WHEN THE HEART BOILS: TURNING ANGER INTO WISDOM

“Anger is like fire in the cooking pot—if you watch it well, it cooks your food; if you ignore it, it burns your house.”

What is anger? What are the root causes of your anger? Do you often have angry thoughts? Why do you feel angry and how do you manage your anger? How do others respond to your anger and how do you feel about the way you manage your anger? These questions when properly answered give clues on the topic under discussion. Literally, Anger is defined as a feeling or showing strong annoyance, displeasure, or hostility; full of anger: “an angry customer” “Anger is a basic human emotion that is experienced by all people. Typically triggered by an emotional hurt, anger is usually experienced as an unpleasant feeling that occurs when we think we have been injured, mistreated, opposed in our long-held views, or when we are faced with obstacles that keep us from attaining personal goals.” “Anger is “an emotional state that varies in intensity from mild irritation to intense fury and rage,” according to Charles Spielberger, PhD, a psychologist who specializes in the study of anger. Like other emotions, it is accompanied by physiological and biological changes; when you get angry, your heart rate and blood pressure go up, as do the levels of your energy hormones, adrenaline, and noradrenaline. Anger can be caused by both external and internal events. You could be angry at a specific person (such as a coworker or supervisor) or event (a traffic jam, a canceled flight), or your anger could be caused by worrying or brooding about your personal problems. Memories of traumatic or enraging events can also trigger angry feelings.”

Anger, Rage, Aggression by Psychology Today went further to describe, “Anger as one of the basic human emotions, as elemental as happiness, sadness, anxiety, or disgust. These emotions are tied to basic survival and were honed over the course of human history. Anger is related to the “fight, flight, or freeze” response of the sympathetic nervous system; it prepares humans to fight. But fighting doesn’t necessarily mean throwing punches. It might motivate communities to combat injustice by changing laws or enforcing new norms. Of course, anger too easily or frequently mobilized can undermine relationships or damage physical health in the long term. Prolonged release of the stress hormones that accompany anger can destroy neurons in areas of the brain associated with judgment and short-term memory, and weaken the immune system. For those who struggle with chronic anger, or for those who only experience occasional outbursts, learning skills to identify and navigate this powerful emotion can lead to growth and change.

“We usually think of anger in negative terms: unhappiness, unpredictability, danger, aggression, impatience, and other feelings or reactions that aren’t considered especially healthy or helpful. But in certain situations, anger can be a helpful emotion. It might motivate you to leave a toxic workplace or relationship, solve a perplexing problem, fight for a righteous cause, or take other actions that hold at least the potential of being rewarding and satisfying.” Toketemu Ohwovoriole on Understanding Anger  describes, “Anger is an intense emotion you feel when something has gone wrong or someone has wronged you. It is typically characterized by feelings of stress, frustration, and irritation. Everyone feels anger from time to time. It’s a perfectly normal response to frustrating or difficult situations. Anger only becomes a problem when it’s excessively displayed and begins to affect your daily functioning and the way you relate with people. Anger can range in intensity, from a slight annoyance to rage. It can sometimes be excessive or irrational. In these cases, it can be hard to keep emotion in check and could cause you to behave in ways you wouldn’t otherwise behave. Characteristics :When we are angry our body goes through certain biological and physiological changes. Examples of biological changes your body might go through include: *Increased energy levels *Raised blood pressure *Spike in hormones like adrenaline and noradrenaline *Increase in body temperature  *Increased muscle tension. Anger doesn’t look the same in everyone, and we all express it in diverse ways. Some outward characteristics you might notice when you are angry include. +Raised voices +Clenched fists +Frowning or scowling +A clenched jaw +Physically trembling +Rapid heartbeats +Sweating excessively and +Pacing excessively.

