Anger is a declaration that something is wrong.

Anger is an urge to fix what we think is wrong. 

Anger is energy that needs to be managed. 

Anger can do good things, if it protects someone being truly abused, including ourselves. 

But anger can do bad things if: 

1) The information that made us angry is incorrect. 

2) If the purpose of anger is self-benefitting, beyond what is appropriate. 

    (people can manufacture anger to profit themselves)

3) If the anger damages someone who is innocent. 

A good anger can include being angry for ourselves or for someone we love. 

Barton got angry at times; like the time his brothers sold his parents’ farm and left him out of it. And his mystery-ditty talked about him ‘working for the least of what someone would pay’. Which meant he sometimes worked for selfish people, who didn’t care how he got by on what little they paid him. Even so, Barton was said to be a peaceable man, but knew the difference between right and wrong and spoke out when necessary, as he did for Nevin. 

Anger has two basic sources: 

1) An injured sense of justice, toward ourselves or others. 

2) The response of a brat or a bully who isn’t getting their way. This is an inappropriate sense of injustice.

     (Some people feel cheated if everyone doesn't worship them.)

Under both types of anger, there can be fear.  Fear, caused by a sense of injustice, is the typical root of human anger. 

Have you ever scared someone, then had to run because they tried to hit you? This is the fear/anger response. 

What about the people who don’t seem get to angry when they are bullied; only scared? 

They get angry...later. 

I used to be bullied as a kid, and I spent a lot of time daydreaming about getting revenge. 

Yep. Bullies need to think about that, but bullied kids need to protect their hearts, so they don’t explode in a way

It’s easy for someone who has been bullied to think that no one likes them.

That is the backstory of a lot of school-shooters. 

This means getting correct information before we get scared, because a lot of anger is based in fear. 

Even if you are kind of a scaredy-cat, like I was at your age, you will feel anger at times. 

And if you are angry, what are you scared of?  Dissect your anger and locate the fear. 

Then, see if there is a solution. When I was bullied as a kid, it wasn’t that I was afraid of pain. 

I just didn’t want to be made fun of, or hated; and bullies are haters that just won’t leave you alone. 

When you see the adults in your life arguing, consider this, and innocently show them this page. 

(If you feel safe doing that). 

Does God get angry? Consider this:

Psalm 86:15 reminds us, 

“But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.”

If fear causes anger, then God has to be  'slow to anger', because who is God afraid of? Who COULD He be afraid of?

God is afraid of no one. But that does not mean He never gets angry for others, and the abuse they suffer.

We humans fear so many things, and that is why so many people are angry. Because we are afraid.

We all know we are weak, each in our own way.

Eric J. Rose 

middlegrademysteries.com 

photo: baptistnews.com