ANGER.

I spent a lot of time as an angry, teenager. I’m not sure if others around me could sense it. Underneath the surface, I was resentful and embittered. I was angry toward God for taking my mom away and subjecting me to a season of desperation, depression and fear.  I hated the feeling of having no agency in my own life. As I grew up, God and I had some difficult conversations. The truth is, one of the worst kinds of anger is the kind that has no home- no culprit, no one to blame, no where to hide. 

Here’s the kicker: anger is not inherently evil. Anger, like other emotions, are usually byproducts of a situation that work as your body’s indicator light. There are even instances of “righteous anger” where we perceive injustices or we feel compassion for victims and we are angered. In fact, the Bible says, “Be angry”- but here’s the caveat: It says, “Be angry, but do NOT sin (Ephesians 4).” 

When I first read this scripture, my mind immediately went to pervasive, blatant sin. I thought about murder, abuse and the most vile actions. However, that’s not always how we sin. Where does sin start? Where does it grow its legs? In the heart. What are the other ways that anger manifests? In irritability. In biting remarks. In passive aggressive behavior. In selfishness and prideful behavior- all of these things miss the mark of who God’s called us to be. All of these postures… draw us farther away from intimacy with God. 

There’s this misnomer about our emotions- there’s this lie that God doesn’t care about them. Our emotional health, wellness and intelligence matters! How we surrender our heart to our Father matters! It directly impacts one of the greatest of His concerns for us- that we love others well and that we love others as we love ourselves. 

Question: Are you irritable and/or easily annoyed? Have you ever denied yourself the truth of your anger? Have you prayed that God would reveal any unresolved anger in your heart?