A Guide to Understanding Anger Against God in Faith

Exploring Divine Anger: Is It Wrong to Be Angry with God?

We all know what it feels like to be angry, don’t we? The feeling of anger is as common to humanity as sadness, love, and happiness. Since the day of our birth, we have never had to learn how to express our anger – it just comes out. Even if you don’t consider yourself an “angry person,” everyone feels anger at times.

In fact, we learn from the Bible that Jesus even felt divine anger! For instance, in John 2, we see a side of Jesus that makes us a little uncomfortable because he had such zeal for the house of God that he made a whip out of cords to drive out a bunch of animals and the people selling them in the temple. Then he overturned their tables and spilled their money on the ground.

The word “zeal” here means a fierce passion and indignation. Given how his zeal “consumed” him, I think we can say he was a bit more on the “angry side” than just “excited.” Later in John 11, we read about Jesus’ reaction to the death of his friend Lazarus. Although the passage doesn’t necessarily say that Jesus was angry, we see that he wept so intensely that he (God in the flesh) actually cried.

The phrases used to describe Jesus’ pain in this passage depict a feeling of great anguish, deep movement, spiritual groaning, and emotional distress that Vine’s Expository Dictionary illustrates as a horse “snorting in anger.” So, while the emotion of anger is a natural response and even seen in Jesus himself, this means that it is not a sin in itself. This leads us to a question that many Christians ponder: is it wrong to feel divine anger against God?

To formulate an answer to this question, we must understand three realities about the emotion of anger that will help us know whether it’s wrong to be angry with God or not.

Our anger is a window into our soul

When we react to a situation with anger, it highlights what we value and consider right and wrong. On the other hand, if something doesn’t evoke any anger, we can conclude that it’s not something we value as much. When a situation arises differently than we think it should have been, it naturally provokes emotional friction within us that manifests as frustration, disappointment, annoyance, and anger. A child might get furious because they thought they should have had dessert. A teenager may become enraged if she thinks her friend is treating her unfairly. An adult will become angry if someone or something they love is taken from them. In the example from John 2 earlier, Jesus felt anger because he had a high regard for God’s house and knew that what was happening was wrong.

So, if we find ourselves angry at God, it reveals that we think God was unjust or has done something wrong to us. The best example of this is King David in 2 Samuel 6 when one of his men named Uzzah was killed by God for touching the Ark of the Covenant to try to steady it when the oxen carrying it stumbled. As a result, David was not only unjustly angry with God, but this led him to an unnecessary fear of God’s anger, resulting in a lack of God’s presence and blessing in Jerusalem for three months.

We can also read some of David’s laments to God in the Book of Psalms, like when he cries out, “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?” (Psalm 13:1-6). David wrongly assumed that God had left or forgotten him, which provoked anger against Him. So, if we are angry with God, we need to honestly ask ourselves what non-biblical, false, and unnecessary beliefs we hold about God.

What we do with our anger is more important than feeling it

While our anger may be a more subconscious emotional response, how we consciously react determines whether it is sinful or not. This is why Paul told the believers in Ephesus to “be angry and do not sin…” (Ephesians 4:26). We all know that nothing good comes from anger (or any emotion) that is either uncontrolled or bottled up. That’s why parents teach their children to calm down and manage their anger healthily.

This is also why James instructs us to “be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger” (James 1:19). Because it’s not our anger itself that hurts others; it’s how we react to the feeling with our words, attitudes, and actions.

In Numbers 20, Moses was so angry with the Hebrews for their rebellion and lack of faith that he acted out by striking a rock that God had only told him to speak to. Interestingly, although Moses’ disobedience fueled by anger still produced water from the rock, God punished Moses for his sinful action by stating, “…Because you did not believe in me, to uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them” (Numbers 20:12).

So, even if our anger against God is misplaced, it only becomes sin when we react in a sinful manner – cursing God, becoming bitter, straying in our relationship with Him, hurting others, or simply walking in disobedience. This leads us to the final reality of our anger.

A mature believer will not remain angry

Instead of reacting to anger in a sinful way, a mature person will consider why they are angry and will strive to master, control, and even let go of their anger. Being serious, aggressive, and motivated is sometimes appropriate and effective, but acting in or being controlled by our anger will not produce healthy results. James even states, “For the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God…” (James 1:20).

Paul goes so far as to say that if we are angry with a brother or sister in Christ, “…it is now time to get rid of anger…and to forgive anyone who offends you. Remember, the Lord forgave you, so you must forgive others” (Colossians 3:8-13).

So, if we are angry with God, how much more should we seek the root cause in our hearts and let it go? I don’t think God is angry with us when we feel angry at Him; I think He is sympathetic and merciful. When my own kids get mad at me, I want to know how they feel – not so that I can scold them – but so that in my compassion, I can help them understand why I made the decision I did and let them know that I love them.

How much more would God, our Heavenly Father, show us mercy! In response to a similar question, John Piper stated that hiding our anger from an all-knowing God rather than simply acknowledging it honestly only makes things worse. Because then, our hypocrisy and deceit will accumulate bitterness instead of yielding repentance, surrender, and ultimately worship.

In the lament psalms where David seems frustrated or even upset with God, he always ends up responding with praise and gratitude instead of bitterness. For example, in Psalm 13:5-6, we read, “But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart will rejoice in your salvation.” Or in Psalm 42, after introspectively asking, “Why are you downcast, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” David responds with “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God” (Psalm 42:11).

What has changed in David’s heart? Not only has he let go of his feelings of anger against God, but he has also surrendered his beliefs about God that were unnecessary, unbiblical, false, and misplaced. Instead, he acknowledges a common expression in Scripture that God is “merciful and gracious…slow to anger…and abounding in steadfast love” (Psalm 86:15, 103:8, 145:8; Exodus 34:6; Numbers 14:18; Nehemiah 9:17).

What does this mean?
So, while we do not sin when we feel angry with God, we must use the emotion to push us to look into our souls to discover a faulty belief, bring it to God, and then turn around and praise God for how He is always good and what He does is always just, for His glory and our good. Let our anger lead us to a deeper love.

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