God's Anger. My Anger.

Three topics on the table last night and we had to pick one: character, purpose, anger. (That a group of 9 guys would come together for two hours and have those as their choices for conversation says volumes about the impact of small groups.) With little hesitation, we all jumped on anger.

Everyone was in; everyone related easily to the topic. One of our newer guys – with us for 6 weeks or so – said he has had anger issues all his life. He thinks some of it might be related to his being abused when he was three years old. Another show stopper for me. Where do people get the courage to share such painful, personal stuff with 9 other people that they’re only beginning to really know and trust? We again stopped and acknowledged how humbled and honored we all were as another broken and pained heart entered the circle. (I continue to be amazed by what can happen in small circles that doesn’t happen in Sunday rows.)

We continued talking about anger. Fr. White’s statement that “God gets angry” came up over and over. We all had scripture references for what that looked liked for us. As I sat and listened, it struck me that God’s anger was always for the right reason, with the right people, at the right time. My anger is often over petty things, directed at people (usually my wife!) who are often not the cause of my anger, and is often delayed so that my anger is out of proportion to the incident at hand (my kids still call them "Jack moments").

God gets angry at the Israelites for worshiping false gods right after He saves them from Egypt and sends Moses back to straighten them out. I get angry that my kids leave dishes in the sink and I cop an attitude with my wife for the rest of the night. Jesus gets angry at the money changers defiling His Father’s house and He immediately throws them out of the temple. I start yelling and screaming because some guy with a North Carolina license plate cuts over two lanes because he’s about to miss his exit on the beltway (like I’ve never done that!) and I become a more aggressive driver for the rest of the trip. Jesus is angered by the Pharisees whose hard hearts lead people away from God and He constantly challenges them. I get angry because the 20 minute home improvement project takes 4 hours (largely because I don’t know what I’m doing) and I’m not pleasant to be around for the next three days.

Anger isn’t a sin. God is angry at the right people, for the right reason, at the right time. This is how God has modeled appropriate anger for us. I don’t need to work on my anger – I’ve got plenty of that. I need to prayerfully look at what I’m getting angry at (more anger over sexual abuse than dishes in the sink), who I get angry at (not my wife who happens to be in the wrong room at the wrong time), and when I get angry (letting anger build up in my heart that only leads to explosions that are out of proportion to the incident at hand.)

God’s anger. My anger. What about yours?

PS: The subject of multiplying came up again – and I wasn’t the one who brought it up. Touchy, touchy topic. How do we grow into greater acceptance of this?