Psalm 94 - Angry!

Chapter 5

Psalm 94

Angry!

As a Christian, are you ever supposed to be angry? Anyone reading the fruit of the Spirit in Galatians 5 might say "no."

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law. (Galatians 5:22, NASB)

Juxtaposed are the deeds of the flesh, which include “outbursts of anger” in the verses immediately preceding the fruit of the Spirit.

Now the deeds of the flesh are evident, which are: immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousy, outbursts of anger, disputes, dissensions, factions, envying, drunkenness, carousing, and things like these, of which I forewarn you, just as I have forewarned you, that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God. (Galatians 5: 19-21, NASB)

If we belong to Christ, we are to crucify those things.

Now those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires. (Galatians 5: 24, NASB)

So is there a place for anger in the life of the Christian?

We are to be like Jesus. Was Jesus ever angry? When Jesus turned over the tables of the moneychangers in the temple, did he do so passively, or was He angry? The text does not say, but it seems unlikely that this was a polite moment.

And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves. And He *said to them, “It is written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer’; but you are making it a robbers’ den.” (Matt. 21:12-13, NASB)

Then they *came to Jerusalem. And He entered the temple and began to drive out those who were buying and selling in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who were selling doves; and He would not permit anyone to carry merchandise through the temple. And He began to teach and say to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all the nations’? But you have made it a robbers’ den.” (Mark 11: 15-17, NASB)

The Apostle John records a similar event at the beginning of the ministry of Jesus.

The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. And He found in the temple those who were selling oxen and sheep and doves, and the money changers seated at their tables. And He made a scourge of cords, and drove them all out of the temple, with the sheep and the oxen; and He poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables; and to those who were selling the doves He said, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business.” His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for Your house will consume me.” (John 2: 13-17, NASB)

If we are to be holy as God is holy, we should also be angry as God is angry. In the New American Standard Bible (NASB), there are over 1000 references to the “anger of the Lord." If God becomes angry, and God is not capable of sin, then anger is not necessarily sin. Anger can be sinful if it is not appropriately managed, but anger is not necessarily wrong.

Anger is the proper response to injustice. When we see injustice, it should make us angry. If we are in the market and see a parent abusing a child, it should make us angry. If we are victims of a robbery, it should make us angry. If we see corruption in government, it should make us angry.

So what do we do when we are angry? Is it appropriate to pray? 

Psalm 94 is an expression of anger. It is an appropriate expression of injustice to God. Psalms like this one allow us to vent our anger to God in righteous ways. That is one of the beauties of the psalms - they are the legitimate expressions of emotions back to God. The psalms permit us to feel our emotions and to cry out to God about our feelings.

When we were young, many of us did not understand this principle, and we were embarrassed when we read a psalm like this. Didn't you ever think, “this is wrong - this shouldn’t be in the Bible”?  Sunday School teachers emphasized that God is loving and that we should be kind and gentle. Rarely would they talk about God's anger, and even rarer that it can be appropriate for us also to be angry.

While we should be kind and gentle, we should also be angry when it is appropriate for a wrongful situation. The author of Psalm 94 is asking the Lord for vengeance.

O Lord, God of vengeance,

God of vengeance, shine forth!

Rise up, O Judge of the earth,

Render recompense to the proud. (Psalm 94: 1, 2, NASB)

Why is the writer so upset?

The writer sees wickedness all around.

How long shall the wicked, O Lord,

How long shall the wicked exult? (Psalm 94: 3, NASB)

He brings specific charges.

They pour forth words, they speak arrogantly;

All who do wickedness vaunt themselves.

They crush Your people, O Lord,

And afflict Your heritage.

They slay the widow and the stranger

And murder the orphans.

They have said, “The Lord does not see,

Nor does the God of Jacob pay heed.” (Psalm 94: 4-7, NASB)

He speaks to the people around him, begging them to listen.

Pay heed, you senseless among the people;

And when will you understand, stupid ones?

He who planted the ear, does He not hear?

He who formed the eye, does He not see?

He who chastens the nations, will He not rebuke,

Even He who teaches man knowledge?

The Lord knows the thoughts of man,

That they are a mere breath. (Psalm 94: 8-11, NASB)

Again, the writer returns to personally addressing the Lord, but this time with more of a bowed spirit.

Blessed is the man whom You chasten, O Lord,

And whom You teach out of Your law;

That You may grant him relief from the days of adversity,

Until a pit is dug for the wicked.

For the Lord will not abandon His people,

Nor will He forsake His inheritance.

For judgment will again be righteous,

And all the upright in heart will follow it.

Who will stand up for me against evildoers?

Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness? (Psalm 94: 12-16, NASB)

Note the move from anger to an expression of dependence and trust in the ways of the Lord. “The Lord will not abandon His people” is a statement of hope and confidence in God's character. He knows that God has not forgotten. He knows God is listening.

In the final strophe, the author continues to affirm his dependence upon the Lord to help in times of trouble. He submits his anger to the Lord and knows that in so doing, the Lord will bring consolation.

