Morning & Evening Daily Devotional Reading– July 13

by Charles H. Spurgeon, Revised and Edited by William C. Neff

“Is it right for you to be angry?”

—Jonah 4:9

Anger is not always or necessarily sinful, but it has such a tendency to run wild that, whenever it displays itself, we should be quick to diagnose its character with this question, “Is it right for me to be angry?”

Maybe the answer is “Yes.” Most of the time, anger is the madman’s firebrand, but sometimes it is Elijah’s fire from heaven. It is right to be angry with sin, because it is an offense against God. We may also be angry with ourselves for living foolishly after so much divine instruction– or with others when the sole cause of anger is the evil they do. In fact, whoever is not angry at sin becomes a partaker in it. God himself is angry with the wicked every day, and He tells us to “hate evil.”

But far more frequently our anger is not commendable or even justifiable, and the answer to our question must be “No.” Why should we be angry? Is it honorable to our Christian profession or glorifying to God? Isn’t it really the old evil heart seeking to gain control, and shouldn’t we resist it with all the might of our newborn nature? Many professing Christians treat their temper as though it were useless to resist; but let the believer remember that he must be a conqueror in every point or else he cannot be crowned. If we cannot control our tempers, what has grace done for us? Again, we must say, “No!” In everything we must go to the cross and ask the Lord to crucify our tempers and renew us in gentleness and meekness after His own image. [M&E]