Overcoming Anger

All are familiar with those who cannot control outbursts of anger
and wrath. Most have experienced what happens when a volcanic
personality goes off.
Neither witnessing nor being the object of such wrath is pleasant.
While we could study any number of emotions from the
Bible’s point of view, let’s examine some of what it says about anger,
possibly the rawest and most dangerous emotion, if left unchecked.

Solomon wrote, “He that is soon angry deals foolishly” (Prov. 14:17).
How true.
So often, people do things in a fit of emotion that they terribly regret,
sometimes just moments after it is too late.
How many murders have been committed by people who were
desperately sorry almost immediately afterwards?

Here is another related verse: “A man of great wrath shall suffer
punishment: for if you deliver him, yet you must do it again”
(Prov. 19:19).
Punishment here could include time in jail for assault and battery.
This can be the case with those who have never been taught to ctrl
their temper. Such punishment could happen over and over again.

Here is another passage, in this case describing the difference
between those who can control themselves and those who cannot:
“A wrathful man stirs up strife; but he that is slow to anger appeases
strife” (Prov. 15:18). The first part of the verse is clear in meaning.
The second half introduces how self-control can actually cause
already-existing strife to dissipate. Can you do this?

Solomon adds to the above verse that “A soft answer turns away
wrath, but grievous words stir up strife” (Prov. 15:1).
In the face of wrath, most would not be able to control themselves
and respond with only “soft words” until the strife is “appeased.”
Proverbs 25:15 adds, “By long forbearing is a prince persuaded,
and a soft tongue breaks the bone.”
God says that even the hardest attitudes can be turned around
by soft words—only possible by those who have complete mastery
of their emotions in the face of those who do not!

No wonder that Christ said, “Blessed are the peacemakers” (Matt. 5:9).
The training, ability and character necessary to be able to make
peace—remember, making peace can only be done where a
state of war exists—is so important that it is how God defines
who are “the children of God” (same verse).