Anger’s Power – Zechariah 1:14-15

Then the angel who was speaking to me said, “Proclaim this word: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘I am very jealous for Jerusalem and Zion, and I am very angry with the nations that feel secure. I was only a little angry, but they went too far with the punishment.’”

Yesterday in “Anger’s Cause” we talked a little about where anger comes from. But anger is not like a light switch. We do not simply become angry. There are many degrees of anger, just as there are many degrees of happiness.

When things in our life do not match our expectations (here I should add that we are talking about those things that are worse than what we expect) we start to become irritated. Irritation leads to frustration, and frustration can lead to anger. As we see in today’s verse, anger can range from a little angry to very angry.

Sometimes the change from happy to angry happens so fast that we miss all the warning signs along the way. And that is what irritations and frustrations are; warning signs. They tell us that there is danger ahead. If we heed the warnings, sometimes we can avoid the anger. The main point today though is that there are degrees of anger.

Where does this power for being very angry come from?

It is my belief that the power of anger is proportional to how much we care. I also believe that the kind of anger we see in people depends on what they care about. As odd as it sounds, if you see someone who is angry what you are seeing is someone who cares deeply.

In 1 John 4:8 John writes, “Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” The kind of love John attributes to God is agapē. This is a love based on unselfish giving, yet there are limits. God can still be angered. (I recommend reading Leviticus 26 for an excellent description of this topic.)

To my mind, agapē represents selfless caring. Because it is selfless, God’s anger is pure. It is not tainted by personal ego. It is what might be called righteous anger.

The opposite of righteous anger would be based on transgressions against the human self. This is why James writes:

“Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.“
(James 1: 19b-20)

And why Proverbs 29: 22 says, “An angry person stirs up conflict, and a hot-tempered person commits many sins.”

This self-love is called philautos in the Greek. This term shows up only once in the Bible. In 2 Timothy 3: 2-5 Paul gives this warning about the last days:

People will be lovers of themselves (philautos), lovers of money, boastful, proud, abusive, disobedient to their parents, ungrateful, unholy, without love, unforgiving, slanderous, without self-control, brutal, not lovers of the good, treacherous, rash, conceited, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God— having a form of godliness but denying its power. Have nothing to do with such people.

When we see anger, we see the depth of how much a person cares in the power of their anger. What we need to discern from the anger is the object of the person’s care. Is it rooted in the kind of love that God’s anger is rooted in, or is it all about the love of self?

Application: The next time you are confronted by anger ask yourself this question: Is this a godly anger or an ungodly anger? (What does the person care about?)

Food for Thought: What advice would you give someone if they asked you how to tell the difference between godly anger and ungodly anger?