Our word for today is first used in the Bible in Genesis chapter four because there was no need for it until after sin entered the world. The word is חרה burn, be or become hot, angry, be kindled, cause to burn. It is used 92 times in the Old Testament. In looking at how this word is used it is interesting what people become hot or angry about. A good example of this is Jonah where we see him being angry at God. In Jonah chapter four we see his conversation with God. Jonah 4:1-4 But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became חרה angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be חרה angry?” God then uses a plant and a worm to help Jonah see things from his perspective. Jonah enjoys the plant God provided to give him shade but becomes angry when he sends a worm to destroy it. It is good for Jonah to have compassion on the plant but not good for God to have compassion on all the people of Ninevah who repented from their evil. We can easily become angry at God because we judge him from our limited perspective instead of trusting in his unlimited understanding of life.
In Nehemiah we see him becoming hot or angry not at God but rather at how God’s people were exploiting the poor. Nehemiah 5:6 When I heard their outcry and these charges, I was very חרה angry. This phrase very angry which we also see earlier in Nehemiah 4:7, is the same phrase we see in Genesis 4 with Cain. When his offering was not accepted by God instead of making it right, he becomes חרה hot or very angry at his brother. Why? Because his brother Able’s offering was accepted by God. In our next word we will look at the choice that Cain had not to sin against God and his brother. He didn’t have to act on his חרה anger. He did have a choice. This is what God instructs us in Psalm 37:7-8 Be still before the Lord and wait patiently for him; do not חרה fret when people succeed in their ways, when they carry out their wicked schemes. Refrain from anger and turn from wrath; do not חרה fret—it leads only to evil. This is also what God says in the New Testament through Paul in Ephesians 4:26 In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold. So, getting hot or becoming angry only leads to evil and gives the devil a foot hold. God knows that we can’t handle anger long term we have to trust him with it and let go of it. God has given us the gift of emotions to help us process the painful challenges of this fallen messed up world. We need to take our negative emotions to him and trust him with them so he can heal us and bring us closer to him. When we do God leads us to his joy.
