Is it wrong to be angry with God?
Anger at God is not a modern problem — the Bible records it in a prophet who sat outside a city and told God to His face that he had every right to be furious. The commentators treat that anger seriously: not as a feeling to be brushed off, but as a signal about what the heart believes God is like.
The Bible's clearest case
Jonah was angry twice, and the second time he answered God back. One writer traces how the mood hardened when God asked him a second time whether he did well to be angry:
G C WillisThen he was wisely silent. Self-will and bad temper had made him grow bolder, and now he dares to reply against God. He said, "I do well to be angry, even to death!" Foolish man! God in His grace did not take him at his word, and did not answer that rash prayer. Instead, by a word of His mouth He shed light on the lessons of the plant, the worm and the wind, which so far had gone unnoticed, and in the most touching way He was willing to explain to one of His creatures His ways of grace toward the guilty city of Nineveh.
So the answer to the question is given by God Himself, and it comes as a question, not a lecture. Note also what the anger cost Jonah in closeness. The same writer observes that when the sulking continued, the name used changes:
G C WillisIt is remarkable that this time it is said "God" (not Jehovah, as before) said to Jonah, "Do you do well to be angry for the plant?" It seems that the ongoing fit of bad temper has taken away the intimacy.
Complaining about circumstances is complaining about God
Many people would deny being angry with God while grumbling freely about their life. One writer closes that gap using David, who was upset when God struck Uzzah for touching the ark:
William KellyAnd David, instead of judging himself, instead of looking back and confessing how completely they had all acted without the guidance of Jehovah, was displeased because Jehovah had made a breach on Uzzah. Displeased with whom? Oh, it is a sorrowful thing to say — he was displeased with the God of Israel. But do not think this so strange either. When you murmur and complain of His discipline in your own case, what are you doing but expressing your displeasure at the Lord?
What the anger says about your view of God
Anger with God usually rests on a verdict already reached about Him — that He has been unfair. That is why it is treated as more than a mood:
J. T. MawsonDon't murmur, Christian, for it is a most unchristian, a most ungodly thing to do. Nothing dishonours God more, nothing does greater damage to the soul. It was the chief sin of all the sins that Israel committed in the wilderness, because it meant that they did not believe their God was fit to be trusted.
Job shows how the verdict feeds itself. The angrier he got, the worse his reading of God and of everyone around him became:
Leslie M. GrantHe felt that God was taking sides with the ungodly against him. A resisting attitude will always have wrong thoughts about God and His ways, whereas a submissive attitude will find its thoughts wonderfully corrected.
There is a right place to take the pain
Not every strong feeling brought to God is rebellion. The distinction commentators draw is between grumbling sideways and crying out upward:
Hamilton SmithIn the presence of all these sorrows the prophet groans in spirit, for God's word allows a groan, but never a grumble (Rom. 8:22-27). What is more, the prophet utters his groans to the Lord. Sadly, there is often a tendency in us, as believers, to discuss the failures of God's people among ourselves in such a bitter spirit that the groaning becomes mere grumbling, or complaining about what God allows in His dealings with His people.
And God is not offended by raw honesty brought into His presence. One writer points to Abraham, who laid even his doubts before God:
Frederick W Grant"Pour out your hearts before Him," says the psalmist... In these very requests, what a lot of things unworthy of Him! But He who has already known them in the heart wants us to pour them out in His presence — and oh, the relief the heart gets that way! How many of these workings of unbelief the psalms give us! But they are poured out before God, and the soul quiets itself in that blessed presence as nowhere else.
Where anger with God ends
Job got the confrontation he had demanded, and it did not go as he expected:
Samuel Ridout"My desire is that the Almighty would answer me," was Job's closing word. He is now to have his wish granted; but how different the effect! "As a prince I would go near to Him," he had declared. "I am vile" is what he has to say when he hears His voice.
Summary
- Real — Anger with God is not rare or unspeakable; Jonah voiced it out loud, and Job accused God of treating him unfairly.
- Revealing — Complaining about your circumstances is displeasure with the One behind them, and it says you do not think He can be trusted.
- Costly — It dishonours God, damages the soul, and clouds your thinking: a resisting heart always forms wrong thoughts about God's ways.
- Redirected — Scripture permits a groan but not a grumble; pour the whole thing out to God rather than sideways to others.
- Answered — God did not take Jonah at his word, and Job's demand for an answer ended in self-judgment — anger brought to God is met with patience and correction, not rejection.