold on to it:
Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil. Psalm 37:8 ⛔😠🚫
As I evaluated of my own experience, I initially had holy anger. To which I rebuked my perpetrator based on His Word.
And yet, I couldn't let my anger go. I let my bodily flesh take over and kept on thinking of ways to get revenge.
Conspiring different ways to hurt the person who hurt me. And that is when the devil prowled on me and I started to sin in my anger😰.
My initial righteous anger after "the sun go down" soon transformed into destructive anger. The best example to this was Jonah. Jonah was sent by the Lord to rebuke the city of Nineveh. To Jonah's surprise the people of Nineveh repented towards the Lord. This relented the Lord from inflicting disaster towards Nineveh. And yet Jonah was exceedingly displeased. He was angry at the Lord. He thought, why? Why did God save the people of Nineveh who continuously oppressed Israel. A nation so evil and treacherous. As Jonah's anger climaxed into saying:
Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:3 🤯🤬🤯
Jonah's anger made him lose control. Jonah felt disappointed towards the situation of Nineveh receiving mercy. Which culminated in him losing all hope. As Jonah's suicidal request was his response to the absurd situation playing out in his mind. He couldn't accept the reality and ultimately gave up by wanting to end his life... To which the Lord replied:
And the LORD said, “Do you do well to be angry?” Jonah 4:4 😯😟
The Lord graciously replied in a somewhat concern response. For the Lord to heed Jonah's request or agree with him would be easy. Yet the Lord invited Jonah to think. Reflect. And to change his mindset in the midst of it all.
So what happened to Jonah afterwards? Well, Jonah then sat to the east of the city, and made a booth. The Lord God by His grace then appointed a plant to come up over Jonah as a shade for his head:
But when dawn came up the next day, God appointed a worm that attacked the plant, so that it withered. When the sun rose, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on the head of Jonah so that he was faint. And he asked that he might die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live.” Jonah 4:7-8 🥀☀️💨
So why did God allow all these things to happen so suddenly?
In a way, the Lord reminds us (from Hebrews) that—we have high priest in our Lord Jesus Christ who understands and sympathizes with our weaknesses🤗. Just as the Lord gave Jonah shade because He cares for Jonah. He understood that Jonah's anger was justified.
Yet we also have our Father in Heaven who rebukes His children when we have crossed the line⛔. As Jonah's anger succumbed well over the day limit, Jonah unknowingly started to sin. His anger soon turned to hate that eventually turned to suicidal thoughts. As the plant the Lord gave Jonah soon withered, the scorching winds ravages on, the sun shined so bright that it made Jonah faint. These weren't ordinary occurrences. This was a supernatural force majeure (acts of God) to which the Lord rebuked Jonah— to stop being angry!
Isn't it amazing? How this coincides with how Paul reminds us earlier to not let the sun go down on our anger. Paul maybe was divinely inspired by Jonah's tale, reminding his readers that the Lord truly abhors prolonged anger. And in His wisdom He forewarned us how serious this is.
Prideful Anger
After all these trials, you might think Jonah would take heed and notice how the Lord reminded him to stop being angry! Yet Jonah continued on:
But God said to Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” And he said, “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die.” Jonah 4:9 😯🌱
By the Lord's mercy, the Lord repeated the question, "Do you do well?" in a subtle way to ask Jonah to stop. And yet Jonah's anger snowballed and increased. He was now even angry at the random plant that died. Imagine being angry at a innocent plant! His pride blindsided him. Similarly, as did my own past experience made me to blame the situation on the most random off things. Until one moment I looked unto the Lord for help. He reminded me through John Piper's "The Root of Sinful Anger" as Piper once said,
"
So the Bible has these absolutely unmistakable, heart-searching, pride-devastating analyses of sinful anger. One of the ones that I have found most convicting, and then from conviction, the most nourishing is in James 4:12, where James says — and it is in the context of anger and interpersonal conflict, and all kinds of fussing and fighting and quarreling —
“There is only one lawgiver and judge, he who is able to save and to destroy.
But who are you to judge your neighbor?”
And it is one of those that just peels away the front story and gets to the back story behind anger.
