Joy and Peace is Great (But Sometimes You Gotta Get Angry)
I felt boiling hot angry.
My counseling client suffered debilitating physical injuries and significant emotional trauma in a car crash. I already knew her auto accident insurance company was trying to stop the counseling services she clearly needed and deserved.
Reading the letter from their doctor detailing reasons she didn’t need therapy tipped the scales. This was not only an injustice to a needy client but the letter also questioned my competence.
The anger palpably burned up my neck into my cheeks.
The anger I felt as I read that letter moved me to take several hours out of my busy day, set everything else aside, and craft a complaint letter to the state auto insurance department.
That was more than 6 months ago. Today, my client is still receiving the therapy she needs, paid for by the insurance company. The state insurance regulatory department agreed with me. Based on their response, I believe they were angry, too!
Anger often gets a bad rap. But the emotion of anger was, like all emotions, created by God. It is a natural emotional reaction to a perceived injustice.
Of course, as humans needing redemption, our anger may not always reflect the image of God. It can be selfish. I admit that part of my anger was a reaction to the casual insults of the insurance company’s doctor.
Still, there’s a time and place for anger.
The Gospels tell of at least five times that Jesus showed anger! Sometimes the writers described him as “indignant”. The Greek word means “to quiver or shudder.”[i]
He shook with the intensity of his anger and in the case of the cleansing of the temple, overturned tables.
The Bible does not exhort us to never become angry, but instead to “be angry, and sin not.”
My husband Bud suggested to me once, “If you’ve never been angry, you’ve probably never made a difference.”
I don’t know about that, but anger is often the impetus to address a difficult situation, rather than allowing it to continue.
Harnessing anger and managing it constructively helps us confront situations appropriately, and communicate things that need to be said. It helps us advocate, challenging the status quo. Without anger, a lot of good would likely never get done.
Is it possible that you are letting anger get the best of you? Unchecked anger can destroy relationships and lives.
But is it possible that you are too passive? Too avoidant of conflict? Those are questions worth considering.
So, let me ask you. What has angered you recently? How can you put that to constructive use?
Because sometimes you gotta get angry.
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[i]Retrieved on 7/17/24 https://www.biblestudytools.com/bible-study/topical-studies/5-times-jesus-got-angry.html
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