Apostle Paul commences each of his epistle with salutation such as, “Grace to you and peace from God, our father and Lord Jesus Christ.” (Phil 1:2). Sometimes the salutation includes mercy, in when grace and peace, and in each letter, grace always precedes peace. The work of grace needs to be accomplished in our hearts before peace will reside there. God usually do a work of grace upon us and within us if we shall ever know peace (Phil 4:7). It became necessary to know and understand as well as evaluate our anger with spiritual illumination and spiritual discernment. Our anger must have spiritual undertone and yielded up to God for His purpose and glory. Where our anger is to confront unjust suffering, it is considered righteous. On the other hand, unrighteous (selfish) anger occurs where it triggers resentment, rage and pride in believer’s heart that signifies absent of Christ.

Warren Handerson on Managing Anger God’s way illuminates, “Anger is an emotion, not a behavior. It is neither good nor bad, though it excites good or bad behavior depending upon the spiritual condition of our inner man. For many, anger has become an expensive luxury for selfish abuse. In recent years, the number of individuals in anger counseling has escalated -one of the results of a self-seeking culture. A society characterized by child abuse, immorality, broken homes disrespect to authority and poor child training is destined to experience an anger epidemic – From road rage to terrorism, acts of rage dominate our news reports. Anger and death will rule a society that has drifted apart from God, for life and peace are only obtained through Jesus Christ (John1:4, 16:33).

“Anger is one of the most powerful and assertive emotion God conferred on mankind the day He breathed into Adam’s nostril, the breath of life. Anger would enable man to serve God and His follow man during alarming circumstances when other emotions would be simply inadequate.” “Aristotle once said, “Anybody can become angry that’s easy. But to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose and in the right way -that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. Through the scripture we understand  Anger and its usage. Through the indwelling Holy Spirit, Christians often yield his/her anger to bring about righteousness for God’s glory. Eph 4:26  says, “Be angry and do not sin, do not let the sun go down on your wrath. ”Commenting on the verse, Charles Spurgeon illuminates, “There can hardly be goodness in man if he be not angry at sin, he who loves truth must hate every false way.” It’s also believing that righteous anger is godly and bestows blessing while unrighteous anger vents wrath, harbors resentment that ends in havoc. God’s desires for anger seen in this righteous character and revealed precepts to liberate those held bondage that brings glory to Him. For our soul to have peace, we invest the peace to allow cleansing, healing, emotional scars, abandon selfish bents and experience forgives – both for God and our own. When we chose to uphold the righteousness of God when angry, God is honored .

God’s anger is directed to unrighteous conduct of his creatures that possess a free moral will, namely: angels and humans. I)God is highly angry with the wicked every day (Psalm 7:11); ii) God is holy in nature and therefore cannot sin (Psalm 30:4, 111:9); iii) For the Lord is righteous, He loves righteousness (Psalm 11:7). Whatever is apart from God is sin. God’s anger comes as a righteous emotion, in response to unholy conduct, affirms that anger itself is not a sin. If we are confronted with situation that prompt our anger, we must ensure it glorify and honor God; neither to serve our selfish ends nor hurt others.

The scripture contains examples of God’s righteous anger and subsequent wrath. Sodom and Gomorrah were incinerated. Egypt was plagued and Korah was swallowed alive into the belly of the earth (Rom 15:4). The most notable example over man’s sin is seen in the flood of Noah’s day (Gen 6-8. Gen 6:5 says, The LORD saw how great the wickedness of humanity had become on the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of the human heart was only evil all the time (NIV). 5 The LORD observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. New Living Translation (NLT). And God saw the wickedness of man was great in the earth, That it spread throughout the earth, wherever it was inhabited by men, both among the posterity of Cain and Seth, and who indeed now were mixed together, and become one people: this respects actual transgressions, the wicked actions of men, and those of the grosser sort, which were “multiplied”^F18 as the word also signifies; they were both great in quality and great in quantity; they were frequently committed, and that everywhere; the degeneracy was become universal; there was a flood of impiety that spread and covered the whole earth, before the deluge of waters came, and which was the cause of it. and [that], every imagination of the thoughts of his heart [was] only evil continually: the heart of man is evil and wicked, desperately wicked, yea, wickedness itself, a fountain of iniquity, out of which abundance of evil flows, by which it may be known in some measure what is in it, and how wicked it is; but God, that sees it, only knows perfectly all the wickedness of it, and the evil that is in it: the “thoughts” of his heart are evil; evil thoughts are formed in the heart, and proceed from it; they are vain, foolish, and sinful, and abominable in the sight of God, by whom they are seen, known, and understood afar off: the “imagination” of his thoughts is evil, the formation of them; they were evil while forming….

