Coping With Our Emotions (3)

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Coping With Anger (continued)

We will conclude our meditation on coping with our ANGER by allowing the Bible to speak for itself. In particular, it gives us a great deal of practical help in the Book of PROVERBS. I invite you, therefore, to meditate, prayerfully, on some of these verses:

  • ‘A soft answer turns away WRATH but a harsh word stirs up ANGER’ chapter 15 verse 1. If we learn to control our tongues, we will shun anger. It has been said that the tongue is the one sharp instrument that gets sharper the more you use it! James, in the New Testament, calls the tongue ‘a fire, a world of iniquity . . . no man can tame it’, James chapter 2 verses 6 & 8.
  • ‘The beginning of strife is like releasing water; therefore, stop contention before a quarrel starts’, chapter 17 verse 14. The picture is of a dam breaking under pressure – a small leak leads to disaster. If quarrels are allowed to grow, they lead to anger, which destroys!
  • ‘The discretion of a man makes him slow to ANGER; and his glory is to overlook a transgression’, chapter 19 verse 11. It is a positive thing to exercise self-control and overlook wrongs committed against us.
  • ‘A gift in secret pacifies ANGER’, chapter 21 verse 14. A gift, brought in sincerity, may settle a quarrel more effectively than many words.
  • ‘Make no friendship with an ANGRY man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul’, chapter 22 verses 24-25. Anger is contagious – it breeds anger! The company we keep shapes our behaviour.
  • ‘Wrath is cruel and ANGER is a torrent but who is able to stand before jealousy? Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the words of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful’, chapter 27 verses 4-6. Anger arises, when we are not honest with each other. We will cope with anger more effectively if we learn to speak the truth, in love, to others. Sadly, we often respond negatively if a friend speaks the truth to us, in love. We would sometimes prefer the insincere words of an enemy!

Concluded

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