Is it good for you to burn with anger?

It’s fairly easy to to get angry about things these days. Carolyn says I have a “problem” when I drive on 1-81. I think it’s the slow drivers apparently sight-seeing for miles in THE LEFT LANE that have the problem. (I can feel my heart rate going up just thinking about them…)

Maybe it’s the shortage of baby formula that ticks you off. Or the price of gas. Or the insanity of __________. There’s a lot of options out there. We can rage self-righteously about whatever. Today’s Ukraine was yesterday’s Afghanistan was yesterday’s Rwanda was…. you get the picture.

God asked the fishy prophet Jonah a piercing question. This is the prophet who tried to run from God’s assignment. God sent Jonah to preach to Ninevah – a godless city of Assyria at the time – and Israel’s enemy. Jonah feared that God was “up to something.” He knew God had introduced Himself to Israel as “The LORD — the LORD is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth, maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.”¹ Jonah wanted fire and brimstone for the people of Ninevah, not grace and compassion. He was afraid that if they repented of their sin, God would relent from His wrath.

And that’s exactly what happened.

After the fish episode, Jonah preached. The people repented. God relented.

God saw their actions — that they had turned from their evil ways — so God relented from the disaster he had threatened them with. And he did not do it.²

And Jonah pouted.

Pouting preachers aren’t pretty. I should know. I’ve been told. Angriness doesn’t enhance beauty. Self-righteousness is pretty unattractive.

So what did God do? He asked Jonah a piercing question.

“Is it right for you to be angry?”³

The Hebrew word for anger here is “?????” – “charah” which literally means to burn, be kindled, of anger.⁴

Those symptoms sound a lot like a summary of the American health crisis today. Perhaps what we are all catching is not COVID but cantankerousness. Maybe we’re all little Jonahs – without the fish. We’re angry at God for being… God. (and maybe for not allowing us to call the shots?)

It sucks being little, doesn’t it? Maybe our issues really do stem from the deep internal realization that we are not in control. That we are creatures fully dependent on God. Even the best “Christians” among us would confess their struggle with humility.

So God’s question to Jonah is a good question to pose to ourselves in this anger-infatuated, outrage-addicted, cancel culture.

“Is it for you to burn with anger?”

Perhaps we should let God be the righteously angry One. We weren’t built to be able to sustain anger. We also don’t express it well most of the time. (yes, it’s ok to be angry at times).⁵ Left to simmer, it wrecks us.

Yes, there are things we should be angry about. Injustice, abortion, abuse, racism, immorality – all these are righteous targets of anger. However, God is the ultimate Judge and has promised to deal with these – now and ultimately. It doesn’t mean we shouldn’t work towards righting wrongs, but how we work toward righting wrongs is as important to God.

As Christians, we should ask ourselves if we get more “angry” about these issues than we do about people who reject Jesus Christ. That is the ultimate offense. It’s a sobering measurement of whether we’re just angry about our soapbox issue or if we see eternity rightly. Our righteous indignation should be submitted to ultimate issues first.

I wrote recently about James 1:19 – “My dear brothers and sisters, understand this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger…” What James communicates after this is just as profound:

“…for human anger does not accomplish God’s righteousness.”

Yes, there’s a lot to “get angry” about these days. People will understand if you’re angry about what gets them angry too. What will cause people consternation and curiosity, however, is when we choose a different path – a path of compassion and grace, humility and helpfulness.

When we choose a wise and kind course of response and expression to things that deserve our anger, we are allowing God to ultimately be Judge rather than ourselves. It saves us a lot of heartache and heartburn – literally.

It’s good for you not to get angry.⁶

1. Exodus 34:6-7[↩]
2. Jonah 3:10[↩]
3. Jonah 4:4[↩]
4. Francis Brown, Samuel Rolles Driver, and Charles Augustus Briggs, Enhanced Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), 354.) God asks Jonah if it’s “right” for him to burn with anger. That word for “right” means “to be good, well, glad, or pleasing.”

   Put another way:

   Is it good for you to burn with anger?

   The answer is no. No for Jonah. No for me. No for you.

   It is easy to get angry. It’s harder to reflect the character of God who is “compassionate and gracious… slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth.”

   We protest… but, but, but… there are times when we should be angry, right? Well, yes, we’ll get to that in a moment, but first be aware of the danger.

   Danger in anger

   What’s more stunning is that there’s danger in anger. Studies consistently show that outbursts of anger and even lengthy periods of repressed anger can lead to:

   • heart damage
   • stroke risk
   • weakened immune system
   • heightened anxiety
   • increased depression
   • lung damage
   • shortened life expectancy((7 Ways Anger Is Ruining Your Health – Everyday Health[↩]
   • “Be angry and do not sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your anger…” (Ephesians 4:26) This clearly teaches that you can be angry AND avoid sin. There’s a timeliness to anger (“don’t let the sun go down”) and a tenure to it. Express it proportionally, righteously and shortly, and then grow forward.[↩]
   • The sad thing is that Jonah apparently didn’t learn this lesson. He literally went and pouted under a plant that God allowed to grow up and provide him with shade (grace). God again came and asked him, “Is it right for you to be angry?” We have no record of Jonah’s repentance – even as the streets of Ninevah were filled with former pagans praising God in repentance themselves. Anger can blind us to God’s goodness.[↩]