Journey into Anger 2

Beautiful Gulkana River near Glenallen, Alaska

Continuing our journey into understanding and healthfully dealing with anger, lets look at its definition. Anger has been defined in many ways. This is one of the better definitions:

Anger is an emotional response to a perceived wrong or injustice. As with
other emotions, physiological and biological changes result. (Increase is seen in blood pressure, adrenaline, heart rate and other biochemical responses.)
Simplified, anger is experienced when expectations are unfulfilled or when there is a sense of threat – an invasion of my space.

THINK BACK TO ONE OF THE LAST TIMES YOU WERE ANGRY. WAS YOUR SPACE INVADED OR AN EXPECTATION UNFULFILLED (YOU DIDN’T GET YOUR WAY)?

From definition we move to delineation or types of anger. As I reflect on my personal and professional experiences with anger, it seems that there are four kinds of anger, all needing a unique definition.
· The anger that God displayed in the Old Testament and the anger of Christ in the

New Testament. Call it “holy anger.”
· Man’s holy anger.
· An unhealthy anger.
· A healthy and appropriate anger of humans

1. GOD’S (HOLY) ANGER
God’s anger is depicted many places in Scripture. It is best summarized in Romans 2:5-8:
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart,
you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath,
when his righteous judgment will be revealed. God
‘will give to each person according to what he has done.’
To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor
and immortality, he will give eternal life.
But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth
and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.”

Nelson’s New Illustrated Bible Dictionary tells us, “God’s wrath is an expression of His holy love. If God is not a God of wrath, His love is no more than frail, worthless sentimentality; the concept of mercy is meaningless; and the Cross was a cruel and unnecessary experience for His Son.”

Previous generations heard much about God’s judgment and wrath. “Sinners in the hands of an angry God.” Revival meetings often ended with an injunction that went something like, “Come to the altar. Get saved now because you don’t know if when you leave this building, you’ll get run over by a truck and end up in hell.”

We’ve flip-flopped and now very little is heard about sin, hell and God’s wrath. There is a healthy balance between the two perspectives – His grace and mercy in contrast to His wrath.
Could God’s holy anger be comparable, though simplistically, to a daddy saying to his child who had just run out into the street without looking for approaching cars? “Because you disobeyed me, I must cause you some pain to help you remember not to run out into the street and receive the ultimate pain of getting hit by a car.” A painful discipline follows.

This is obviously a simplistic observation of God’s anger, but this is not an in-depth theology presentation. Let’s leave the definition of His anger as an emotion and an action against His children who are stubborn and unrepentant, designed to bring repentance and reconciliation.

Tomorrow we’ll look at human holy anger.