Is Anger a Good Thing?

“Then said the LORD, Doest thou well to be angry?” (Jon 4:4 AV)

 

Surprisingly, sometimes the answer to that question is yes.  Anger is an emotion given by God for the purpose of preservation.  Anger is meant as a reactionary emotion that motivates immediate change.  Sometimes, anger is necessary.  In the situation above, it was completely unjustified.  Jonah was angry God blessed his enemies.  He was angry at the fruit that came from his preaching.  How insanely ironic.  Jonah did not want to go to the capital city of his nation’s enemies. A nation that would invade Israel a generation later.  A nation that harassed their borders and stole their livelihood.  This is to whom Jonah was sent.  The prophet desired judgment on his enemies.  He was angry they repented and judgment was postponed.  Can you imagine?  A preacher who gets mad because sinners get right!  This is the basis for the question above.  What I would like to consider this day is there might be other reasons for which it is not good for us to be angry.  Specifically speaking, it is not good for us to remain angry.

Who hasn’t suffered a self-inflicted wound? All of us have.  I worked in a pizzeria.  I cannot begin to tell you the number of times I have burned myself.  I have scars on my hands and arms from injuries incurred in a factory.  Cuts, burns, etc litter my extremities.  There are a few spots where molten plastic burned my arms or hands and they are permanently discolored.  What happens when we hurt ourselves unexpectedly?  Our immediate response is fear and anger.  What have I done?  Will I live?  How bad is it?  At the exact same time, we are angry that circumstances which we did not plan immediately interrupted our world.  Our situation immediately changed and now I have to gain control.  Our anger, or fear, causes us to run to the first aid station or sink.  The adrenalin rush brought on by anger and or fear is the motivating hormone that causes us to get our situation back under control.  There were several times I ran to the wash sink.  Oil or grease burns were the worst.  They keep burning.  The only solution is to stop the burning process quickly.  Once the injury is address, and our situation returned to a relative state of normalcy, peace came back to our hearts.  There were a few times when I burned myself so badly I had to administer burn cream and warp it up with a bandage.  Back to the ovens, I went.  It did no good to remain angry at the injury.  All that did was to amplify the pain above the task I was to complete.  Best to put the pain in the back of my mind and worry about the duties before me.  In doing so, the pain became less noticeable.

The Bible teaches us to be angry and sin not.  It is ok to be angry.  What is not ok is to remain in anger.  Let not the sun go down upon your wrath.   “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:” (Eph 4:26 AV)  If anger is meant to motivate us to take action that protects us, that which we are stewards of, or that which is important to God, then so be it.  Once an action is taken then anger is meant to abate.  What anger is not allowed to do is seethe.  Once the problem has been addressed, then contentment should replace anger.  Jonah was not right to be angry at the revival of Nineveh.  Because his anger was not righteous anger, he remained.  He was angry at the withering of the gourd.  This shows us his anger lingered.  It was transferred from one set of circumstances to the next. But because the LORD made the connection between the gourd and the repentance of Nineveh, this suggests Jonah’s anger lingered.  Anger, if used properly, can be a good thing.  However, anger that is harbored turns to envy, malice, bitterness, or several other outcomes.  It is not good.