Anger
Michelson’s Enhanced Strong’s Dictionaries of Greek and Hebrew Testament in one of their second description of ‘anger’ calls it a “violent passion”. We all have the strand of this emotion and it is usually displayed when we are disappointed. In our pursuit of happiness, we always resort to anger whenever there is a disappointment. Yet, this violent passion only drives us away from the truth behind the situation. Anger thrives the moment we can identify a culprit, someone we can blame for a bad situation. As soon as we seem to have found the culprit (even though we are seldom right), we deploy a display of anger.
In James’ letter to a group of Jewish believers who were troubled, he advised that they should learn to be swift to hear (listen), slow to speak (reply), and slow to wrath (anger). Frankly, we seem to always go the opposite direction of that counsel; we are quick to get angry, quick to talk, and don’t like to listen. Yet, we cannot see the truth in a state of anger (truth is obscure when anger prevails). We cannot understand the depth and see clarity when we are full of wrath; most likely anger will make us choose the wrong enemy.
As we try to answer the question of whether God cares or not, I urge you to first diffuse (fan-out) any anger and prepare to listen. Even if you have never listened, please do so as you read this. If you are filled with anger already, you will only find more reasons to be angry… To be continued
Watch out for the next article on this topic. To get updated easily by email hit the ‘Follow’ button at the base of this blog.
Comments