"
In my prideful anger, I realized my need to control. I couldn't accept the reality. Why O Lord? I thought. Why? And yet James reminded us that the Lord our Lord Jesus Christ is sovereign, He is the only one able to bring the law and judge all things. To save and destroy. Whatever event happened in our life is only through His sovereign will. It's not some random chance.
When we hold on to our anger, we want to be God.
We are disgustingly prideful, thinking that things should go my way.
As the Lord reminded Jonah:
And the Lord said, “You pity the plant, for which you did not labor, nor did you make it grow, which came into being in a night and perished in a night. And should not I pity Nineveh, that great city, in which there are more than 120,000 persons who do not know their right hand from their left, and also much cattle?” Jonah 4:10-11 😯🏛️😧
The Lord here tells Jonah. Hey. Even the plant you were angry at isn't yours to begin with. It comes from the Lord. Who took care of it from when it first started as a seedling. Likewise, the people of "Nineveh" isn't yours.
It was the Lord's people from the beginning.. The same people who "do not know their right hand from their left" meaning that maybe they never knew what they did was wrong. And the Lord is very compassionate into giving His mercy for the people of Nineveh who maybe never had the opportunity to be rebuked. Never having the opportunity to repent. Never having the opportunity to worship the Lord.
If we looked at the problem from the Lord's perspective, we realize how merciful He is. Can you imagine if the Lord did not give us chance after chance to repent? Yet in His mercy, He gave the people of Nineveh as He did also gave to us countless opportunities to hear of Jesus Christ and the good news He represents.
Similarly, Jonah forgot how just as Nineveh was spared he too previously was spared by the Lord in his rebellion when he ran away.
From Jonah chapters 1-3, we see the Lord by His sovereign grace saved Jonah's life by swallowing him into the big fish.
Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying,
“I called out to the Lord, out of my distress, and he answered me; out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. Jonah 3:1-2 😭🙇
Jonah in his weakest and most dire situation cried out to the Lord. And the Lord mercifully gave Jonah another chance and preserved his life. How amazing is our Lord! Sometimes we feel the need to judge others, yet we forgot! That we too so many times, have only by His grace is preserved to where we are now…
The Lord's Sovereign Grace
I would like to end with one of the best parables in the Bible. That just like Jonah, we forget of how amazingly sovereign and gracious our Lord truly is. He rightfully so can do whatever He wants and yet He still has abounding patience with us. As Jesus once said:
“Therefore the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants.
When he began to settle, one was brought to him who owed him ten thousand talents.
And since he could not pay, his master ordered him to be sold, with his wife and children and all that he had, and payment to be made.
So the servant fell on his knees, imploring him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.’
And out of pity for him, the master of that servant released him and forgave him the debt.
But when that same servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii, and seizing him, he began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay what you owe.’
So his fellow servant fell down and pleaded with him, ‘Have patience with me, and I will pay you.’
He refused and went and put him in prison until he should pay the debt.
When his fellow servants saw what had taken place, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their master all that had taken place.
Then his master summoned him and said to him, ‘You wicked servant! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.
And should not you have had mercy on your fellow servant, as I had mercy on you?’
And in anger his master delivered him to the jailers, until he should pay all his debt.
So also my heavenly Father will do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother from your heart.”
-Matthew 18:23-35 😡☠️❤️-
I love this excerpt. The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. Sometimes Just like Jonah we judge at others, forgetting to notice the log in our own eyes. We are hypocrites. Not first judging ourselves in our own relationship with the Lord.
As this parable brilliantly explains three stages of the Unforgiving Servant: he was forgiven, he does not forgive others, and he was then punished.
The wicked servant forgot of his treacherous iniquity in sinning against the Lord. Similarly, Jonah forgotten of how the Lord had mercy on Him by bringing him safely out of the belly of the fish. Yet why didn't Jonah forgive the people of Nineveh who were even more innocent than he was? The people who never heard of the Lord, nor knew their right hand from the left? Lost sheep that never heard of the good news to repent?
Jonah just like me—arrogant and prideful. I forgot that my debt to my Lord is unpayable and yet He saved me by the precious blood of Jesus Christ my Lord and my God.
