How do you deal with anger? Not just being mad, but being deeply, darkly angry. I think that it is significant that Scripture doesn’t say not to get angry, and that Jesus Himself got angry a few times. It is a core human emotion. It can also mask the feelings underneath. Perhaps it is safer to project anger than to admit to hurt, fear, disillusionment, or brokenness. I know that kind of anger. There is someone in my family that I haven’t been able to fully forgive for the incredible ways that I have been wronged. When I see her picture or hear her name mentioned, everything in me clinches. Mind you, I don’t show it, but it is there. Do you have that feeling toward anyone? I have worked hard to reduce the hold that that anger has on me. I used to beg God to take away my anger, and bit by bit, He has. However not before teaching me about myself. I have learned that, with God’s help, I can choose how much that anger affects me. God has taught me that the best way to deal with those feelings is to turn them positive. No it doesn’t happen at once. This is what has helped: I actively pray for this person asking for God’s blessing for her. Next I make a point of asking about her and remembering to send words of encouragement and acknowledgments of her special times. Third, I realize that her actions of hurt are caused by something unknown deep inside of her. That enables me to have compassion and to let go bit by bit of my own hurt. Last, I know that Jesus loves her deeply and therefore, as His disciple I must see her through His eyes. Easy? No. Bad days? Sometimes. I can tell you though that having the bitterness whittled away is far better than gut-clinching. If you are dealing with anger, I pray that God shows you also how to let go in order to receive His love.
Lord Jesus, it is so hard to be hurt unjustly. Please show me anything that I need to do differently to keep from provoking anger in others. Most of all, please show me how to forgive and to let bitterness in my heart go. Amen.
Ephesians 4:26-27
“In your anger do not sin”: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.
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