Anger attempts to usurp this statement of faith. It refuses to trust that God’s justice will be enacted, and instead, attempts to take justice into one’s own hand. Paul tries to head off such thinking in Romans 12:19-21 when he says: “Beloved, never avenge yourselves, but leave it to the wrath of God, for it is written, 'Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord.' To the contrary, 'if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals on his head.' Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good."
Taking up vengeance ourselves will lead to our being overcome by evil. By refusing to become angry, we acknowledge that God is not only Father, but also Judge. We trust that God will repay, and so this frees us from bitterness and anger. If we fail to believe this, we will not only be overcome by our anger, we will fail to see God as God.
Jonathan Edwards describes freedom from anger this way:
It is because men are selfish and seek their own, that they are malicious and revengeful against all that oppose or interfere with their own interests. If men sought not chiefly their own private and selfish interests, but the glory of God and the common good, then their spirit would be a great deal more stirred up in God’s cause than in their own; and they would not be prone to hasty, rash, inconsiderate, immoderate, and long-continued wrath, with any who might have injured or provoked them; but they would in a great measure forget themselves for God’s sake, and from their zeal for the honor of Christ. The end they would aim at, would be, not making themselves great, or getting their own will, but the glory of God and the good of their fellow-beings. But love, as we have seen, is opposed to all selfishness.
1. Jesus wasn't angry even though He had every right to be so.
2. My anger does not allow God to be God.
3. Anger doesn't allow me to experience the joy of the Lord and the glory of God.
4. It's a waste of time and energy to be angry towards "irrational beings."