"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." Ecclesiastes 7:9
In this verse, Solomon explains the serious consequences of nursing anger in our hearts, and advises us: not to be quickly provoked in our spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.
Anger comes to everyone because it’s a human emotion. But anger has a huge potential for damage if not kept under control.
Ecclesiastes associates anger with foolish behaviour because an angry person rarely has the discipline nor takes the time to make wise decisions. The angry person acts instinctively. And, generally speaking, that kind of behaviour has a far greater chance of being problematic and harmful than purposeful and helpful.
One of the easiest ways to tell whether we really trust God’s timing or not is to see how angry we get when things do not go our way — the sin of frustration. Here Solomon has a particular kind of anger in mind — the rash anger that explodes whenever we think that something is not happening as quickly as it should. Ecclesiastes sees our anger for what it is — sinful folly, spiritual immaturity, and an underlying mistrust of the sovereignty of God.
The caution in this verse is not to fly into an angry rage, or react negatively to some incident in hatred or irritation. This kind of anger is called unrighteous anger in the Bible which reveals a lack of self-control, and it exposes the ungodly attitude.
But Anger is not always a sin. There is a type of anger of which the Bible approves, often called “righteous indignation.” God also gets angry (Psalm 7:11; Mark 3:5), and it is acceptable for believers to be angry (Ephesians 4:26).
So in the Bible two Greek words are translated as “anger.” One is Orgay which is revengeful attitude and the other is called thumos which is “intensive feeling”.
But biblically, anger is God-given energy intended to help us solve problems.
Example of biblical anger include David getting upset over hearing Prophet Nathan sharing an injustice (2 Samuel 12). Here, anger involved the defence of others or the defence of a principle.
But anger can become sinful when it is motivated by pride (James 1:20), when it is unproductive and distorts God’s purposes (1 Corinthians 10:31), or when anger is allowed to linger (Ephesians 4:26-27).
One obvious sign that anger has turned to sin is when, instead of attacking the problem at hand, we attack the wrongdoer.
We cannot control external stress since we do not always get a choice. But we can control our personal emotions to prevent aggressive anger that destroys the peace that God wants for us.
Do you control your anger or does your anger control you? Ecclesiastes tells us to control our emotions and not make hasty comments or actions that make us look the fool.
- We can handle anger biblically by making room for God’s wrath.
- We can handle anger biblically by returning good for evil (Genesis 50:21; Romans 12:21).
- We can handle anger biblically by communicating to solve the problem.
Overcoming anger is not accomplished overnight. But through prayer, Bible study, and reliance upon the Holy Spirit, ungodly anger can be overcome. We can practice responding correctly and God be glorified in our response.
Anger is a choice. Though we have little control over our circumstances we always have an option in how we respond. As soon as we start to get impatient, ask the Holy Spirit to keep you from the folly of rash anger.
