Anger’s End – Psalm 85: 1-3

You, Lord, showed favor to your land;
    you restored the fortunes of Jacob.
 
You forgave the iniquity of your people
    and covered all their sins.
 
You set aside all your wrath
    and turned from your fierce anger.

This passage from Psalm 85 gives us some clues to resolving anger. In this short series of essays on anger, we defined anger as, “the feeling that results from an imbalance between our expectations and the situation we find ourselves in.”*

God expects that his Creation will recognize Him and honor Him. When this doesn’t happen God becomes angry. God says:

“Do not follow other gods to serve and worship them; do not arouse my anger with what your hands have made. Then I will not harm you.”

— Jeremiah 25:6

Because of God’s great love for us, he provided a means for us to be redeemed from his anger. In the Old Testament, that meant dumping all the foreign gods in the Kidron Valley and submitting to God’s will. Unfortunately over the centuries, the Israelites turned their back on God so often that they made a mockery of his willingness to forgive. Instead, when the old covenant was in tatters, God formed a new covenant in his son, Jesus Christ.

If we are to find a principle here, it would be this: To find an end to anger, Love provides a means to be reconciled. In the Old Testament, this involved submission to God’s Law. In the New Testament, we submit to his Son, Jesus.

As people, we are subject to two sources of anger. One involves being personally offended. The other involves what we called righteous anger which is being angry about an injustice, something that is contrary to God’s will and Word.

Many years ago a local zoo had a bear with a bad attitude. The bear was so grumpy that they called him, Grumpy Bear. The years went by and Grumpy Bear stayed grumpy. He never got over what was bugging him. It was only after he died, when the zoo decided to have Grumpy Bear’s skeleton preserved as a display, that they discovered why he had been so grumpy all of his life. His right rear leg had been broken and had never healed. Grumpy Bear was in pain and had no way to tell anyone where it hurt.

As people of God, we have an advantage over Grumpy Bear. We can express our hurt with words. Sometimes people do not want to hear what we have to say, and then our brokenness can’t be healed. Sometimes people do hear what we say, and when that happens healing is possible.

In today’s passage, God forgives his people and covers their sins. Having read the Bible I have to assume that this means God’s people turned away from their sin and asked God’s forgiveness. In the same way, when Christian brothers and sisters admit their faults and ask for forgiveness we are obligated by our debt to Jesus to be willing to forgive. Jesus says:

“If your brother or sister sins against you, rebuke them; and if they repent, forgive them. Even if they sin against you seven times in a day and seven times come back to you saying ‘I repent,’ you must forgive them.”

— Luke 17: 3b-4

If a person refuses to forgive, if they use their anger as a weapon to drive others to submit to them personally, then their anger is not godly. Using anger as a weapon to manipulate others is a form of bullying. As Paul says in his second letter to Timothy (3: 2-5), such a person is a lover of themselves. They have a “form of godliness” but deny its power. There is a reason Paul says we should have “nothing to do with such people.” Paul’s reason is not vindictive but rather is rooted in a desire to protect the flock. As to the person who refuses to forgive, he hopes they will have a change of heart.

Grumpy Bear didn’t want to be grumpy. A godly person doesn’t want to be angry. An ungodly person doesn’t want to give up their anger.

Ungodly anger is a kind of worldly power. God’s power is found in forgiveness and love.

Application: When confronted by anger within ourselves, look for a godly resolution. When confronted by anger in a Christian brother or sister, look for the hurt. When confronted by anger in the world, offer the love and light of God.

Food for Thought: What is the best way of dealing with an angry bear?

*The assumption here is that we are talking about a negative imbalance.