Anger! Since Long Time Ago
As Far Back As I Could Remember
ANGER (as a secondary emotion), comes from the other three emotions-frustration, fear, and hurt.
God Himself had to take me through some lessons in the area of anger. Every stage of my growing life cannot be recalled without having some demonstration of this emotion.
It was when I obeyed God that the Holy Spirit helped me to draw from some of the experiences I have had in this area in times past, so I could use them to let people know that many have lived with anger since their childhood, or should I rather say, that anger is no longer a stranger to them.
Too many of us have been on a remedial course on this subject-may be occasionally for some, frequently for others, depending on how receptive we are. Remedial classes are themselves not that bad. They are simply carryovers to be done with extra cost. Remedial could serve as a process of relearning in order to bounce back again. But if the lessons and the sacrifices become unfruitful, frustration and disappointment may force the student or the teacher to take a drastic decision.
God and the Israelites
The Israelites, when led through the wilderness towards the promise land by Moses, and later by Joshua, had a lot of carryovers. Several times, God reprimanded them for their negative attitude, and in one occasion, He wanted to wipe them all out and start with Moses alone, but for Moses who pleaded for God’s mercy:
“And the Lord said to Moses, ‘I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! 10. Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation.’ 11.
Then Moses pleaded with the Lord his God, and said: “Lord, why does Your wrath burn hot against Your people whom You have brought out of the land of Egypt with great power and with a mighty hand? 12. Why should the Egyptians speak, and say, ‘He brought them out to harm them, to kill them in the mountains, and to consume them from the face of the earth’? Turn from Your fierce wrath, and relent from this harm to Your people. 13. Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, Your servants, to whom You swore by Your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your descendants as the stars of heaven; and all this land that I have spoken of I give to your descendants, and they shall inherit it forever.’ 14. So the Lord relented from the harm which He said He would do to His people.”(Exodus 32:9-14 KJV)
And the irony is that the same people Moses pleaded for couldn’t even seek God’s face for Moses to obtain pardon, in spite of the fact that they influenced him in disobeying God’s instruction in speaking to the Rock.
The Disciples Of Jesus In A Remedial
It took several appearances after Jesus’s resurrection for the disciples to understand what they ought to have learnt while He was with them physically. In fact one incident was when He appeared to two of them at the village called Emmaus.
“Now behold, two of them were traveling that same day to a village, which was seven miles from Jerusalem. 14. And they talked together of all these things which had happened. 15. So it was, while they conversed and reasoned that Jesus Himself drew near and went with them. 16. But their eyes were restrained, so that they did not know Him. 17. And He said to them, “What kind of conversation is this that you have with one another as you walk and are sad?” 18. Then the one whose name was Cleopas answered and said to Him, “Are You the only stranger in Jerusalem, and have You not known the things which happened there in these days?” 19. And He said to them, “What things?” So they said to Him, “The things concerning Jesus of Nazareth, who was a Prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people, 20. And how the chief priests and our rulers delivered Him to be condemned to death, and crucified Him. 21. But we were hoping that it was He who was going to redeem Israel. Indeed, besides all this, today is the third day since these things happened. 22. Yes, and certain women of our company, who arrived at the tomb early, astonished us. 23. When they did not find His body, they came saying that they had also seen a vision of angels who said He was alive. 24. And certain of those who were with us went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said; but Him they did not see.” 25. Then He said to them, “O foolish ones, and slow of heart to believe in all that the prophets have spoken! 26. Ought not the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” 27. And beginning at Moses and all the Prophets, He expounded to them in all the Scriptures the things concerning Himself.” (Luke 24:13-27)
The book of Acts confirms how Jesus presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, “being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God”. (Acts 1:1-3)
They seriously needed these remedial classes. Mine was in the area of anger for years. Let me give you some practical examples of anger scenarios in my growing years as a teenager before I got saved:
