Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret–it leads only to evil.-Psalms 37:8

 In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.-Ephesians 4:26-27

 Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet, not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.–Matthew 10:29-30

 And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose– Romans 8:28 

A Walk Through the Pain

 I sit alone in the dark
Pain consuming my soul.
I’m spinning in space,
Spinning out of control.
My whole world is in chaos.
Peace is not to be found.
Love has forsaken me.
Hope has not made a sound.
I’m raging at a God,
Who is outside and beyond me
But He is full of deception,
And He won’t answer my plea.
I believed He was loving,
I was properly grateful.
But now is the truth,
He is spiteful and vengeful.
He has turned a deaf ear
To my soul-wrenching call.
He has stricken me down;
Condemned me to free fall.
My pain overtakes me
In a mighty crescendo!
My mind, racked with fear,
Wonders where did my faith go?
And, right at that moment,
My epiphany of pain,
Light fills my world
And I’m grounded again.
I turn my eyes inward
And I know what I’ll find;
That God lives in my heart
While fear lives in my mind.
I speak humbly to God,
And I accept all of the blame.
I thank Him sincerely
For His love midst the pain.
Except for my blindness,
He was there all the while
And as my whole world turns brilliant,
God takes my hand with a smile.
©Linda Troxell

 

Have you ever been so angry with God that you couldn’t believe in His goodness? Even for a little while? I have. It isn’t a place I chose to be, although it was my thinking that landed me there. It isn’t a place I like to be, it is frightening and lonely. And it isn’t a place I want to be. That’s why, when I find myself there, I quickly find a way out. When I reflect back on my times of anger at God, it leads me to three questions: Is it a sin to be angry at God? How do we get to a place where we do not trust in God’s goodness? And how do we get out of that place once we are there?

I can’t be sure whether or not it’s a sin to be angry with God. As hard as I’ve searched, I have never been able to find any “expert” who would say, definitively, whether anger at God is a sin or not. The Bible warns against all anger, Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not fret-it leads only to evil.-Psalm 37:8, which probably includes anger at God as well. But it doesn’t say that anger is a sin. However, the Bible does warn us that anger can easily lead us to sin; Ephesians warns us: In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.-Ephesians 4:26-27.  If it’s true that any anger puts us at risk for sin, I would think that anger at God, while probably not a sin in and of itself, presents an even greater risk of sin.

So perhaps it would be better to ask, is telling God we are angry at Him a sin? The answer to that question, I think, is the same as it is for telling anyone we are angry with them: it depends on how and why we tell them. There is nothing inherently wrong or sinful in telling someone, even God, that we are angry. It can even be healthy if our reason for telling Him is to take responsibility for our anger and repent of it. However, if our reason is to harshly blame Him for our anger and chastise the ruler of the universe for His behavior, well, maybe we need to rethink that.

Even though I cannot say whether or not it is a  sin to be angry at God, I can speak to how we get to the place where we no longer trust in His goodness. It seems to be a combination of factors; self-centeredness, a misunderstanding about what we can rightfully expect from being a Christian, and some faulty thinking.  In our self-centeredness, we humans, see everything that upsets us as our personal tragedy. When something happens to make us feel bad our first question is “why did this happen?” Of course what we really want to know is why God allowed this to happen to us. This very response reveals flaws in our thinking. The first is that God should prevent tragedy from happening to us.

Even though the Bible clearly tells us that we will have tribulation, it is part of the fallen world, we erroneously think that if we are good Christians and have faith our life should be easy; that God should prevent anything tragic or painful from happening to us. So, when tragedy strikes, as it will for everyone at some time, we become angry with God because He didn’t protect us. We just don’t know why He didn’t hold up His end of the bargain. This leads to the second flaw in our thinking.

This flaw stems from not understanding the extent of God’s sovereignty.  We often believe we have the right to know and to understand why God does what He does. But God’s sovereignty means He answers to no one, His will is absolute law. Not only don’t we have the right to know and understand why God does what He does, we don’t even have the right to ask. Sovereignty means absolute authority. This lack of understanding leads us to question whether God really knows what He is doing if He really is in control. That, in turn, leads to the loss of confidence in God’s ability to control, circumstances, other people, and the way they both affect us. This results in our anger at God for losing control of the universe, or at least our corner of the universe. However, losing faith in God’s ability to control the universe is really just a symptom of the frustration that comes from our inability to control the events of life.