If the Lord had not been my help,

My soul would soon have dwelt in the abode of silence.

If I should say, “My foot has slipped,”

Your lovingkindness, O Lord, will hold me up.

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Your consolations delight my soul. (Psalm 94: 17-19, NASB)

The writer has not forgotten his anger, but He knows that the Lord does not align Himself with those who practice evil.

Can a throne of destruction be allied with You,

One which devises mischief by decree?

They band themselves together against the life of the righteous

And condemn the innocent to death. (Psalm 94: 20-21, NASB)

Finally, the author expresses his confidence that the Lord is his strength.

But the Lord has been my stronghold,

And my God the rock of my refuge.

He has brought back their wickedness upon them

And will destroy them in their evil;

The Lord our God will destroy them. (Psalm 94: 22-23, NASB)

Note that even at the end of the psalm, the anger is still there. The writer wants the Lord to act against the evil ones and expects Him to act. He appropriately expressed his passion, along with a petition for the Lord to intervene and bring justice.

What is the benefit of doing as the psalmist has done? Does God hear such expressions? Of course, He does. Does God want to listen to us when we are angry? Yes, He does. In His love for us, He is like a parent with a small child. The parent wants to hear what happened at school that upset the child and made them angry. Perhaps the parent can intervene. But maybe the parent simply wants to console, to empathize, to soothe. God wants to do the same for us.

There are times when our anger is unrighteous. God wants to correct us.

There are times when our anger is righteous. God wants to help us.

It is not up to the author of this psalm to bring about vengeance. The psalmist is crying out to God because of a desire to see God bring vengeance. 

If someone robs you and is caught and brought before a judge, you want the judge to be fair. Even if you forgive the person who stole from you, a penalty is still appropriate. There are consequences to evil behavior, and the law determines what those consequences will be. So when the psalmist cries out to God for vengeance, the cry is to the judge who can rule and who can impose penalties upon those who have done wrong as is consistent with the law. Without law, there is anarchy, and “everyone does what is right in their own eyes," as the book of Judges concludes.

So the cry for vengeance is not evil - in fact, it is moral. It is a cry for justice to be done, and an appeal to the One who ultimately sees all evil and has the power to bring justice.

So why doesn’t God do that all the time? Well, ultimately, He will. There will be justice when we all stand before Him at the final judgments. Upon the cross, Jesus paid the penalty that brings forgiveness and atonement for sin. God’s payment of Himself in the second person of God becoming the sacrifice for sin was the final payment. There can be no more significant payment than God himself. The brilliant plan of the gospel works out in Christ. God is indeed the perfect judge, and He will flawlessly execute justice against all unrighteousness. As the ideal judge, it is also His prerogative to pay for sin Himself if He chooses to do so, and He has. 

Why then does He wait until the final judgment? He doesn’t always, but He has given us choice, and with our choices, we choose both good and bad. God allows that - purposefully - because He deemed that choice should be an essential principle in His creation. The book of Genesis is a collection of stories of people making choices. It is also the story of God making choices. 

God does respond to our prayer. He hears our prayer. He does intercede when it is appropriate for Him to do so. But none of us can tell God what to do and when to do it. Those are His decisions to make. But we can make requests, and God will answer according to His will. 

So is it appropriate to express anger to God? Yes, it is, and Psalm 94 allows us to call out to God righteously, in which we can transfer our emotion into His hands.

In 2020 the COVID-19 pandemic worked its way around the planet. An event occurred in Minneapolis, Minnesota, which caused a massive reaction among the people of America.

During the arrest of a black man, a white policeman put his knee on the man’s neck for over 8 minutes. The man could not breathe, begged the office for relief, and then died of asphyxiation. The public outcry led to protests and riots throughout the country. Nearly every major city saw marches and riots. “Black Lives Matter" became was the mantra of the protestors as they sought to expose incipient racism in society, especially in the culture of the police. Many people marched to express their outrage that such an act of brutality could still appear in America, and they protested to express their anger that racism was still unaddressed. In peaceful protest, they expressed their anger. But many also expressed their anger through rioting and looting. Was the expression of anger through peaceful protest appropriate? Yes, it was. Was the destruction appropriate? Probably not, as the victims were independent business owners. So even in a secular society, there are appropriate and inappropriate methods for expressing anger.

If we do this properly, we can become free from our anger as we transfer our emotions to Him. It does not need to control us. When we express our feelings to Him, we can release them.

When my anxious thoughts multiply within me,

Your consolations delight my soul. (Psalm 94: 19, NASB)

The expression of our anger to God may not solve the problems of evil that plague our souls, but when we can release the issues to God, our own emotions can be soothed as we trust Him to deliver us. Then even with the evil around us, we can still be at peace amid the storm.

Romans 15:13 is a “go-to verse” when these kinds of emotions grip us.

Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that you will abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. (Romans 15:13, NASB)

Memorize this verse and pray through it when your emotions are tying you up. Each word here is essential. Prayer through each word - the Lord can bring joy, and peace resulting in hope.