ANGER! 2

There is nothing wrong with getting angry. Anger is just a symptom of something in our relationships or environment that is out of kilter. Many times Moses got angry with the people he was leading. They gave him just cause by their never-ending grumbling about his leadership and the hardships they had to endure in the desert. When he headed for the rock that day under command of the Lord, he had plenty of reason to be angry. The people were once more quarreling with him and wallowing in self-pity over their condition in the desert. They would not even give him time to grieve the death of his sister. It was not that Moses was angry that caused God to judge his servant so harshly. It was what Moses chose to do with his anger that day.

Jesus cautioned his disciples about the power of anger if not handled properly (Matt 5:21-26). If allowed to fester, it becomes the breeding ground for murder. Moses knew this truth firsthand since in anger he had killed a man and then had to flee for his life (Ex 2:11-15).

We all know people in the neighborhood, or dare I say at church, who like Moses, fail to manage their anger properly. The tragedy is that like Moses, they are people filled with great potential but become trapped in resentment. The success of others and the slights, real and imagined, received in this life can lead to an unending cycle of self-pity. For some reason they never learned how to recognize and manage their anger. Angry people very often don’t see themselves as angry. They see themselves more as a victim. By God’s grace this study is intended to help you recognize anger and its power in your life and show you what God does to transform that power through the fruit of the Holy Spirit, joy.