Anger as a Blessing

"Can I say that curse word now?" - Anger, Disney Pixar's Inside Out

The biblical examples of anger, wrath, and ire are awe inspiring. The sheer volume of fire, famine, earth-shaking, and tempest that is attributed to God's anger is impressive. It's no wonder people are afraid of God, the ancient writers attributed a lot of disasters to God punishing the people. I say attributed, because many times God speaks anger and disappointment, but then forgives the people and does not punish the people. Many times also in the biblical stories, the real reasons for the disasters which came upon the Israelite people were from other people, who did not follow the ways of God.

Anger is one of the strongest human emotions. It is an acceptable emotion, as long as it is people are still accountable and use their anger energy in good directed ways. We all sometimes feel the need to release our anger in inappropriate ways, yet, anger is an emotion which can tell us necessary information about ourselves. Many times the reasons we get angry have to do with values, boundaries, or expectations which we feel have been broken or not met. Sometimes those values, boundaries, or expectations are ideas we have in our own heads which other people have no idea about or are not appropriate for the current situation. Getting curious about why you are experiencing anger is one of the best ways of learning what is truly going on.

When have you gotten angry this week? What is God shining light on in your life which might need some more grace? Take a moment to think about when or where or how or why you've been angry lately? What is God pointing out to you? Knowing our own emotions better enables us to respond to other people's emotions and to build better relationships.