Anger without Sin from Psalm 4

-- By Les Dennis

Anger is an experience that we all have as we run into life’s many frustrations, but we do not need to sin just because we feel angry. It is possible to be angry without going into sin.

Psalm 4:4 tells us that we do not have to sin just because we feel anger. It says, “Be angry, and do not sin. (NKJV) I believe that most of our anger comes from personal frustrations. For example: the car in front of us goes too slowly, we feel frustrated, which is a form of anger. If we give vent to our anger by “telling off” the driver of the slow car, we have just sinned in our anger. I believe this is typical of our anger. We can tell when we are feeling frustrated, and we should be very careful as to how we respond, so that we do not displease the Lord.

According to James 1:19-21, we do not further the righteousness of God by our anger or wrath. What can we do to prevent anger from going into sin? King David gives the solution that helped him is Psalm 4. Immediately after telling us not to sin when angry, David tells us to meditate within our heart on our beds. He is essentially saying that we must find a quiet place where we can reflect upon the condition of our hearts before the Lord, and allow the Lord to change our outlook.

After the Lord uses our quiet time to bring us back into line with His way of thinking, we should turn to worshipping the Lord just as David did. This is a good time to offer the sacrifice of praise to the Lord and to trust the Lord with our weaknesses and frustrations.

As we allow the Lord to work in our hearts to deal with our anger and frustrations, the desire to seek the light of God’s face can bring us to experience joy, just as it brought David to a time of joy.

Let’s follow the example of King David as he exchanged his anger for the joy of God’s presence; let’s enter into a time of meditation and quietness before the Lord so that we can benefit from the Lord’s presence, and the Lord will do for us what He did for King David.