How to deal with Anger Biblically

Where do our emotions come from? Our emotions are part of our creation – God gave them to us, and he made us to be emotional creatures. Our goal as Christians is to control our emotions so that we manifest them in ways that build up others and ourselves.

I want to share with you my research on the emotions that we experience and how we are to deal with them biblically. I will be discussing 6 different emotions. And in this article, I want to discuss the emotion of anger.

CAUSES OF ANGER

Anger is a strong feeling of intense displeasure or hostility that results from a real or imagined threat, insult, frustration, or injustice toward yourself or others.

People tend to become angry because:

A)they are not getting their way or when they lose control over a situation
B)they feel rejected, excluded, overlooked, or mistreated
C)they have lost something or someone they cherish
D)they have unmet expectations
E)they see people being mistreated
F)they are jealous

Anger is usually expressed in two ways:

1)Physical or verbal outbursts such as throwing punches, slamming doors, swearing, shouting, sexual abuse, verbal or physical abuse, and maybe even gossip.
2)Silence such as when a person internalizes the anger allowing it to seep into their subconscious. This person may erupt in anger later down the line or the anger may erupt within the body in the form of a disease.

RIGHTEOUS ANGER OR UNGODLY ANGER?

Some people attempt to justify their anger by saying that they are in the right. They even use Jesus as an example. Saying that if Jesus can be angry so can I. Let’s take a look at what verse these people are talking about.

Matthew 21: 12-14 says, Jesus, entered the temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, "The scriptures declare my temple will be called a house of prayer, but you have turned it into a den of thieves!" The blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them.

If we look deeper into this account we can see no evidence of a physical manifestation of anger from Jesus in any of the gospels. Yes, he did overturn the tables of the money changers, but no riots became of it and nobody was out of control. There was no record of anybody saying Jesus was angry. And immediately after the overturn of the tables Jesus engaged in healing the blind and the lame.

Jesus’ action was not against the individuals themselves but against their actions. Jesus was angry in a righteous way. He did not sin in what he did. Righteous anger is a healthy response to evil. It does not bring physical or emotional harm to another human being.

King Saul on the other hand had ungodly anger. King Saul’s anger stemmed from his jealousy over the blessings that God had given David. Scripture tells us “Saul was very angry” (1 Samuel 18: 7-8). King Saul pursued David without mercy. His anger was violent and it forced David to live in exile for more than a decade. (1 Samuel 24 and 26)

HOW DO WE FIX OUR ANGER ISSUES?

First, we must realize that anger itself is not sinful, but it can quickly lead to sin. Sin such as when you have a disagreement with another person and it turns into a shouting match. Even if it doesn’t become violent if you hold anger in your heart towards that person that is considered a sin. (Proverbs 29: 22) Also having bitterness (Ephesians 4: 31), wanting revenge (Romans 12: 19), or even wanting to isolate yourself are all signs of anger leading to sin.

If we find ourselves becoming angry and having the feelings that are mentioned above then we need to go directly to God and confess our feelings. Ask God for his forgiveness. We also need to pray for the other person. And ask for God’s guidance in the situation. I know it can be hard to pray for someone we are not getting along with. I have been there and know that feeling. But I promise you that praying for them will make us feel better about the situation and about the person. And God will give us peace.

Also, do not give the devil an opportunity to sneak in and tell you lies about the other person or your situation (Ephesians 4: 27). We need to remember to think about what is true and real not what we assume or imagine (Philippians 4: 8). If God asks us to forgive the other person then we need to do so. God doesn’t require us to understand his will, just obey it, even if it seems unreasonable. Doing so will bring peace to our hearts and to our relationships.

CONCLUSION

Sweet friends, anger is an emotion that can be controlled if we work at it and allow God to intervene in the process. We need to ask the Holy Spirit daily to lead, guide, and protect us from all evil. Read God’s word and ask God to help us replace unhealthy thoughts with his truth. Ask him to bring a certain verse to your mind so that you can focus on the verse and not your situation. If we understand and know how the anger in our lives manifests. We can learn how to control it with prayer and God’s word. It may take some time but God is the only way that we can heal from anger.

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