Anger versus Rage

Anger is like lighting a candle.  When you light the candle it is a sudden presence of  light that can be useful. If it continues to burn it, eventually it melts the wax. Rage is obsessive anger that lingers close and below the surface and causes meltdowns.

There are a lot of self-help books on anger management and the dangers of anger, but anger in and of it self is useful. It informs us of the atmosphere or a condition so that it can be dealt with. Rage on the other hand is sizzling and frying to the nerves. When anger is allowed to remain it goes underground and eventually resurfaces or it explodes out of control. Problematic anger is really a rage issue.

In Ephesians 4, God tells us not to let the sun go down on our wrath. It is a great admonition. He also says "Be ye angry and sin not". Sin is  really not the black mark on the mirror of our soul;  it is a condition of our thinking when we look to other things beside God for help. Anger is a tool, not a sin.  It is an alarm clock that invites us to handle things the way God would have it handled. Ignoring anger can be a deleterious way to deal with anger, but there are many ways to deal productively with it.  Keeping rage out of confrontation, anger may mean speaking the truth in love. Sometimes it may mean making a decision, based on discerning good and evil, to walk away  and do it without rage.

Honest, loving communication is vital.  Even when you discuss confrontation with others, people attach the rage issue to it and it casts a negative shadow on an effective way to handle things. Confrontation is simply laying something out in front between people (between the foreheads). I have a blogging friend who says that writing a blog is cathartic to him. I get that. It feels so good to explore truth and lay it out in front of you. Putting things on paper makes you think and careful how you say things.

Truth always, always and can I say it again, always, frees the heart! There is no excuse in the world that can stand against truth.  That is why effective prayer is going to God with an anger alarm and giving him the situation completely without obsessing over and over about it as to things like excusing psychobabble, political correctness, manipulation and ultimately revenge. Understanding of a situation does not mean excusing it. Understanding is another tool to arrive at a powerful solution that changes things and people. Benevolent humanism and the five-sense mans fall so short of this kind of inspiration. Only God can bring on this effect. There is a big difference between man's logic and God's logic.  God is way more logical! I Corinthians 1:18-31 !!

The next time something lights your candle, go for a walk and think about nothing but listening to the Sage of All Ages. Package the problem in a lump (meaning don't obsessively unravel the thing over and over in your mind) and lay it on Him. Don't talk, just listen. Not only do your spiritual muscles get built up, your physical muscles do too.  It's a win-win situation. 

Truthful Love

Honestly, Ephesians chapters 4-6 should be read together and not in pieces. Ephesians chapters 1-3 are about God's love. Chapters 4-6 are about loving others and how we should relate to people in a godly way.

Unity is a nice thing and Ephesians 4:1-7 addresses unity, but we need to see the rest of Ephesians to see what pitfalls threaten unity and how to deal with them. For example in Ephesians 5:11, God is pretty clear that we can have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness. How does this relate to longsuffering and forebearing (Ephesians 4:2)?  We have to read Ephesians 4:23-27 and other sections to read verse 2 of chapter 4 correctly.

23 And be renewed in the spirit of your mind; 24 And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness. 25 Wherefore putting away lying, speak every man truth with his neighbour: for we are members one of another. 26 Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath: 27 Neither give place to the devil. (Ephesians 4:23-27)

This is not hard to understand because it is specific. It is much more difficult to just read Ephesians 4:1-7 without the context; one would have to extrapolate one's own theology to apply the true meaning of unity in practice.

'Putting away lying' is an important concept. Lying can be a tool in manipulation, gossip and very subtle conversational tact.  Speaking the truth in love can dispel genuine anger but maybe not for every side involved. When one person loves the truth, the sun will not go down on that person's wrath. It is speaking the truth in love that causes one to peacefully grow up!

The Anger of Cain

The record of Cain in Genesis reveals some sad details of the fallen nature. When Adam and Eve got into trouble about the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, a chain of events started that allowed evil to gain a foothold within the hearts of men. Both Abel and Cain brought offerings to God.  Both carried out a practice showing allegiance to God.  Abel brought his firstlings of his flock and God accepted his gift as an offering from his heart. Cain's offering was from the fruit of the ground produced by his own labor. Cain's offering was not respected by God and Cain got angry. God's discussion with Cain is interesting:

Genesis 4: 5 But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell. 6 And the Lord said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen? 7 If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door. And unto thee shall be his desire, and thou shalt rule over him.

God asked Cain why he was angry and he warned him that his anger unchecked was an opportunity for sin.  Anger in and of itself is not sin. There is such a thing as 'righteous anger' and it would be sin not to react in anger to things that are evil. But we are to be the master of the anger so that it doesn't carry us away. All relationships aren't perfect. We do things that anger others and others do things to anger us. It is inevitable. To let anger seethe and foment is wrong. We must deal with it and 'not let the sun go down on our wrath' (Ephesians 4:6).

God asked Cain why he was angry and Cain's response was indignation and more anger because he was focused on himself. His anger started to control him and it became his master.

⁸ And Cain talked with Abel his brother: and it came to pass, when they were in the field, that Cain rose up against Abel his brother, and slew him. ⁹ And the Lord said unto Cain, Where is Abel thy brother? And he said, I know not: Am I my brother's keeper?

This is the result of out of control anger and vengeful indignation.

A Poison Tree

I was angry with my friend:

I told my wrath, my wrath did end.

I was angry with my foe:

I told it not, my wrath did grow.

And I watered it in fears,

Night and morning with my tears;

And I sunned it with smiles,

And with soft deceitful wiles.

And it grew both day and night,

Till it bore an apple bright.

And my foe beheld it shine.

And he knew that it was mine,

And into my garden stole

When the night had veiled the pole;

In the morning glad I see

My foe outstretched beneath the tree.

William Blake

How do we deal with injustice so that anger doesn't control us. The other day an incident really hit into my sense of justice. I had all sorts of ideas on how to deal with it. There are many options to taking care of things in a wise as well as unwise manner, but I decided to give it to God and asked Him to show me the best way. God is a God of peace and solutions are right up His alley, we just have to have patience (and I'm not talking about swallowing it- repressed anger is the worst!). We believe that He can show us the best route, and He does!   The resulting action could be like the example of Jesus Christ and the money-changers or it may be as simple as giving a soft answer. It is His call. Cain wanted to call the shots so it ended badly for him. He ended up being the earliest designer of a very ungodly worldly system.

God is a wellspring of peace, love and restoration. For people who love God and respect his way, these opportunities are an excellent way to see how big God's heart is to us.  When listen to Him and respond, it is easy to get caught up in the excitement of how loving our Father truly is when we let Him work with our heart! This is the effective use of anger!