The sun is essential in both situations. We may not like the smell of the sun-ripened corpse, preferring the feeling of the sun's balmy warmth on a cold windy day. But both are needed to keep the life cycle going. The sun rises and the sun goes down.
Saint Paul tells the church in Ephesus…
Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbour, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. (Ephesians 4:25–27 ESV)
I find amusing my children's reaction when driving past road kill; especially when they have not seen it go by! There's nothing like decay, to put away all falsehood from a child! "Aw Dad, something stinks!" As if I hadn't noticed! "Ah! Yes it does!" is my only comeback as I too wind down the window gulping for a mouthful of fresh air.
Likewise anger has a way of removing all falsehood too. Something stinks, the nostrils flare, and the offence is great! Your neighbour has sinned against you, causing a deathly silence, you're furious and you've every right to be. But how do I speak the truth, how can I be angry, and yet remain without sin?
First of all we must understand what anger is so we can deal with it appropriately. If not then it is inevitable one will sin in their anger in one of two ways. Both of which give opportunity for the devil to destroy!
Anger is not bad in itself! After all anger is an emotion as is being sad, happy, excited, compassionate, or scared; and these are neither good nor bad. They occur as a result of chemical reactions in our bodies! Why? So the emotion might tell us something, and prepare us for what's to come as we pass by events on the road of life. But anger can manifest sin in us, in either of two ways when we get angry.
When we are sinned against, the nostrils flare, we've been wronged, and we take the moral high ground. After all, we have every right! The problem being is this leads us to self-righteous revenge in a bid to restore the lofty heights of our self appointed glory. Yes truth is on your side, but your reaction renders you the same as the stink that's caused all the offence.
Alternatively, one might keep their anger bottled up, like one who keeps their windows wound up when gasping for air after smelling a sunbaked corpse on the side of the road. And this only makes things worse before one succumbs and explodes in an effort to wind that window down. Ignoring anger is like refusing the sense of smell, when every drop of foul air breathed is telling you to get out of there!
Both of these ways give the devil opportunity to wreak havoc in one's heart and mind! Reacting to anger in a way that causes harm to others, the devil seeks a footing to accuse you because of your actions. But keeping the windows wound up on anger, is falling into falsehood, and fraught with danger of causing harm to the self. The devil has opportunity to attack your being, accusing, "Surely you're meant to always smell the roses, and yet you savour the stink!" As if it was wrong to smell the truth, and suffocation in secrecy is better!
So what are we to do? How can I be angry and not sin? How can I let the sunset rise without once again raising the same sin back to life, day after day? How can I deal with it long after the original offence has been rendered neutral by the cycle of the sun rising and the sun setting on this life?
One simply has to take the "you" out of the sun and replace it with an "O"!
Rather than letting the sun go down on our anger, we need to let the Son shine on our anger, so his warmth might break down the stink within our hearts which will only linger, the longer we leave the Son's love out of doing its life saving work of death and raising to life.
At its most practical this happens when I call out to the Lord in prayer.
"O" Lord, save me from this stink of death! I am but a poor sod, angry, crying out to you, troubled as if I were a madman. Save me from this madness within and without!
… I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed. (Psalm 34:4–5 ESV) Amen.
By letting the Son shine on your anger, you have cause to put aside your shame. Your anger can then give Christ opportunity to radiate his love and allow the Holy Spirit to spur you on, today, in the day of your redemption. This is what happens when "you" are removed from the decaying of death under the sun and in prayer pray, "O Lord!", to the Eternal Son of God!
This means we become reflectors of God, Christ is illuminated to others through us, so the stink of death might be dealt with in them and they enter in to the warmth of the Son from the coldness of a world filled with anger and sin.
…Smell God, smell like God! Let your anger cause you to be a pleasing aroma that glorifies our Father in heaven!
Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God. (Ephesians 5:1–2 ESV)
O, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the person who takes refuge in him! (Psalm 34:8) Amen.
