Read: 1 Chronicles 2:18-4:4, Acts 24:1-27, Psalm 4:1-8, Proverbs 18:16-18

Be angry, and do not sin;
ponder in your own hearts on your beds, and be silent.
Psalm 4:4

Relate: Ever heard the term “Banana Republic”? No, I am not talking about the clothing line. A banana republic was a country that existed specifically for a single cash crop (ie bananas). There would be a small group of elites: generals, politicians, businesmen, etc. who worked with foreign companies to grow as many bananas as possible as cheaply as possible. In order to do this, large portions of the population are kept in near slave conditions working at barely survivable wages so that other people in other countries can get their bananas for $0.75 per pound.

This was the case in Colombia when in November 1928 many of those poor, oppressed workers went on strike against the United Fruit Company. The strike began on November 12th and they were asking for things like: one day off per week, compensation for injuries occurring on the job, being paid in real money not coupons good only at UFC stores, and toilets & showers in the dormatories. Sounds reasonable enough, right? But rather than meet, or even discuss these demands, at the urging of the Company and the US government, 300 Colombian soldiers opened up on the striking workers who had been gathered together on the expectation of hearing an address from the governor. The official Colombian report claimed 47 people were killed but other contemporary accounts puts the real number between 1500-2000.

Even in writing this, I am getting justifiably angry. If you aren’t getting angry in reading it, I would question your humanity. There is a right reason, a right time and a right place to be angry. But there is also a right way to get angry. Many point to this event as the first in the chain of events that led to La Violencia, a decade long priod of civil war, anarchy, and chaos that plagued the country (and which it arguably still has not recovered). In the same way, shootings under questionable circumstances in Sanford, Florida, and Ferguson, Missouri, were key events that led to the anarchy and riots that burned through the US more than six years later. The justifiable anger against the murder of Treyvon Martin, Michael Brown, and George Floyd in no way justified the riots that led to an additional 25 deaths, hundreds of injuries, and more than a billion dollars in property damage.

React: Be angry. And do not sin. What gets me angry? Anything? There was a point in my life when I honestly couldn’t think of the last time I had been angry. I prided myself on an even temperament where nothing really phased me. About two months after thinking this, I was justifyably fired from my position as a youth pastor for moral failure. I was so spiritually and emotionally messed up that I didn’t just have no healthy outlet for my emotions… I had no emotions. This is not good. Being angry at the right time is just as right and necessary as being happy, or bored, or in love. We need emotions. All of them.

But we also need to rule our emotions, not be ruled by them. When I am angry, I need to use this as a tool to improve myself or my world. Being angry at injustice should spur me towards doing something for justice. This is true on both a personal level and on a social level. So what makes you angry? Recently, I added an alert app to my phone. It sounds an alarm every time there are bombs or drones heading toward Kyiv and another when the alarm has ended. Every time I hear that alarm I get angry. Justifiably so. On a personal level, each time it goes off I pray for the safety and protection of the innocent people who are under attack. And on a societal level, in less than a month… I will be there.

Respond:

Dear Lord,
Help me to hunger and thirst after righteousness. As I do so, I know that there will be times when personal unrighteousness, sin, and public unrighteousness, injustice, will rightfully get me angry. When it does, help me to act in God honoring, kingdom bringing, justice seeking ways. Help me to be angry over the things that make You angry. And in my anger, help me to honor You.
Amen.

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