Anger is an emotion, which if not controlled, can cause great damage. We read from biblical scriptures that God is sometimes prone to anger -
1 Kings 11:9,10 And
the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from
the LORD, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had
commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other
gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded.
2 Kings 17:18 Therefore the LORD was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only.
Mark 3:4,5 And he
[Jesus] said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do
harm, to save life or to kill?” But they were silent. And he looked
around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said
to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand
was restored.
Certain incidents or words may cause anger to rise up in us. It is only natural, that is why Ephesians 4:26 cautions us - Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath. God's righteous anger is usually directed at unrighteousness. But the anger of men tends only to evil. James 1:19,20 Know
this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to
speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the
righteousness of God.
As human beings,what angers us differs from person to person, and is triggered by different things. However, when we allow our angry emotions to have the better of us, it can be destructive. Anger when made to come home to roost, will breed strife. Strife breeds all forms of confusion and evil. Cain and Abel gave us a perfect example of the damage anger can cause.
Genesis 4:5-8 but
for Cain and his offering he [the LORD] had no regard. So Cain was very
angry, and his face fell. The LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry, and
why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted?
And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is
for you, but you must rule over it.” Cain spoke to Abel his brother. And
when they were in the field, Cain rose up against his brother Abel and
killed him.
From the above scripture, we realise that God warned Cain of his anger, and showed him what to do about it
(sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is
for you, but you must rule over it.) however, God's warning went unheeded by Cain. The end result was the first ever committed murder - Cain killed Abel.
Anger must be brought under control by us, we must rule over it, not vice-versa. When anger rules over us, we become fools -
Ecclesiastes 7:9 Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the bosom of fools.
This is re-iterated in
Proverbs 14:29 Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.
In order to avoid the demerits of anger, we must learn to:
Proverbs 15: 1 A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.
When David was angered by Nabal in 1Samuel 25, he became so furious and headed off to kill Nabal and his entire family. However, Nabal's wise wife, Abigail, set off to calm David down, and succeeded in averting the evil intended upon her family by speaking softly and gently to David.
Another way to fight anger is to be forgiving and loving -
Colossians 3:8, 12-13 But
now you must put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, slander, and
obscene talk from your mouth. Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy
and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and
patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against
another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also
must forgive.
You can overcome the ills of anger. You can master anger and rule over it. You have to make a conscious effort to train yourself to be gentle. You must avoid scenes that will anger you, and when angered, try to forgive. Love the unloveable, and rest in the knowledge that all things work together for your good.
Kindly soak up these wise quotes :
“Anger and bitterness are two
noticeable signs of being focused on self and not trusting God’s
sovereignty in your life. When you believe that God causes all things to
work together for good to those who belong to Him and love Him, you can
respond to trials with joy instead of anger or bitterness.” ~ John C. Boger
“Is all anger sin? No, but some of
it is. Even God Himself has righteous anger against sin, injustice,
rebellion and pettiness. Anger sometimes serves a useful purpose, so it
isn’t necessarily always a sin. Obviously, we’re going to have adverse
feelings, or God wouldn’t have needed to provide the fruit of
self-control. Just being tempted to do something is not sin. It’s when
you don’t resist the temptation, but do it anyway, that it becomes
sin.” ~ Joyce Meyer
HAVE AN ANGER-FREE DAY! GOD BLESS.
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