The Destructive Power of Anger

Not all anger is sin (Eph. 4:26). And yet, even at its best, it must be wielded very carefully. It can be so hard to control. It can be so difficult to restrain. What begins as a righteous ember can so rapidly develop into a raging inferno. Even when righteous, it is not something to rest in (Eph. 4:26).

Anger Done Right

Aristotle discussed the difficulty of properly wielding anger when he stated: “Anyone can become angry—that is easy. But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, at the right time, for the right purpose, and in the right way—that is not easy.”¹ Perhaps this is one of the reasons why the Scriptures so clearly state that we must be slow to anger. Although not forbidden to anger, if it is controlled and cautious, if it is forced to only slowly arise within us, it is more likely to have the time to align with the various “rights” that Aristotle mentions. 

Anger Done Wrong

But what of anger at its worst? If even righteous anger must be so carefully cultivated and kept, what of inherently unjustified and sinful anger? To put it bluntly: it is one of the most destructive relational forces on earth. Even when afterward repentance is true and forgiveness is present, the consequences can be lasting and difficult to recover from for all parties involved. 

It is important to note, that this kind of sinful and damaging anger can manifest in several ways. Like a volcano which suddenly and explosively erupts in a rage of fire and hot gas destroying all in its path, anger can explode in a freighting flurry of furry and wrath. What for so many years had been a beautiful mountain peak harboring life among its fertile fields, can in moments undue and unmake all that has been wrought among its lands. 

Or, anger can merely be the slow erosion that takes its time to eat away trust and love. It is a festering infection which may respond to treatment each time that it manifests, but it never fades away. It refuses to be healed. It strikes and strikes again. Never enough to kill. But with each hit it hurts. 

Then again, it could be that the anger manifests at the wrong time. When the child has risked much to be honest, but only meets the anger they feared from the start. When mercy was asked for, when grace was warranted, when, if the shoe was on the other foot, both mercy and grace would reign unquestioned, and yet the gavel still falls with a chilling and merciless thunder. This anger need not be a hurricane, but a small storm that simply strikes at the most vulnerable moment or location. 

A Terrible Cost

I believe Marilyn Robinson captured this warning about anger so well in her novel, Gilead, when she wrote: “A little too much anger, too often or at the wrong time, can destroy more than you would ever imagine.”² This is one truth that we do not want to discover for ourselves. And yet, most likely, we all already know enough about anger, from that which we have given and that which we have received, to have a pretty good idea of its true destructive power and potential. 

Notes 

1. Quoted in: Terry Glaspey, Discovering God Through the Arts: How We Can Grow Closer to God by Appreciating Beauty and Creativity (Chicago, IL: Moody Publishers, 2021), 129
2. Marilynne Robinson, Gilead, (New York, NY: Picador, 2004), 6