In the society we live in, anger isn’t particularly seen as a ‘girly’ trait, so girls aren’t expected to be angry, and we also aren’t taught how to manage our anger the same way that boys are. But we allll get angry from time to time! So what does the bible say about anger? Is it ever ok?
We’ll look at 2 different examples of anger in the bible and see if this might help us!
Let’s start by looking at the story in Numbers 20 of when God told Moses to speak to the rock so water can come out, crazy I know!
What we see happen here is Moses disobeying God, and instead of speaking to the rock, out of his anger he hit the rock twice. The problem with this, was that he hit the rock to make himself look as though he was making the water come out, rather than giving the honour to God. He was understandably getting angry at the Israelites because they wouldn’t stop complaining and wining about not having food and water, and they kept forgetting all the amazing things God had done for them. But because of Moses’ disobedience and lack of self-control God punished him and he wasn’t able to enter the Promised Land. Moses is a classic example of what anger can lead people to do.
In Ephesians 4:26 it says “In your anger do not sin, do not let the sun go down whilst you are still angry”. If you are angry you need to pray for God to give you peace and self-control. If you find it difficult to pray when you are angry, maybe take a walk or listen to worship music.
Now let’s look at a different story of anger in the bible. This time we’ll see what happened when Jesus went to the temple and got angry when he saw people buying and selling things in the temple. I looked more into this story using my Life application study bible and discovered that the people in temple were actually selling sacrificial animals at very high prices. There were also money exchangers that deceived foreigners that didn’t know the exchange rates. These people selling and buying were preventing people coming to the temple to worship God and this is why Jesus was so frustrated.
These two situations both involved anger, however, they were angry for two completely different reasons. Moses was disobedient to God whilst Jesus was obedient to God and he was angry that people were mocking God’s house.
There may be issues in the world that make you annoyed and sometimes even angry. It could be injustice such as children being used as slaves or homelessness or poverty. But make sure you do something about your frustration.
Jesus drove out the people that were disrespecting Gods house and this was his solution. What’s going to be your solution? You can volunteer with a charity that you are passionate about, praying about the issue or even set up your own organisation if there are none out there that work to solve the issue you care about!
So yes, anger is okay if we do it God’s way. Anger is a human emotion that can be used for good, but we just have to be careful to not let it get the better of us, but instead allow it to make us more effective at sharing love in a world that so needs it.
