ANGER
ZONE
Numbers
31:14
“Moses
was angry with the officers of the army—the commanders of thousands and
commanders of hundreds—who returned from the battle.”
The flip side of Naturally Joyful is anger. Eight year old Shakira returned to being
happy after getting a splinter removed. But when her friend Violet chose someone else
to play with at the swimming pool, Shakira became angry.
Her face grew red as she stamped off
to the concession stand. Pushing her way
to the front of the counter, she had no idea what she wanted! “May I
help you?” the waiter asked.
Shakira stammered, “Uh, uh. May I please have a pop-cycle?” Then she fumbled getting out her money.
What made Moses angry?
Midian women tempted the Israelite
men into idolatry. So God commanded
Israel to go to war with Midian, and kill them.
But many were left alive.
Moses was angry because the
Israelite army disobeyed God’s command.
But he was so furious, that he couldn’t think straight. Just because we might think that Moses’ anger
was reasonable, it wasn’t okay with God.
God punished Moses because he let
his anger get the upper hand, and lost his cool. Anger threatened Moses’ ability to function
well. God needed Moses at his best to
lead the Israelites.
Abraham Lincoln once noted, “You can
tell the greatness of a man by what makes him angry.” While God may have appreciated Moses’ anger,
He certainly didn’t appreciate Moses’ weakened ability to function well.
Put another way, Proverbs 29:11
says, “A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under
control.” When people get angry, our
minds get clouded, and we don’t function well.
That’s when we do silly things that we regret later.
The word danger has a “d” in front
of the word “anger.” Let’s think of that
“d” to mean “dumb.” Never allow that “d”
destroy what you love. That would be
dumb! So the next time, you’re angry,
stop. Do nothing. Breathe slowly. Feel your calm return. Allow your anger to fade BEFORE you destroy
something or someone you love. Those few moments might save you from a ton of
regret.
Take Home Nugget
Shakira
tossed her pop cycle stick away and ran into Violet. “Where did you go?” Violet asked.
“I figured you were mad when you
didn’t want to throw Frisbee with me.” Shakira said.
Violet explained, “My mom said to be
nice to my next-door neighbor. So I
asked her to throw Frisbee. I was never
angry with you. I can’t stay mad at you,
Shak!”
“Oh.” Shakira said. “I was silly.
Sorry, Vi. What do you want to do
now?”
When we lose our cool, we’re entering
the anger zone.
J.D.
Griffith
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