When things go wrong, we get angry. And it seems natural to take our anger out on the one who is in control of everything: God. God, how could you let this terrible thing happen? If you are sovereign, you could have stopped it! How could you let me down like this?

Sometimes, in my alone time with God, I have had a few choice words with Him. 

Thankfully, God lets us take out our emotions on Him. He is always ready to hear our frustrations and our fury. We can let it all out!

We even see anger in the saints of the Bible. “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me?” David cries out in Psalm 22. “Oh God, I cry by day, but you do not answer, and by night, but I find no rest.” You can just hear the frustration and desperation in David’s voice as he accuses God of letting him down.

Another example is Job. After losing his livestock, children, and his health, he curses the day he was born. “Why did I not die at birth? He moans. “Why was I not as a hidden stillborn child?” (Job 6:11, 16).

Anger is a natural emotion that we experience, being made in the image of God, who Himself at times shows anger. But the important thing is what we do with our anger. The Bible is clear that we are to handle our anger in a righteous way. We must be careful. Ephesians 4:26 says, “In your anger, do not sin.”

After venting his frustrations, David begins to remind himself of God’s attributes and what he knows to be true.  “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praise of Israel. In you our fathers trusted, they trusted and you delivered them.” (3-4) “I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.” (22) He turns his words of anger to words of trust and praise.

Job, too, is able to keep his anger from getting the best of him. It’s interesting to compare his outlook to that of his wife. “Curse God and die,” she says to him. His response: “You speak as one of the foolish women would speak. Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?” (Job 2:9-10). He comes to a place of acceptance in his suffering. And the Bible tells us that Job did not sin with his speech.

We have to keep our anger in check. If we let anger take over in our hearts, we are setting ourselves up for a life of bitterness. Because the truth is, what stands behind anger is our own self-will. The root of our anger is selfishness and the fact that we are not getting our own way.   

Both David and Job feel free to express their emotions, but they know that in the end they must submit their wills to God, and trust Him with the outcome of their suffering, knowing that He is righteous and holy and His plan is for their good and His glory. They come to a place of surrender before God, acknowledging that He knows best. This is not an easy thing to do, and something that we often must wrestle with. But thankfully, God welcomes our honest and sincere prayers, and helps guide us to a path of peaceful surrender if we continue to seek Him. 

The worst thing we can do is let our anger drive us away from Him. This was a temptation of mine. There were moments when I pouted in my stubbornness and even gave God the silent treatment for a while. But I soon learned that I couldn’t stay away from Him. That just intensified my problems and left me feeling even worse. It’s just better to bring it all to Him and process through our angry feelings in prayer. The Psalms tells us that God collects all our tears in His bottle – He cares about struggles and sorrows, and even our anger.

And I’ve learned that even though God is in control of our lives, He is not the one who should be the target of our anger. The devil is really the one we should direct our animosity towards! He is the evil one who is at the root of addiction and all the sin in this world. He is the one deserving of our hostility and our choice words!

God, sometimes my heart turns to anger when things don’t go my way. Give me a heart that is willing to accept hard things. Help me to remember that you love me and always have my good in mind. Thank you that you are always there to listen when I need to let out my frustrations.