Why so angry?

“Human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” – James 1:20

There is a lot of anger in this world. There are editorials, news reports, Facebook posts, blogs and so much more dedicated to the things that make us angry. Why are we so angry? What is it that has our feathers so ruffled? And why are we so quick to anger?

In this post I would like to examine a few of the reasons why we get angry, why we anger so quickly and the Biblical remedies to this all-consuming malady of our society/culture.

I believe some of the primary reasons for our anger are these:

• fear,
• feeling out of control,
• feeling slighted,
• perceiving injustice,
• desiring the approval of others (and subsequent/corollary feelings of defensiveness and embarrassment when we don’t get approval)
• strong opinions/likes/dislikes (coupled with pride/selfishness), and
• inner feelings of discontentment.

Whatever the specific cause there are a lot of people really angry in the world right now. Furthermore people express their anger in myriad ways, many of which are not healthy, helpful or right.

The Bible gives us the solution for every situation in this world and every occurrence of anger in our lives. Without making this post longer than necessary let me share with you a few poignant Scriptures that can help to address our anger.

• When anger is caused by fear:
  • Isaiah 41:10 So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.
• When we are angry because we see injustice:
  • Isaiah 1:17 Learn to do good, Seek justice, Reprove the ruthless, Defend the orphan, Plead for the widow.
• When your anger is rooted in selfishness:
  • Psalm 37:8 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret—it leads only to evil

Remember too that the Bible helps us understand that not all anger is sin but we do have to do something with our anger.

Be angry, and yet do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger.

Ephesians 4:26

We have to allow anger about unrighteousness and injustice to lead us to prayer, trusting the Lord to set things right one day (He will!). We have to leave all vengeance in His hands, go to our adversary and seek reconciliation, forgive as Christ forgives us, accept others as Christ accepts us, and we have to let gentleness be a priority in our thoughts, attitude, words and behaviors (this is not easy and may sound impossible but I can assure you that with God’s Holy Spirit in your heart it it possible.)

There will always be things in this world that anger us.

• As we seek the Lord and allow Him to sanctify us (make us holy like Him), may it be that our anger is not because of selfishness.
• As we rest in the Lord and allow Him to be our refuge, may our anger because of fear continually decline until one day it disappears.
• And finally as we faithfully obey the Lord and allow Him to empower us, may our anger because of injustice never result in us causing harm to people but instead serve as an impetus for holy and loving action on behalf of what is righteous and good.

If you find that anger seems to be consuming you, read the Bible, pray, worship the Lord and talk to a few Christlike people in your life so that you can get a new and healthy perspective (and maybe turn off the news and social media!). If you find that all day, every day you are angry about everything, the Lord can help deliver you from that and can replace that anger with His joy. Pray diligently and seek to either replace angry thoughts with meditations on Scriptures or allow righteously angry thoughts to motivate you to serve others.

The last thing I want to say about anger is that I believe that God’s anger is a lot more like sorrow for, and compassionate activity on behalf of, those who have been oppressed and assailed than it is a violent lashing out at people/situations. Let us seek to be slow to anger and abounding in love, just like our great and good God!

Psalm 145:8 The Lord is gracious and merciful;
Slow to anger and great in loving-kindness