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Beware of Sinful Anger
Psalm 106:32-33
"They angered Him also at the waters of strife, so that it
went ill with Moses on account of them; because they rebelled against His
Spirit, so that he spoke rashly with his lips." - Psalm 106:32-33
The 106th Psalm actually records the historical accounts of the different
rebellions and transgressions of the children of Israel as they were walking
with God in the early part of their existence. In the verses above, the psalmist
talks about a particular incident, saying: "They [the children of Israel]
angered Him [God] also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses
on account of them; because they rebelled against His Spirit, so that he spoke
rashly with his lips." Some translations (particularly the Old King James
Version) says that they "provoked His Spirit, and he spoke rashly with his
lips." Because of the Hebrew word that has been translated as "rebellion," or
"provocation" here, there has been a disagreement with various scholars as to
whether or not the rebellion that is spoken of here was a provocation against
God's Holy Spirit, or whether it was a provocation against Moses' spirit.
But I believe when you read this in its context - if you keep in mind what the
Psalmist is bringing to our attention as it relates to the event which is also
recorded in Numbers 20:1-13 - it is not difficult to understand that it was
MOSES who spoke rashly with his lips!
If that is the correct understanding, then that tells us that Moses became angry
with the Israelites to the point of sinning. The result of this rebellion was
the fact that Moses spoke rashly. (See Numbers 20)
Anger has the potential of doing great harm when it's not controlled. Moses said
things that he would normally not say. He may have been provoked by a faithless
group of people, but he wound up speaking words that did not bring glory to God!
Instead, his words wrongfully brought glory to himself and Aaron. When Moses
spoke to the children of Israel on this occasion, he said: "Hear now, you
rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?" (Numbers 20:10; Emphasis
Mine: JH). Because of their anger, Moses and Aaron both did things that they
normally would not have done: they disobeyed God's directives: they struck the
rock instead of directly speaking to it.
There is a great truth that we need to learn from this, and apply to our lives:
not all anger is necessarily sinful.
In fact, there are times when a righteous anger is something that is
appropriate, just as long as it doesn't give opportunity for Satan to lead us to
sin. When you read the Psalms you will often find that there are psalms which
will begin with the writer calling down God's wrath upon his enemies; those
writings manifest a kind of anger. They are sometimes referred to as the
"imprecatory psalms," and what they are simply doing is expressing the anger of
the individual who is beseeching God to come down upon His enemies in His holy
righteousness and judgment.
But in Psalm 4:4, the writer plainly says: "be angry, and do not sin. Meditate
within your heart on your bed, and be still." Paul refers to this passage in the
Ephesian letter, in which he also is dealing with the problem of anger, telling
people how they may properly react to challenging situations of conflict.
Paul does say that there are times that are appropriate for a righteous kind of
anger to be manifested... he writes, (quoting from Psalm 4, in verse 4): "Be
angry, and do not sin" (Ephesians 4:26). But then he goes on to say... "do not
let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil" (Emphasis Mine:
JH).
There are times when righteous anger is the appropriate response to things that
may be happening. But we need to be aware of the fact that, if anger raises up
in us, and we allow it to turn into thoughts of rage... if that leads us into
speaking words and doing things that are not in keeping with the will of God, we
will actually be guilty of dishonoring God. And by dishonoring God, we obviously
are not glorifying Him. Instead, we may actually be harming other people and
hindering the godly influence we are suppose to have; that's when anger can
becomes sinful.
We have to be aware of this kind of sinful anger. It is inevitable that, when
this kind of anger has the opportunity to take hold, even if it is just for
short moment, (perhaps even an instantaneous moment), it will throw us off of
our mental balance. And if we speak rashly with our lips, we will dishonor God.
By John Hagenbuch
From Expository Files 12.8; August 2005
