We read Psalm 3 last Sunday and this is likely a continuation. King David has been usurped by his son, Absalom, and is running from his forces with his own army of loyal but discouraged supporters.

Think of a time you went to bed trembling in apprehension at the ‘mountains’ you faced (vs 4). When we feel under attack, we have a choice: give in to fear and anger or ‘trust in the Lord’ (v 5). David’s lifelong commitment to prayer means it’s second nature for him to take his woes to God with bold confidence (v 1). A rolling habit of prayer in peaceful times is always a great investment (Philippians 4:6,7). Then you ‘don’t forget in the darkness what you have learned in the light’ (Joe Bayly). You have a bank of strength and hopeful expectation to draw on. David encourages his team to keep doing positive things, keep their hearts pure and worship God (vs 4,5). And the outcome (vs 7,8)? Joy that’s better than a good harvest, and peace to get the physical rest needed to face challenges.

‘Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger’.1 What does this verse mean to you?

Many believe that this psalm was written by King David around the same time as Psalm 3, when his son Absalom was leading a rebellion against him. David addresses the rebels, warning them to ‘tremble and do not sin’ (v 4): not to allow their heightened emotions to lead them into actions displeasing to God.² 2 Samuel 15:3 suggests that these rebels were angry with David because of claims Absalom had made that the king was failing to deal with disputes and administer justice as a monarch was expected to do. How much truth there was in Absalom’s accusations we do not know, but people seem to have believed his claims and were provoked. 

As elsewhere in the Bible, David does not condemn anger per se, but only when it led to sin. Unfortunately the rebels here allowed their anger to provoke them to revolt against God’s appointed king. How could they have dealt with their anger better? We may think that keeping our anger to ourselves is the answer but bottling it up is not always the best way. Jesus himself was not only angry at times but expressed his anger in both words and actions: he called the Pharisees and Sadducees ‘a brood of vipers’,³ for instance, and he overturned the tables of the moneychangers in the Temple.

Of course, Jesus’ anger was righteous, while our motives are not always pure. David’s advice to the rebels to search their hearts and be silent when they lie on their beds at night highlights the importance of taking time to reflect quietly on the reasons for our anger and to consider whether we are justified in expressing our feelings in action. How do we handle anger and how can we react in a godly way to wrongs done to us? 

Pray about anything that has made you angry recently and ask for God’s wisdom to know how to deal with that anger well.

¹ Eph 4:26, NRSV  ² Many Bible versions do have ‘be angry’ rather than ‘tremble’. See also the NIV footnote for v 4  ³ Eg Matt 3:7