Day 6 — Anger

“Jonah, however, was greatly displeased, and he became angry… But the LORD replied, ‘Have you any right to be angry?’”

— Jonah 4:1, 4 (BSB)

Your little brother breaks something of yours and doesn’t even say sorry. A teacher blames you for what someone else did. Your parents make a decision without asking you. Someone posts a comment about you that’s just cruel enough to hurt and just vague enough to deny. And you feel it rising: heat in your face, tight jaw, the words you want to say lined up and ready to fire.

Anger is one of the most powerful feelings you’ll ever have. What do you do with it?

Start with this: anger isn’t always sin. God Himself is angry at evil. Jesus was angry when people cared more about rules than about a suffering man. The Bible says, “Be angry, yet do not sin.” So anger can be right. Feeling it isn’t the problem. The question is what’s underneath it and what you do next.

Which brings us to Jonah, one of the angriest people in the Bible. God sent him to warn Nineveh, the capital of a violent empire that had done terrible things. Jonah ran the other way. Eventually he went, preached and the whole city turned to God. And God spared them.

Jonah was furious. Not because the city was wicked, but because God was kind to them. “I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God,” he complained, as if that were a fault.

Then God asked a question: “Have you any right to be angry?”

It wasn’t a slap. It was an invitation to look underneath. God even gave Jonah a plant to shade him from the sun, then let a worm destroy it, and Jonah was angry about that too. God pointed out that Jonah cared more about a plant than about a city full of people.

That’s often how anger works. It’s a signal that something you care about feels threatened: your pride, your comfort, your rights, your sense of fairness. Sometimes the thing you care about is good, like justice for someone being bullied. Sometimes, if you’re honest, it’s just that you didn’t get your way.

So when anger rises, ask God’s question. Have I any right to be angry? What’s really underneath this?

Then a few practical things:

Slow down. James says, “Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for man’s anger does not bring about the righteousness that God desires.” Don’t send the message. Don’t say the sentence. Walk away for ten minutes if you need to.

Take it to God first. Jonah did one thing right: he told God exactly how he felt. Pray it out, honestly, before you say it to anyone else.

Don’t let it settle in. “Do not let the sun set upon your anger.” Anger that’s held onto turns into bitterness. Deal with it while it’s fresh.

And if your anger ever turns into hitting, breaking things or hurting yourself, or if someone else’s anger at home makes you feel unsafe, tell a trusted adult. That isn’t telling tales. It’s getting help.

God is “slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion.” The better you know that about Him, the more of it will rub off on you.

Think about it: What made you angry most recently? If God asked you, “Have you any right to be angry?”, what would your honest answer be?

Try this: The next time you feel anger rising, before you say or send anything, stop and silently pray: Lord, what’s underneath this? Wait ten breaths before you respond.

Go deeper: The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis — a short, searching chapter: bear patiently with other people’s faults, Thomas says, because you have plenty of faults that others have to put up with, and we want others to be perfect while we don’t correct ourselves. Start with chapter 17, “Bearing with the Faults of Others”.

Father, You are slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, and I’m often quick to anger and slow to love. When I feel anger rising, help me stop and ask what’s underneath it. Give me the courage to be angry at what’s truly wrong, and the humility to let go of what’s only my pride. Keep me from words and actions I’ll regret. In Jesus’ name, Amen.