Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

Who has ever been angry before? No show of hands is needed. It goes without saying: we’ve all been there. When we read through the Bible, we learn that God has also been there. Many times throughout Scripture, God is described as angry. But lest we think this is a free pass to fly off the handle indiscriminately, God’s anger is described in some pretty specific ways that often don’t describe us as angry humans. It’s important to study God’s anger for the same reasons we study his mercy, grace, love, and faithfulness–to know our Father and to know the kind of people he has called us to be.

This is also the reason Paul gives for writing today’s passage. He tells the Ephesians in verses 22-24 that he wants them to “put off your old self…and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness.” God is not described as “never angry,” so living in the likeness of God doesn’t require us to wholly refrain from anger. But being transformed to his likeness does require us to experience and express our anger in godly ways. Today we’ll look at this in three contexts: what we get angry about, how we act in our anger, and how we move on from our anger.

What we get angry about

In his book EntreLeadership, Dave Ramsey admonishes readers to be intentional about their intensity. We all have limited emotional bandwidth each day, and we have to decide if we will expend that intensity huffing and puffing about being stuck in the slow line at Costco or let our intensity move us to right the wrongs perpetrated all around us. In Exodus 34:6, our theme verse for this series, God describes himself as slow to anger. When we are slow, we give ourselves time to intentionally martial our intensity in godly ways.

How we act in our anger

Today’s verse puts this pretty directly: “Be angry and do not sin.” Being intentional about our anger and slow to unleash our intensity will actually go a long way in helping us be angry without sinning. When we give ourselves space and time to react, we will find worthy causes to be angry about and can channel our anger in God-honoring ways. The more self-controlled we are with our intensity, the less energy we will expend reacting inappropriately and disproportionately to the small annoyances of the day.

How we move on from our anger

We see some very practical guidance for moving on from our anger in today’s verse: “do not let the sun go down on your anger.” This doesn’t mean we will always be able to resolve every conflict before bedtime. But it does mean we can intentionally choose to forgive and to let go of anger before the day is done. This corresponds to what David writes about God’s anger in Psalm 30:5: “For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime.” The ratio of God’s anger to his favor is vastly disproportionate. The same should be true for us.

Gracious and forbearing God, you watch me make the same mistakes over and over, but your mercies are new each day. Thank you for your favor that lasts a lifetime. But thank you also for your anger. You are not sitting idly by as hurt and suffering are unleashed across the world. You are patient, but you will soon right every wrong. In the meantime, help me to right the wrongs I see around me. Stir in me a righteous anger to advance your kingdom, to help the hurting and reach the lost. Let it be in my life as it is in Heaven. In the mighty name of Jesus, amen.