Nothing underscores our lack of control like tragedy striking. We all give lip service to God being in control as long as we can hold fast to the illusion that we control our circumstances. But when something beyond our control happens we become anxious, wondering why it happened and how to fix it; belying our lip service of our belief that God’s control. If you doubt this, just consider how often you worry about things that are out of your control? If we really believed that God is in control, or at least that we are not in control, we would not bother to worry and ruminate about how to solve unsolvable problems.

The truth is, we have very little control over anything, save for the control of what we think and what we believe. However, God is in control of everything. Everything that happens is either caused by or allowed by God. Nothing happens in the world without God knowing about it; not a sparrow falls from a tree, nor a hair falls from our head without God’s awareness; Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet, not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered.-Matthew 10:29-30. So if God is indeed in control of everything, and does not protect us from tragedy, we have only two choices about what we believe. We can believe that we are not good enough for God’s protection; or that God is uncaring and refuses to protect us. Either belief leads to anger at God. If we believe we are not good enough we will be angry at God for his expectations. If we believe He doesn’t care we will be unable to tolerate the fear and will turn it into anger.

Now that we know how we get into the situation where we doubt God’s goodness, how do we get out? Our anger at God is no different than the anger we hold against anyone or anything. It is a result of our faulty thinking and our inability to give God complete control of our lives. For, if we completely give our lives to God we will never get stuck in places of negativity and darkness for, God is Light and there is no darkness in Him- John 1:5. So, then we can get out of the situation the same way we get out of any negativity in which we are stuck; by taking responsibility for creating the anger through our thoughts and then asking God to remove both from our heart and mind.

If we want to get back to trusting God, we must give up the childish belief that God should protect us from tragedy. Unfortunately, tragedy and death are part of this fallen world. And although God cannot stop them, He can use them for our eventual good. If we begin to think about tragedy in that way, that God will always use it for our good, then we can begin to change our belief about God; we can come to believe, and to really know, that, as we are told in Romans 8, God is all good and He has a good plan for our lives. And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to His purpose.   Romans 8:28  

Will our belief in the goodness of God prevent us from ever becoming angry at Him? Probably not. We are human, and as such, we will slip back into our childish thinking from time to time. But, if we really believe that God is all good, we will not blame Him for our anger. We can confess our anger to Him with the goal of taking responsibility for it and repenting, rather than the goal of blaming God and chastising Him. And we can ask Him to restore our minds to right thinking. If the idea of expressing your anger to the All-Powerful God is an uncomfortable one, you might want to take a page from David’s way of expressing his frustration with God.

Often, when lamenting to God, David cries out to Him, then protests his circumstances, then he gives thanks to God and praises Him. If you would like to see an example, read any of the 76 Psalms that David wrote. For example, in Psalm 35:14-18. you will see that in verses 14-16, David cries out to “God, …I bowed my head in grief…when I stumbled they gathered in glee…” in verse 17 he protests to God, “How long, Lord, will you look on? Rescue me from their ravages.” and then in verse 18, he tells God he will thank Him and praise Him, “I will give you thanks in the great assembly; among the throngs, I will praise you.”.

God wants us to share our distress with Him, even when it is about Him. However, we can never lose sight of whom we are addressing. This is the Sovereign, and Holy, Most High God, who is omnipotent, omniscient, and infallible. We must remember to have a reverential fear of Him, and always show our respect and gratitude. If we do this in all of our prayers, but especially those in which we are expressing frustration with Him, we will become partners with God in restoring ourselves to our right minds, rather than helpless children having a temper tantrum. Because now we come to God recognizing His sovereignty with a fundamental belief in His perfection and goodness.

Points for Prayer and Pondering

 1. Do you think it is a sin to be angry with God? Why or Why not?  How about telling God you are angry with Him, is that a sin? Think about the last time you were angry at God. What was it about and what did you do about it?

2. How do you feel about David complaining to God so openly? Can you complain to God this openly?

3. David always ends his complaints with praise for God. Do you think it is important to end complaints to God this way? Why or why not?