Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE ANGRY FACE

This entry was posted on 10-27-2009 and is filed under ANGER.

"So Cain was very angry and his face was downcast. The the LORD said to Cain, 'Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it" (Gen. 4:5-7 NIV).

Someone has observed that the word "anger" is only one letter short of "danger." Philip Henry noted, "When anger was in Cain's heart, murder was not far off." Cain became the world's first murderer - all because of unchecked anger. In his paper "THe Awful Action of Anger" (www.focusonthescriptures.com) James S. Davis, a Christian businessman, writes as follows. The action of anger is a major destroyer of relationships. It is the major cause of broken marriages. We see it in our schools where children, influenced by anger, are killing and injuring classmates. We see it in our churches. We see it in our workplaces. We see it in the halls of Congress and in our State legislatures. Anger is at the very center of wars. We see it almost daily in the international arena. In addition to all this, anger adversely affects the physical health of all.

The Bible has nothing good to say about awful action of anger. The Bible says, "The anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God" (James 1:20 NASB). We may think that anger can accomplish God's righteousness, but God says it does not. Who are you going to believe - the so-called "experts" or God? I go with God. We must learn to master the impulses or triggers that lead to anger. It can be done. With the help of God's Holy Spirit I am slowly but surely learning to "lay aside all anger" (Col. 3:8). You can too. More on this tomorrow.

Hymn: Angry words! O let them never from my tongue unbridled slip; may the heart's best impulse ever check them ere they soil the lip. "Love one another," thus saith the Savior; Children, obey the Father's blest command... (Written by an anonymous "Sunday School Teacher" in 1867).