Help, I'm Angry At God

Introduction

Opening Story

There was a man and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoebox in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoebox and took it to his wife's bedside. She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of money totaling $25,000. He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "my grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doilies, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?" "Oh," she said, "that's the money I made from selling the doilies."

Summarize and Apply Story

The story might be kind of funny, but the reality is, the advice this woman got, to never address her anger, but to stuff it in a shoebox in the form of a doily, is terrible advice.

But how many of us actually have that tendency?

Where we spiritually or emotionally crochet those doilies, and we repress that anger and stuff it away deep inside

Anger doesn’t address or resolve problems, it creates new ones

Our anger, when unaddressed, just festers....and it becomes cynisicm, and unforgiveness, and bitterness.

I’m not talking about petty things that anger us in the moment, and then 5 minutes later we are fine. I’m talking about anger stemming from wounds, pain, and injustice.

That stuff can’t just be stored away internally....it will begin to kill you on the inside.

Now you might expect me to start talking about the importance of resolving our anger, and forgiving others in our human relationship, but I’m going to go a little different route this morning.

Last Sunday afternoon, I was in the car, wasn’t thinking about anything in particluar, wasn’t in prayer or reading the Bible or thinking about sermon prep.

But out of nowhere, I had this very strong impression come on me (this rarely ever happens to me)

It was a cry for help

So I don’t know who this is for, but I believe God wants me to address this cry for help.

This was the cry: Help, I’m Angry At God

Pray

Set Up

Why would someone be Angry at God?

Every Sunday we come into this place and we sing songs like:

I will sing of the goodness of God

Amazing Grace how sweet the sound....

You are good good, oh oh, You’re never gonna let me down

The list can go on and on....whether in song or sermon

We proclaim the love, mercy, grace, justice, righteousness, perfection, holiness of the God we worship

So why in the world would anyone ever be angry at Him?

Yet it is something that some people live with, and that most people will probably face at some point in their life.

This can manifest in different ways with different people

Internal Struggle

You love God with all your heart, and you want to serve him, and you know He is good and just, and Holy, but if you are honest with yourself, you don’t feel that way.

You know you have this anger inside you, and you don’t want to feel that way, but you do

Your anger manifests in an internal struggle between your faith and feelings.

Your feelings are always trying to hijack your faith, and it’s exhausting

Built A Wall

You’re a Christian by default.

You believe in the God of the Bible, and you love God, but you have built this wall in your heart

Your anger manifests in apathy, shallowness, and invulnerability

You are existing…your goal is to maintain, not necessarily move forward in your faith

You’ll try to live a good/honest life, but you don’t care to be used of God, or have this sense of commission in you life

You don’t like vulnerability with God or people, and if things start to feel vulnerable, you look for a way of escape.

You don’t want to go there

Question Their Faith

You are questioning whether God is really who He says he is

You’re not sure if you believe in God anymore

Your anger manifests in doubts of God and his character

Denounce Their Faith

You don’t believe in God, or if you still do, you want nothing to do with Him

The words “God” or “Bible” or “Christian” have become triggering words for you

So, the questions becomes…I’m angry at God, but what do I do about it?

That’s what I want to talk about today

I want to give us four things to consider as it pertains to our anger with God, but before I do that, let me give some clarifications about anger.

Clarifications About Anger

In Psychology, there are a couple of things that are helpful to understand when discussing anger that helps put a little context around why you feel the way you do.

Anger is known as a second-hand emotion

It is a secondary emotion because we tend to resort to anger in order to protect ourselves from or cover up other vulnerable feelings, specifically pain.

It a response to pain of some kind

Iceberg principle

Tip (Visible) - Anger

Below the Water Line (Invisible) - Hurt, Humiliation, Rejection, Fear

Anger is a response to pain

Our anger is not just the response to pain

It’s when our pain is combined with anger-triggering thoughts, such as assumptions, conclusions, or interpretations of situations

You face a pain, and you conclude someone is trying to hurt you or has been unjust in some way, and it results in anger

And sometimes your thought might be accurate and at other times its not.

In this sense, anger is a social emotion; You always have a target that your anger is directed against

It can be yourself, others, or God

Anger is a Substitute Emotion

This is where you make yourself angry so that you don’t have to feel the pain (whether conscious or unconscious)

Because the feeling of anger is better than the feeling of pain

You are in control, which is why vulnerability is often thrown out the window in the presence of anger.

You’re anger becomes a distraction from your pain

It protects you from having to recognize or deal with your pain

So, as we talk about this, realize that your anger is not isoloated…it is probably accompanied and held up by some kind of pain.

There are all sorts of scenarios of pain combined with triggering thoughts that can lead us to be angry at God

If God is perfect, why was I born with certain desires or proclivities, and then told not to act on them?

In a world where there are 50 million abortions a year, why am I (someone who would want to have a baby and love a child) the one that struggles with infertility?

He says He is always with me, and will never leave or forsake me. Why didn’t He do anything that one time I was being sexually abused?

Why was my home the one destroyed in that tornadoe, while my neighbors are next door praising God for his protection over their home?

Why did my loved have to die?

Why did I lose my job?

Why am I facing this health crisis? Why was so and so healed, and not me?

