I am reading Rid of My Disgrace right now, which is a solid (albeit emotionally exhausting) read. I’m in the chapter on anger. They are helpfully illuminating the differences between righteous anger (Is. 9:17, John 3:36, Rom 1:18, 2:5, 8, 3:5, 9:22, Eph. 5:6, Col. 3:6, 1 Thess. 2:16, “Be angry and do not sin.” -Eph. 4:26) and ungodly anger. In reading the description, it struck me that I’ve seen this anger many times, not contained to sexual assault (as is context of this particular book), but also in many other injustices; social, economic, political, and personal.
“God’s anger is part of executing final judgment, which is his exclusive domain. Those harboring bitterness and hatred don’t act as if God is concerned about their plight. Out of that false belief they often take matters into their own hands to seek justice. When one actively believes the distortion that anger is a catalyst simply for the self-satisfaction of seeing their perpetrator punished, God is displeased. Ungodly anger attempts to rectify the wrong done to us by empowering us to act instead of waiting vulnerably for God to do something. It is not only a protection against harm; it is a taunt against God for apparently refusing to act on our behalf.” (ch. 8, pg 131)