Anger challenge

“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.”

Ecclesiastes 7:9 ESV

Many times I’ve come to crossroads, as we all do. A stirring will occur in my circumstances, typically a crisis type event. Anger is easy because something or someone is going wrong in my situation.  I am so surprised that foul language, no matter how long suppressed, never seems to be far enough away. The shortest distance between peace and rage comes through a feeling of helplessness. Bad words and terrible actions can easily follow.

The stirring could come from anything, a boss, an illness, an unexpected bill, a relationship, or any other kind of setback or hindrance. The issue, whether a what or a who, challenges me. It becomes a battle, which must be fought.

Anger and/or bitterness becomes easy at this point because I perceive the issue as a threat. Threat points me at an adversary and often aims me like a weapon. Anger is a looking-over-my- shoulder, a looking-back moment. I want to attack my adversary instead of hearing and moving in the direction the Lord prefers for me. Anger tends to silence and block the voice of the Lord because it appeals to my most base self.

Following the Lord does not use anger or bitterness to travel. Following the Lord may not change anything in my issue except to free my eyes and my heart. Following the Lord easily acknowledges the failure of this world and my failure in it. However, the Lord gives the direction – to Him and toward the goals He has for me, not to satisfy sour emotions by hurting others in anger or rage.

Say my job is going badly or the management is creating suffering (happened lots). I may be stirred toward a job change, maybe not.  Either way God wants me to go will satisfy my vision and ministry in Him. Staying in a bad job might be a call to fulfill some plan I may not see, but the Lord has for that place. I can be at peace because the event is in the Lord’s hands. Leaving for a new job can be to fulfill the Lord’s plan by moving me in a direction for His purpose. Either way, the decision to come or go is to be based on my relationship with the Lord and not the emotion of the situation. 

The stirring is simply a call to get close and hear the Lord clearly. My concern can become more about what the Lord wants and where He and I are traveling together instead of what a corrupt and broken world is doing to me. 

The shift from situational to Jesus even frees me from my own mistakes by allowing the Lord to grow me in His direction. I become open to the Lord’s correction as I seek Him.  The change in focus rearranges anger and kills bitterness. Godly purpose overcomes hurt with the presence of Jesus and an intentional move toward His joy. My goal is to be stirred toward Jesus. Being stirred and moving to Jesus always creates the best outcomes. “Lord help me not to give in to anger and rage, but into you and your plan.”