Why in my effort to serve God in the Church was I hurt, and betrayed, and burned?

God is not fair, and I am angry at Him

The scenarios can go on and on

Copy and paste your situation in here

So what do we do?

I want to look at four things to consider…and this isn’t a quick fix, but hopefully its things that can help us move in the right direction.

What Do I Do About My Anger?

Tell God How You Feel

God is not afraid of your anger towards Him

He already knows how you feel, so there is nothing sacriligious or unholy about expressing it

In fact, it is done all throughout Scripture

Scriptures:

Psalm 10:1 “Why, O Lord, do you stand far away? Why do you hide yourself in times of trouble?”

Psalm 13:1-2 “How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me? How long must I take counsel in my soul and have sorrow in my heart all the day? How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?”

Psalm 22:1 “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?”

Jeremiah 12:1 “Righteous are you, O Lord, when I complain to you; yet I would plead my case before you. Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all who are treacherous thrive?”

Don’t be like the old lady who stuffed her anger away in a box, and didn’t confront it or deal with it

John Piper says, “Don’t add the sin of hyprocrisy to the sin of anger.”

The answer is not to conceal it

Identify misaligned beliefs

If we are angry with God, we need to honestly ask ourselves what beliefs or conclusions we have about God that are unscriptural or untrue.

You are angry for a reason....the anger is the conlcusion....Define the accusation, define the pain, and call it out

When horrible things happen in life, the character of God is one of the first things to get attacked…it is the oldest trick in the book

Genesis 3, the serpent confronted Eve and said: Did God really say you can’t eat of the fruit of the trees in the garden? Misrepresenting what God had actually said.

Then he went on to suggest that God was wasn’t really trying to protect them, he was out to restrict them from being god’s themselves....determining what is good and evil

What has the enemy been whispering in your ear about the character of God?

Did God really say.....He’s just, loving, good, righteous, with you

Because once the character of God is put into question, we will begin to justify the blame and anger

Trust God With The Big Picture

Story of a farmer: What do I know of such things?

Horse ran away: most unfortunate

Horse comes back with 3 others: Isn’t that lucky

Son breaks his leg: Guess it wasn’t lucky after all

Military can recruit the boy for the army: Isn’t that great!

We just can’t see the big picture

Faith has to take over at some point

If you can fully explain it, then it isn’t faith

Faith does not mean, that we choose to believe contrary to the evidence. It is realizing we don’t have all of it yet.

Don’t carry the burden of having to know the “WHY” behind everything.

Romans 8:28 “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.”

Examples

Ask Joseph about the big picture

Ask Moses about the big picture

Ask Daniel about the big picture

Look To The Cross

The cross is often seen as the greatest symbol of love. Because on the cross, love was demonstrated in a way, that we will never fully comprehend.

But it’s not just the great symbol of love.....it is the greatest symbol in many categories

Humility, Grace

But it was also the greatest symbol of the depravity of sin and the Holy Anger of God

This whole time we have been talking about steps we can take to overcome our anger towards God, but the cross is a symbol of God removing His justified wrath from us

John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”

Romans 5:9 “Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God.”

Jesus took the wrath of God so that we didn’t have to

Maybe you feel that your anger towards God is justified, which it isn’t, but even if it was, it wouldn’t come close to the wrath you deserved, but were rescued from in Christ

To remind ourselves of the cross, is to remind ourselves that God doesn’t owe us anything, yet He gave us everything. How can I be angry at that?

But the cross also reminds us, not only that we have been saved from the wrath of God, but as it says in Isaiah 53, by His stripes you were healed.

God wants you to surrender the pain, hurt, fear, and rejection that is upholding your anger, because He wants to heal you

God’s not just interested in correcting the surface issue of your anger, he wants to get to the root. He wants to heal you of your hurt.

As we close, the worship team is going to sing Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Its a hymn written by Louisa Stead

This song was birthed from her “WHY” struggle with God, after her husband drowned trying to save a drowning boy

I want to encourage you to make your heart an altar before God right now

Don’t be afraid to feel

Don’t be afraid of the process of healing

Don’t be afraid to become vulnerable again

We have a good Savior, trust Him with your anger, pain and heart

Salvation

If you have never placed your trust in Christ, I want to give you an opportunity to do that today

It was Jesus that said in John 3:36 “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life

And that process is one of being born again

What does that mean? How can I do that?

Admit

Believe

Confess

Salvation Prayer: Dear Lord Jesus I believe you're the son of God. I believe that on the cross you took my sin, my shame, and my guilt, and you died for it. You faced hell for me so I wouldn't have to go. You rose from the dead to give me a place in heaven, a purpose on earth, and a relationship with your father. Today Lord Jesus I turn from my sin to be born again. God is my father, Jesus is my savior, the Holy Spirit is my helper, and heaven is my home. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

Text Connect to 51000

Let’s sing this song together! Tis so sweet to trust in Jesus

Sources:

https://www.mentalhelp.net/anger/

https://creducation.net/resources/anger_management/anger__a_secondary_emotion.html

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/is-it-ever-right-to-be-angry-at-god

https://blessedisshe.net/blog/scripture-verses-pray-mad-god/