Mine Anger is Turned Away

In August 1831 several elders were traveling with Joseph Smith back from Missouri to Kirtland. In a revelation given on the bank of the Missouri River, the Lord said this to the group: “I, the Lord, was angry with you yesterday, but today mine anger is turned away” (Doctrine and Covenants 61:20). At first reading this might sounds like one of those Greek deities with human imperfections who acts rashly and changes his mind when it suits him. In other words, the Lord seems to be saying that He was upset yesterday but has decided to let it go today because He got over it. But certainly that is not what He meant, for the Lord’s anger as spoken of in the scriptures is not at all like our petty disagreements and offenses and how we get mad one with another. So how do we understand this verse?

I believe the best place to understand the Lord’s anger is in the vision of Enoch when he spoke to the Lord. The prophet saw that “the God heaven looked upon the residue of the people, and he wept.” This caused him to question how God Himself could weep, and the Lord gave him this answer, “Behold these thy brethren; they are the workmanship of mine own hands, and I gave unto them their knowledge, in the day I created them; and in the Garden of Eden, gave I unto man his agency; And unto thy brethren have I said, and also given commandment, that they should love one another, and that they should choose me, their Father; but behold, they are without affection, and they hate their own blood.” So the Lord was weeping because men would not follow His commandment to love one another and were full of hatred. He mourned because of the wickedness of the children of men, saying, “The whole heavens shall weep over them, even all the workmanship of mine hands; wherefore should not the heavens weep, seeing these shall suffer?” In the midst of this description of the Lord and the whole heavens weeping, He also said this: “And the fire of mine indignation is kindled against them; and in my hot displeasure will I send in the floods upon them, for my fierce anger is kindled against them” (Moses 7:28-37). Here He was weeping over the suffering that would come upon the children of men, and yet He described it as “the fire of mine indignation,” hardly what we might envision if we were to characterize someone with fiery indignation. I believe that what this shows is that when the scriptures speak of God’s anger and wrath and indignation, these passages are not a description of His current psychological state but simply a reflection that we will have to suffer what His justice will require for our sins. When we are unrepentant, He is “angry” only in the sense that we will have to repent or suffer for those sins at some point.  

This is, I believe, consistent with this verse in the Doctrine and Covenants. The student manual describes what was happening before this revelation in these words, “During the first few days of traveling, there was some conflict that arose in the group, and feelings of discord were present for a time.” The group camped on the bank of the river, and then “that evening the group discussed their difficulties, resolved their contentious feelings, and forgave one another.” It was after this that the Lord said, “I, the Lord, was angry with you yesterday, but today mine anger is turned away.” This was not speaking about how His mood changed; rather, “yesterday” the group was contentious and fighting one with another, but then they repented and so the Lord was able to forgive then and His “anger” (i.e. their wickedness) was gone. Simply put, the Lord’s anger is against us when we are sinning and don’t repent, but when we repent and seek forgiveness He forgives us and that “anger” is turned away. But all the while, that “anger” means not that He is in a fit of rage but rather that He is sorrowing for us because, if we don’t repent, we too “shall suffer.”