Anger has many faces. We glanced at God’s holy anger in yesterday’s post. Today we begin with human holy anger. Some call it righteous indignation. 1 Samuel 11:6 tells us: When Saul heard their words, the Spirit of God came upon him in power, and he burned with anger.
There are occasions in which righteous anger is justified by God. It is a type of anger that does not lead to sin, but fulfills God's purposes. Oz Hillman writes: Saul had just been crowned as the new king of Israel. His first battle was upon him, and he had to bring a new nation together to fight the Ammonites. The Spirit of God fell on Saul and resulted in righteous anger against God's enemies. God led him to send an unusual "direct-mail" package to all the regions where the people lived. He cut up pieces of oxen and sent the pieces throughout Israel with a warning-"Join the army or your oxen will be as these!"
Sometimes God uses strong measures to accomplish His purposes. In this case, fear and intimidation were used to motivate the army of God to be as one. God must have felt this is what was needed to drive this army to become a unified force.
Moses demonstrated God-type anger.. He was angry at the Pharaoh for not letting the Israelites free from bondage. (Exodus 11) Moses was also angry at the Israelites when they worshipped a golden calf. That anger resulted in the literal physical breaking of the commandment tablets. (Exodus 32) Notice, this was not a selfishness induced anger.
Paul demonstrated a holy anger when Elymas, the sorcerer, tried to interfere with Paul’s message of Christ to Sergius Paulus. Acts 13:9-11:
Rarely is our anger “holy” like that of Moses or Paul. I recall one of the few times my anger could be labeled “holy.”
My nine-year old son and I were walking in a mall where one of the shop windows displayed a provocative poster of a scantily clad female. It was definitely a testosterone teaser. I felt I could handle it with a disciplined mind, but to throw a youngster into that pictorial slime-pit was unfair to him and to other children seeing the poster. I walked into the store, explained my position to the store manager and he invited me to leave, saying, “That is one of our best money makers. I’m not taking it down.”
The anger propelled me to the mall manager where I calmly explained my concerns. The following day, the poster was gone. Holy anger expressed brought positive results. (That was a rare experience for me. Usually my anger is described in the next section - unhealthy anger.)
A holy anger to abortion doctors has resulted in the beginnings of many homes for unwed mothers. Of course, there is holy anger gone awry, where abortion doctors have been murdered.
CAN YOU THINK OF A SITUATION IN WHICH YOU WERE ANGRY AND YOU COULD LABEL IT HOLY ANGER?
Unhealthy anger will be examined in tomorrow's post. That is the kind I usually have (and I suspect you do also.)
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