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I was counseling a woman whose pastor/husband hurt their family with his perversion.  The woman is a very sweet and meek person. There was so much hurt for her and her children when it all came out into the open. One day in my office I told her I wanted to hear her get angry....honestly show her anger at the deeds done to her and her children. She was shocked at my saying this. She had jelly-coated her life... touting scriptures to me for months. I waited...one tear...then another tear...then Niagara Falls. I got up and sat beside her on the couch and put my arm around her shoulder and listened to her.  Like my husband had done for me I hugged her and listened to her spew bottled-up vehement anger at the evil deeds done by her husband...and then further back from her childhood of abuse and cover-up. Like I had done, I heard her name the things she hated...name them with bitter, painful disgust. And like me, when the pot that was always just below the boil finally cooled off -- the venting removed the source of heat -- she found peace to the depth of her soul. Hurting people have got to dig out the roots of hurt and anger to heal...or the tree will sprout and grow again. "This is crucial and it must be done with trust and without judgment. Sadly, many people who haven’t been abused think that had it been them, they could or would have done something differently. Even if they don’t voice their judgment they are often condescending in their demeanor." Teddi Neevel

When Jesus found the money-changers in the temple did he gather them around and calmly, sweetly, give them a verse of scripture and kindly --- politely -- encourage them to leave the premises? No! He had righteous anger for the deeds they had done...and He rid the temple of them.  Likewise we need to rid our temple/our bodies of the "money-changers" -- all that is dishonoring/hurtful to God’s temple...our bodies.

Job 11:18  "And thou shalt be secure (trust, confidence), because there is hope; yea, thou shalt dig (pry into, delve, explore; dig, paw, search out, seek) about thee, and thou shalt take thy rest (place of refuge, trust, hope) in safety." (word definitions from the Strong’s Concordance.)

When someone has an infected wound that scabs over and starts to heal, the infection starts to spread out in a circle under the skin. To heal properly the scab has to be removed -- constantly peeled away -- until all of that infection drains away and the wound heals from the inside out. When that happens there is complete healing. Righteous anger is an infection that must be allowed to drain...the scab that hides it must be peeled back so that the infection can be faced and allowed to drain away. And this verse in Job tells us we are to dig; pry, paw, search out and seek those things in our lives that are keeping us from our "rest" in Christ and with ourselves.

Can anger be a positive emotion?  As an example: To this day I can start talking about the car accident that took my senior year of high school and feel some anger. I can start talking about the teenager’s dad who was a city councilman and "fixed" all of his son's traffic tickets so his son would not lose his license. And I can still get very angry at what that father did that almost killed me, crippled and mentally impaired his son for the rest of his life and killed his son's best friend. Now, am I angry with the father? No. I am angry at the deeds of unrighteousness done that prevented his son from learning responsibility for human life. This kind of righteous anger can be positive fuel to cause humanity to reach out to others and fix situations -- like Mothers Against Drunk Driving.  My anger over the deeds done to me adds some fuel to my desire to counsel and help others with the truth of God's healing.

Commentary by Danette Tucker:

God made our emotions -- ALL of them. And, since God created our emotions they are all GOOD. God Himself is angered by sin and He tells us to be angry and sin not -- so this is possible. Anger is an emotion God made for our protection -- it is instinctive when we are wronged. This "should" motivate us to remove ourselves from a position of being wronged -- just like the feeling of pain motivates us to remove our hand from the hot stove. But when we're in a situation where we cannot remove ourselves from the wrong or change the circumstances, and we bury that anger because there's nothing constructive to do with it, it is ALL stored up. Every minute of all those years of righteous anger are bottled up. They don't just go away. Sooner or later, they WILL vent inappropriately if not vented appropriately. And when they are vented inappropriately they are also not diminished. It is merely overflow from a boiling pot - with plenty more fire buried in there to boil over again next time. Your suggestion is exactly right. God can't bring healing when we're keeping our emotions bottled up. To heal that hurt the anger HAS to come out and be experienced, taken to God in honesty -- and THEN He will apply His healing love to that wound.

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