O Lord I am sorry that I was angry at the fact. That I have kept hatred in my heart for so long. Not knowing that,
"Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him." 1 John 3:15 😠🔪🩸
Father please forgive me of my debts and iniquity. As we forgive others:
Then Peter came up and said to him, “Lord, how often will my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? As many as seven times?” Jesus said to him, “I do not say to you seven times, but seventy-seven times. Matthew 18:21-22 7️⃣7️⃣♾️
Our Lord Jesus Christ here speaks for us to be able to forgive others metaphorically 77x which means an infinity number of times. We should always forgive them just as Christ has forgiven all our sins that are too many to count.
Lord, please cleanse and soften my heart.
I release all this hatred, anxiety, and stress and I ask to humbly come into Your presence for rest. I let go of this burden and need of trying to be in control. And I let all this anger to go... I want to take your yoke. It is easy and light. As I know it's hard. But easier with Your presence by my side. I ask of Your help. I beg for it... I seek of Your mercies, and please open the door of my heart to accept Your grace once more...
Reflection
As one night riding my bike, I was reminded by the Lord of my Dad. He suffered chronic liver cancer most of his life. And it wasn't only because of food or alcohol. It was because of his lifestyle. Before knowing Christ, he had a lot of hatred and suppressed it for years. That amount of stress destroyed him from the inside to develop cancer. And that fateful night after I exercised I had a passing thought. Similar to the Lord reminding Jonah...
Do you do well to be angry?
The Lord reminded me to let go of my anger. To not continue. Or else I would get cancer. And in that moment I thanked the Lord for hearing my cries. To know that He is in control. That even as I hated my perpetrator and thought of revenge, I couldn't swear destruction on them as in Psalm 69:28. I hated them, but I don't want to live in that hatred all my life. I know that the Lord will judge them in His time. Because it is not my right nor power to do so. And you know what? I realized that:
Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 1 Peter 4:12 🔥🤔
When "something strange" happens, when people can do crazy things out of our rational thinking, I stopped asking why? I start asking "why not"? Why shouldn't something bad happens towards me if maybe it is for the glory of our Lord? Why shouldn't something bad happen if I may grow closer to Him?
When bad things happen, doesn't that mean that it was the LORD in His sovereign grace allowed this to happen for reasons known and unknown?
Why do I have to be "in control" yet forgetting that He is always in control?
All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, “What have you done?” Daniel 4:35 👑✊🌍
Just as Nebuchanezzar in the book of Daniel once said this, I realized how even the greatest of kings saw how majestic our Lord is. I stopped asking why and started to think— that we are so so small compared to Him. He is able to do whatever He wants because He is Lord. Who are we to question our Almighty?
Life has always been bad,
But in and through the Lord's providence,
He makes what seems bad to be good.
That in the hardest of times, the glory of my Lord will shine even brighter!🌟 That I too may learn of bearing my Cross and learn to forgive others, just as Christ has done towards me, the worst of the worst.
And looking back, He averted His anger towards me:
. . .and in that hope I rejoice and I am forever grateful for my Lord🤲.
Dear Lord, thank You for reminding me that Jonah's anger was justified. Jonah portrayed Your holy wrath and judgment towards the people of Nineveh by having a righteous anger. And as Christians we are to be angry—to be zealous in our pursuit of holiness. We are not to "comply" to the evils that are around us. Yet similarly, help us, to not withhold that anger more than the sun go down. Or we may soon fall into destructive and prideful anger just like Jonah. Help us O Lord to pray and ask Thy help to let go of that anger before it's too late. To love our neighbors just as ourselves. And to know that He✝️ first loved us❤️. You are our sovereign Lawgiver and Judge👑 who gave mercy to whom You will have mercy to. We don't know when, but Your judgment will come. And I am so glad that You will punish the unrighteous. And surely it did. For Nineveh received judgment and was destroyed 150 years later... Thank You Jesus for Your righteousness and just in all things. It comforts me to know that vengeance is Your. Yet also thank You for Your presence and abundant grace in my life. That continually stirs my heart to forgive others just as You have forgiven me. In Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Nevertheless I am continually with you;
you hold my right hand.
Psalm 73:23
Updated on: December 20, 2021 | January 3, 2022 | February 10, 2022 | March 19, 2022 | April 25, 2022 | November 2, 2022
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