Seeing Red: Now...And Forever

“A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise man keeps himself under control.”
-Proverbs 29:11 (NIV)

This is the third devotion in a six part series entitled: “A Rainbow of Emotions”. So far, we’ve talked about envy (green), coward ness (yellow), and now we’re going to focus on anger with red representing that emotion.

The Bible is full of stories of people full of anger; some had very valid reasons for being so and some didn’t. You know, anger is a normal emotion and anger in itself is not a bad thing. It’s how you handle that emotion that can often be the problem.

One person mentioned in the Bible who was full of anger, and did not handle it well was a man by the name of Haman. He was king Xerxes right-hand man. The reason Haman was so angry and full of rage? “All the royal officials at the king's gate knelt down and paid honor to Haman, for the king had commanded this concerning him. But Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor. When Haman saw that Mordecai would not kneel down or pay him honor, he was enraged.” (Esther:3:2-3,5) He was seeing red! He then set out to not only kill Mordecai but destroy all of his people, the Jews throughout the whole kingdom of Xerxes. He built a gallows to hang Mordecai on but ended up being hung on it himself when the king found out about his evil plot. Now Haman will be “seeing red” forever as he spends eternity in a place far away from God and His love.

Yes, anger is a powerful emotion. If not controlled, it can cause you to say things that you never thought you would say. Matthew 12:35 says “For out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” That is so true. I’ve gotten angry before and found myself talking to my wife and my boys in a way that was most ungodly. I didn’t mean to but I let my anger get the best of me. Has that ever happened to you?

If so, then what you need to do (well…what I need to do) is to pray. Get alone with God, take a few deep breaths, and relax. Spend some time talking to your Heavenly Father, the one who made you and understands you like no one else. He will not only help you to calm down, He’ll help you to see why it is that you’re so angry. And then He’ll show you how to deal with it. If you’ll do that, then you will be the wise man mentioned above in Proverbs and not the fool.