Is it okay to be angry with God?

The Bible is less shocked by this than we are. A third of the psalms are laments, and some of them are furious. “How long, Yahweh?” is not a polite question. Jeremiah accuses God of deceiving him (Jeremiah 20:7). Habakkuk tells God that his eyes are too pure to look on evil and asks why he tolerates it (Habakkuk 1:13).

So the honest answer is: you may bring anger to God, and it is better brought than buried. Anger turned inward becomes depression; anger turned sideways damages the people near you. Anger spoken to God can become prayer.

Two cautions, though. First, anger is not automatically right — it can be selfish, or aimed at the wrong target. Ask what is actually underneath it: grief, fear, exhaustion, a sense of betrayal. Second, do not confuse anger with walking away. The psalmists argue with God because they still expect him to answer. That is faith, however loud it gets.

Ephesians 4:26 says, “Be angry, and don’t sin.” The command is not to stop feeling. It is to refuse to let the feeling take over. Bring it into the light, say it plainly, and stay in the room.

Look it up

Be angry, and don’t sin. Don’t let the sun go down on your wrath.

Ephesians 4:26

At the ninth hour Jesus cried with a loud voice, saying, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is, being interpreted, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”

Mark 15:34