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

IS IT ALL RIGHT TO VENT?

This entry was posted on 10-29-2009 and is filed under ANGER.

"A fool vents all his feelings, but a wise man holds them back" (Prov. 29:11 NKJV). Is it all right to vent our anger? Dr. S. I. McMillan (None of These Diseases) disputes this popular notion. "The idea goes back to Freud, who pictured people as emotional teapots. Unventilated rage, like trapped steam, built up emotional pressure. If you didn't release the anger, it could explode." Hence the term "blowing off steam." But Dr. McMillan reminds us: "'Letting off steam' may be a great picture, but you and I aren't teapots. Study after study has reached the same conclusion: Hashing and rehashing anger does not release anger; it rekindles it, reinforces it, and reaffirms it. The Bible says, 'A fool gives full vent to anger, but a wise person quietly holds it back' (Prov. 29:11 NLT). God's Word - not Freud's - has stood the test of time.

Sometimes we try to justify our anger as righteous indignation and point to Jesus as an example. "Even Jesus got angry." He once looked at people "in anger" (Mark 3:5) when He healed the man with a withered hand. And what about when He drove the moneychangers from the temple? "Jesus got mad so I can get angry" seems to be the rationale. Was Jesus out of control in these two instances? I think not. Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament says, "In biblical Greek the word orge is from orgao, to teem, denoting an internal motion." James S. Davis ("The Awful Action of Anger") notes that Jesus' reaction to the scribes and Pharisees in the case of the man with the withered hand was inward, sympathetic, grieved at the hardness of their heart; it was not orgidzomai - the action of anger. Jesus was without sin (Heb. 4:15). And Jesus was not a fool - one who gives full vent to anger!

Prayer: Patient and loving Father, as You calmed the angry seas in response to Your Son's command, calm the angry waves that rise up in my heart. Give me Your peace in the midst of my stormy heart. Through Christ I pray.