"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger
resides in the lap of fools." - Ecclesiastes 7:9
Every day of our lives we are placed in situations that engage us with
other people, whether it is in the office, our homes, or in public
places. Do you recall the last time someone cut you off in traffic, or
you were forced to wait in line because someone up front got held up?
Perhaps your employer did something that was downright unfair. Anger can
result from many circumstances.
A friend once told me that anger is like warning lights on the front of
your car dashboard. They signal that there is something going on under
the hood, and we should take a look to examine the source of the
problem. Anger can be traced to a few sources. First, when we lose
control of a circumstance that we have placed certain expectations on
and those expectations do not result in our desired outcome, we are
tempted to get angry. The source of this type of anger is both fear and
protection of personal rights. You see, when we believe we have a right
to something, we have not given the Lord permission to allow an outcome
different from what we want. If an outcome is different from our
expectations, this may stimulate fear.
For instance, if a vendor failed to deliver an important job on time due
to something out of his control, you may respond out of anger. Please
know that the source of your anger is the fear of what might happen to
you or what this might say about your abilities to manage a project. You
no longer are in control of the circumstance and this creates fear in
you.
The next time you get angry ask the Lord what is the source of that
anger? Did the Lord allow that failure to let you see what is "under
your hood"? God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of love, power,
and a sound mind (see 2 Tim. 1:7). Give up your rights to expectations
that God never gave you. You will find a new freedom in Christ you never
knew you could have.
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