ANGER ISSUES

By Dr. M. R. Dowler

                                                                                             

There is a portion of land on the Atlantic coast of South West Africa, comprised of portions of the countries of Namibia and Angola, with a couple of rather ominous nicknames. In 1944 English author John Henry Marsh described this 6,200 square mile inhospitable area as The Skeleton Coast. But it was the eye-catching (but grossly inaccurate) name given by the local African tribes, The Land God Made in Anger that garners our focus on the issue of anger.

Anger is an emotion, good or bad. God created human emotions, and emotions, in and of themselves is not a bad thing. Wise King Solomon wrote of the reality and appropriate time for emotions, including anger (Ecclesiastes 3:4, 8). Physiologically, anger originates in the limbic system of the brain. Interestingly, the cerebral cortex is where cognitive thought originates; however, whenever anger is experienced or expressed, the cerebral portion is lessened or suspended. This explains why people in an uncontrollable rage do not have rational thoughts.

Theologically, God expresses anger at times. The eight nouns that describe His anger and wrath in the Old Testament are used 375 times. The most familiar Hebrew word for God’s wrath is chemah, used 85 times to describe God being hot with anger (Deuteronomy 29:23). Following closely to chemah is the Hebrew noun aph, describing God’s wrath as smoke coming from His nostrils (Psalm 18:7-8). The Book of Revelation vividly describes the fierceness of God’s anger being poured out on a world that hates Him (Revelation 14-19).

We all have anger issues from time to time (Ephesians 4:26). From the most-mellow of personalities to the most hostile of behaviors, we all need some sort of anger management (Ephesians 4:31-32; James 1:19-20). There is an old belief that when angry we should count to ten, but experts in physiology and mental health tell us it takes around twenty minutes for the brain to settle the emotions. As children of God, we can be assured of two things---1) God has complete control of His anger, and 2) He deals with His children out of grace and mercy and not anger (Psalm 145:8). Think about it.