Podcast: Download
Subscribe RSS
My Bible reading just went through Ecclesiastes, and one verse grabbed me:
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. ~ Eccl 7:9 ESV
In the last few decades, there has been a lot of science showing that anger is bad for us. It hurts our bodies and minds, and it certainly hurts our relationships. But God, the one who created us, knew this from the start, and tried to warn us.
Many, possibly most men, are more given to anger than they should be. We excuse it, justify it, swallow it, and deny it. But in our calmer moments, we know it’s neither right nor good.
Do you need to work on your anger?
Image Credit: © Paul H Byerly created with stockdreams.ai
Shop Amazon ♦ Shop to give links page
We’re donation supported Thanks for your help!
This post may contain affiliate links, see my disclosure for info.
We need to be careful to acknowledge that there is such a thing as righteous anger, and that the most common use of the root words for “anger” is about God’s anger. If we process the warnings about anger in this light, we are going to see that anger is proscribed when it is unjustified, habitual, and uncontrolled.
Too often, well-meaning warnings about anger induce God’s people to assume that someone who is angry is ipso facto wrong, and the end result of that is that a lot of the time, they end up blaming the victim for a righteous response to an offense.
Not that there isn’t anger that is unjustified, sinful, disproportionate, and such, but if we aim to be Godly, we need to come to terms with the fact that God shows anger when He is offended.
Robert, I appreciate this comment and completely agree. Anger is a God-given emotion but must be handled in a godly manner.
@Robert Perry – I find godly, righteous anger is rare among humans. And even when it starts that way, if it continues very long, it turns into something else.
The verse I gave does not say never be angry. It warns caution, and warns what can happen. Seems pretty balanced to me.
Rare? If indeed, as Scripture indicates, anger is a God-given emotion that is very often a response to being sinned against, and sin is very common, then we would assume that justifiable, righteous anger ought to be very common as well.
The assumption that it’s rare wreaks havoc, IMO, because people who have been truly offended by another’s conduct are told that it’s almost certain that their anger is not righteous, and hence they suppress it until, like an overheated boiler or pressure cooker, it blows up.
@Robert Perry – I hear your concern. Rare might not be the best word to use. But there are a great many verses in the Bible about anger, and the vast majority are warnings. (https://www.openbible.info/topics/anger )
Suppressing anger usually ends badly. The Psalm I mentioned encourages us to be slow to anger. And we can learn to do that. It also warns that anger “lodges” in the heart of a fool. That means the wise don’t allow it to stay in their heart. They either deal with the situation, or they deal with themselves.
We live in a world where many are looking for an excuse to be offended. Proverbs 19:11
tells us that “Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense.” (ESV) I’m not saying we must always do that, but it should be the norm.
Sure, there are places where righteous anger is valid. But I don’t think personal offences often rise to that level. I see righteous anger as more about being angry about what is being done to another. It’s about the weak, the helpless, the downtrodden.
This is why I love the primary/secondary anger explanation in Connection Codes. Primary anger is a healthy driving emotion like Jesus turning over tables in the temple. Secondary anger is hiding the real emotion(fear, shame, hurt) in an attempt to protect me by attacking the other.
@Roy Zesch – Good stuff. Men often fall back on anger when they should do something else.
Your insights have opened my mind to new ways of thinking about spirituality. Thank you for your wisdom.