If I am honest, I’ll bet I get angry about something every day of my life.  Maybe not a full-blown rage, where I want launch into a screaming frenzy, maybe it’s frustration or irritation, but anger none the less. How often do you get angry? Every day?  Once a week?  Once every hour on the hour?  Or constantly? (as I imagine those yellow jackets, hornets, or other buzzy, stinging creatures to be/bee.)

The point is that it’s a familiar feeling that God actually created.  There is no real problem with anger, the problem is what we do with our anger.  Uggg.

Upon reflection a few things stand out to me:

1. There must be a tendency to sin when we are angry, otherwise Paul would not have been inspired by God to tell us about it.  Advice: Be on your guard!
2. Why would that be?  Because of our pride?  Think about the last thing you were angry about.  For me, it was not being able to keep flowers alive and flourishing at the cemetery.  That may seem like a silly thing but it’s frustrating to me. I’ve tried 3 different approaches to this challenge now and still utter failure.  Mom and dad would not be pleased.  But if I am honest, it comes down to my own pride.  I should be able to do this, and I can’t.  Grrr!  PRIDE goes before the fall! Advice: Avoid the fall.
3. What about forgiveness?  I wonder if God had as hard of a time forgiving my sins, ALL of my sins, as I have forgiving any offence against me?  Are you catching my drift here? (Matthew 6:15) Sometimes we fight and battle and stubbornly deny forgiveness to others for things they have or have not said or done to us.  Yet we easily accept the full pardon that God grants to us through His Son’s death on the cross.  Hmmm.    No advice needed here, enough said.
4. Finally, when the day is done, we should also be done with whatever angered us.  Lamentations 3 says that God’s mercies are new every morning. Each day is a fresh start.  That’s the way God created it to be.  We have 24 hours and then we start over again.  So how are we going to rejoice in God’s new fresh mercies that come with the new day if we are still clinging to our anger from yesterday? Advice: Let it go and enjoy God’s new mercies tomorrow morning.  They are much sweeter than the bitter taste of anger.

These are not easy things to think about.  God gave us the ability to feel anger for a good reason, because it is useful to protect our lives, and to bring Him glory.  He is lovingly reminding us not to twist this emotion into something it was not intended for.