A friend showed me a perplexing quote yesterday: “God is mad all the time.” I haven’t had time to track down what the writer was trying to say, but it struck me as odd. Is God angry all the time? I do not believe so. On the other hand, I observe that many in our world are always mad all the time. A simmering anger rests just beneath the surface in many. I read yesterday of a U.S.P.S. Mail truck chasing a BMW down the highway in a clear case of road rage.
Life can upset us and make us angry. What are we to do with that anger? Anger in and of itself is not necessarily sin. For example, we could become angry at some injustice. Remember, Miroslav Volf said in light of the atrocities of war, he knew God had to be angry at those sins. Paul says, “Be angry and do not sin.”
Anger can become sin through action and duration. What if we act on our anger and speak unkind words to others. The results of such anger remain. Paul reminds the Ephesians to keep a close tab on the way they express their anger. The Psalmists sometimes took their case directly to God in the “imprecatory” Psalms. They told God exactly how they felt about their enemies. This seems like a safer response than talking to or about those who have provoked us.
One good rule of thumb in handling anger is to limit its duration. How do I know when to stop being angry? Every day when the sun goes down. This is especially helpful for families. We are tempted to punish our loved ones by carrying anger from one day over to the next. That never works. To quote a favorite song from a children’s movie: “Let it go!”