In all, eight 8 souls were saved from God’s wrath because they enter the Noah’s boat built by faith. Noah simply took God by His word, and it was counted to him as righteousness. The Ark itself is a type of Christ. The ark pictures the safety that Christ offers to all who enters His own body, the Church by faith. The Ark had only one door and only God could shut it (Gen 6:16, 7:16). In the same manner, the Lord Jesus said He was the only door (John 10:9) the only way (John 14:6). He bore the judgment of God for man’s sin once and for all (Heb 9:26). The Lord said, “Whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die (John 11:26). God’s judicial anger will be expressed against all those who reject His gracious invitation to repent and be saved.

MentalHealth.com on The Psychology of Anger opine, “It’s important to understand that anger isn’t an emotion to be eliminated, but rather one to be channeled in constructive ways. Happiness and contentment aren’t enough to tackle all of life’s challenges. We need the full complement of emotions to succeed in jobs, relationships, and the day-to-day matters that affect us directly or indirectly. But because of the risks associated with poorly controlled anger, it’s good to know how to manage this emotional response.” Anger can be constructive or destructive. When well-managed, anger or annoyance has very few detrimental health or interpersonal consequences. At its roots, anger is a signal to you that something in your environment isn’t right. It captures your attention and motivates you to take action to correct that wrong thing. How you end up handling the anger signal has particularly important consequences for your overall health and welfare, however. When you express anger, your actions trigger others to become defensive and angry too. Blood pressure raises and stress hormones flow. Violence can ensue. You may develop a reputation as a dangerous ‘loose cannon’ whom no one wants to be around. Out of control anger alienates friends, co-workers and family members. It also has a clear relationship with health problems and early mortality. Hostile, aggressive anger not only increases your risk for an early death, but also your risk for social isolation, which itself is a major risk factor for serious illness and death. These are but two of the reasons why learning to responsibly manage anger is a good idea.

Ohwovoriole adds Addressing and Coping:  Finding ways to cope with anger is particularly important. When we allow anger to take control of our lives, it can affect everything we do. It can damage relationships with our loved ones and cause problems in our workplace. If you’ve been finding it difficult to keep your anger in check in certain situations, here are a couple of coping mechanisms that can help.

• Identify the Cause: The first step to coping with anger is identifying the root cause of your anger. It could be another emotion—one of fear or loneliness. It could be an altercation you had or an unpleasant thought that came to mind.
• Meditate: Meditation is beneficial in helping to control human emotions. You can start with simple meditation techniques like deep breathing exercises. When faced with a situation that makes you angry, take a second before reacting. You can take several deep breaths to calm yourself or try to count until you feel calmer.
• Work Out: Exercising isn’t simply great for your physical health—it’s also beneficial for your mental health. It’s also a way to channel out emotions like anger in a useful and productive way. Going for a quick run or swimming when you are angry could help defuse the emotion.
• Let It Out: Don’t bottle your anger up. Expressing your anger when you feel it is the healthiest way to get through it. Bottling up the emotion is most likely to cause a sudden and intense outburst when you least expect it.
• Avoid Triggers: If you are quick to become angry, it’s useful to try to identify and avoid your triggers. If you are often triggered when having a conversation with a particular person or about a particular topic, avoid them or that topic until you’ve learned how to have better control over your anger.