Book Review: Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining and Bitterness by David Powlison
Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.—Eph. 4:26, 27
Book Information:
Author: David Powlison
Pages: 256
Publisher: New Growth Press
Year: 2016
David Powlison describes anger this way: It’s the belief “’That matters…and it’s not right.’… Anger expresses the energy of your reaction to something you find offensive and wish to eliminate.” That means, he asserts, that all of us have an anger problem. Unless we are a passive slug, we all have things that matter to us. And we’ll fight for it.
Some of us will fight for it with the hostility and violence we often associate with anger. But Powlison takes it a step further. He fine tunes anger to include frustration, complaining, irritation, judgment, passive aggression, and even the subtle buried anger we try to hide with pleasantries, distractions, busyness or escape.
Yes, we all have an anger problem. And so we are all target audiences for this book.
Unlike many other books that focus on the techniques for handling sinful anger, what I love about this book is that Powlison steps back to look at how anger might actually have constructive potential if we rightly channel our anger in godly ways. Towards charity. Towards patience. Towards forgiveness.
After all, if Paul exhorts us in Ephesians 4:26, 27 to be angry and not sin, there must be a way to do so. God wouldn’t call us to something that is impossible, right?
And it isn’t impossible, for Jesus felt anger but he did not sin. Over and over, we are told that Jesus never committed sin. There is no sin in Him. (1 Peter 2:22; Heb. 4:15; 2 Cor. 5:21; 1 John 3:5; Heb. 7:26)
And if we are to become like Christ, this would include how we respond in anger.
This book, then, is Powlison’s finely tuned guidance on how we move in that direction. Every chapter is an invitation to take one more step towards uncovering our anger in the light of God’s presence. Little by little, Powlison works toward his goal: “to teach you how to more fruitfully and honestly deal with your anger. Your struggle with anger (and mine) will last a lifetime, but it can go somewhere good, We can learn to deal with anger differently.” (p. 2)
The book reads like a gentle conversation with a wise friend—a long, slow, heart-to-heart talk over a challenging topic. Though it is hard for me to believe that mild-mannered David Powlison has an anger problem, he humbly acknowledges his own struggle with the subtler forms of it. As a brother in Christ, he wisely leads and helps us, regardless of our own brand of anger, to work through it for the glory of God.
Though written conversationally and easy to understand, this book is also densely packed with a lot of insights. There is a lot of wisdom on these pages as Powlison works through his goal in four sections:
Section 1 gives you words for describing your particular experience of anger. Not all anger is alike—and this acknowledgement is one of the best things about this book.
Section 2 answers a whole host of questions such as “What is anger?” to help you understand and orient yourself in a rich, deep, and honest perspective on the topic that goes beyond anger management techniques.
Section 3 tackles how destructive anger is changed into something constructive through Scripture and eight questions that break down the process of change.
Section 4 looks on the finer of details of four particularly difficult cases: extreme provocations to anger, everyday irritants, anger at yourself, and anger at God.
To get the most out of this book, interact with it. Instead of going for comprehensive understanding, identify just one key sentence in each chapter to focus. Explore its pertinence and expression in your life. Push back on it. Make the material your own. If you can explore this book in community with honest companions, even better.
If you are simply looking for a better solution, strategy or technique to deal with your anger, then this book is probably not for you. If you want some comforting words to affirm your anger with positive self-talk, then this isn’t going to be it. While not all anger is sin, much of it is, so this book is not going to take the path of much of today’s popular psychological advice.
However, if you want a little more help for dealing with your anger than Untangling Emotions provides, if you are grieved at how your anger is hurting those around you, if you want more tips than just mastering or controlling your anger, then I encourage you to pick this book up. Even if you don’t think you have a problem with anger (I highly recommend chapter 2 for you!) but you are willing to grow in wisdom and truth, then read this book.
How This Book Helped Me
When I first encountered the ideas in this book, I was dealing with a mess of my own making. My “anger gone bad” had hurt so many people. I felt like I was in a pit of despair and could not get out.
So when I read this book, I felt like a lifeline was being thrown to me. Could God really help me understand my anger? And could God really help me use it for good?
I needed exactly what Powlison offers. Nowhere does he encourage me to indulge in my anger, but neither did he suggest brushing it under the carpet, as I usually do, until it simmers in resentment and bitterness that exploded in rage.
To say that working through this book’s ideas felt like sitting in a counseling room with Powlison himself was not a far stretch. With each chapter, I felt conviction but I did not feel condemned. With the gentle voice of Christ, Powlison’s words gave me the courage to look my anger squarely in the face, before a holy God.
Instead of rising in rebellion or justifying my reasons for anger, I was led to confess it before God and receive His promised forgiveness for my sinful anger. This made the Gospel come alive to me in a way this “good girl” needed.
As the Gospel was applied to my anger, God awakened a new desire to love and grow. Instead of letting my grief debilitate me, I began to learn how to deal with that grief in a way that did not hurt others. In the presence of a God who did not condemn me for my grief, I was able to find new ways to both grieve my losses without blaming others or God for my pain.
Though I am not perfect (I still get angry!), God has changed my heart radically. I still struggle but now, there is hope and a way out when I am tempted to entertain sin. And when there’s hope, the pursuit of godliness, even though difficult, is a very real option for me.
A Quote and A Question:
“…yet anger done right is a great good. It says, ‘That’s wrong’ and acts to protect the innocent and helpless. It says, ‘That’s wrong’ and energizes us to address real problems. God, who is good and does good, expresses good anger for a good cause. Jesus gets good and angry—in the service of mercy and peace. He is willing and able to forgive us for our anger gone bad. He is willing and able to teach us to do anger right.” (Introduction, p, 1)
Can you think of ways God has used His anger for good in your own life?
Will you humble yourself, seeking his forgiveness for your anger gone bad—and then ask Him to teach you how to “do anger right”?
Additional Resources:
Is Anger Morally Neutral? Blog by Powlison on CCEF
