Anger

08-05-14 188

Me: Wow, Prodigal I have never seen you with such an angry face!

Prodigal: I am so mad at those sows over there! I had a prefect place in the mud. I was wallering around feeling contentment and then it got disrupted. Why can’t I just get a break. Now all the contentment is gone and I will never get it back.

Me: I can tell and we all get angry. Here why don’t I tell you a little something I learned about anger to help get your mind off of what has happened.

Prodigal: Fine, but I cannot promise it will help!

Who hasn’t been angry right. These days somebody, somewhere is always doing something. Truth be told I struggle with the temptation to get angry and stay angry. I can hold a grudge with the same intensity of a dog with his favorite bone. Neither one of is letting go until we decide we are done! If someone gets in the way then you will get growled at, bitten or at least a nasty look. This was before my master. Like a good master, God is training me to listen to his commands and if he says let go of that bone, then I will. Has it been easy, no. Is it good for me to let go and listen to the master? Always the best thing, even if I don’t like it. So with this training the Master has sent me something from Edward Welch and it hit me and made me really help look at my anger with all of its view points.

Anger says, “You have done wrong.” It is making some kind of judgment, and the judgment is often accurate. Anger might be responding to a real wrong. But this is only the beginning of the story. Once anger settles in, it will bring you to an increasingly familiar crossroad.
Will you turn to the true God, who shows compassion to those who have been victimized, or will you trust yourself?
Will you turn to the true God, who is the holy and righteous judge, or will you form a vigilante party that meets in your name, for your sake, and for your glory?
Anger typically begins in a way that imitates God-it makes judgments about right and wrong. But it can quickly turn into a stance against him. You are angry because your rights and your glory-not God’s-have been violated.
This is where you must be the expert in knowing your own heart. Otherwise you are left groping in the dark. What you can see about anger is that someone did wrong and you are angry. What you don’t see is that anger reveals more about your own heart than it does about the other person. To be more specific, anger is between you and God.

If the anger is between you and God, then seek God in prayer right now and pour your heart to him. Tell him why you are upset, allow him to make things right where things have gone wrong. God can handle your anger and it can also give you your peace back. If someone has made you upset then pray for them and see them through God’s eyes. Allow God to speak to their heart. After all are you going to hold on to that bone or listen to the Master? Usually with training if we have the right response our Master will give us a treat. I have learned that treat is usually a lot better then that old bone an it comes with a praise from the one I love!

Proverbs 29:22
A man of wrath stirs up strife, and one given to anger causes much transgression.

Jennifer Van Allen,
www.theprodigalpig.com
www.faithincounseling.org