Anger can be a soul destroyer when we allow it to be our ruler. Anger is an emotion that we were created with and it has a purpose, it's what we do when we are angry that is usually the problem. If you're like me you have found yourself in sin with anger being at the root of it. Perhaps you have reacted with hateful words that unless anger motivated them, you would not have spoken.
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, Ephesians 4:27
Anger and our response to it is not a surprise to God, but it can be to others and even ourselves at times. Anger can come forth with such violence that we are astonished at our own reactions. When anger speaks it often defiles the atmosphere. Anger is a hungry soul ruler and it knows if it can root in deeply, it can bring friends such as violence and hate. However, much of the time anger in itself is not the root but rather a symptom of a deeper issue, a wounded soul.
Anger is a product of wounds, our souls and hearts are hurt and those hurts can cause us to react out of a wrong spirit. We are warned, But if you bite and devour one another, beware lest you be consumed by one another! Galatians 5:15. This word bite is a metaphor for wound the soul, cut lacerate, or rend with reproach. These are the very things our angry words cause us to do to others and the very thing that happened to us to cause us to hurt others. A faithful saying, "hurting people hurt people." Sadly, most of us have no understanding of how to control anger when it emerges from a leaky and infectious soul wound. There is a way to control anger but it is not man's way. A manifestation of the fruit of Holy Spirit is self-control which means to master one's passions, and anger is a violent passion of the mind excited by a real or supposed injury. Anger is often a passionate response to a fearfully controlling or pridefully generated thought and the Bible tells us that A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel. Pro 15:18.
Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Ecc 7:9 ESV When anger lodges in a person's heart it becomes quite difficult to dislodge, this is because anger grows into various degrees such as fury, indignation, rage, and wrath. Usually these increased manifestations of anger are a result of resentment and bitterness rooted in one's heart or soul. This requires forgiving the perpetrator and blessing him or her, even forgiving yourself. Once a person releases forgiveness and begins to bless another then the Holy Spirit can begin to bear the fruit of self-control. Our job is to release and then let God work through His Spirit in us. In and of ourselves we are not able to produce the fruit of self control because it isn't ours, it's a result of allowing God's Spirit to live in us and rule our souls.
The lack of knowledge of God causes people to be destroyed for various reasons. The lips of the righteous feed many, But fools die for lack of understanding. Pro 10:21 Interesting how knowledge, wisdom and understanding are all compared to as food. This is because knowing God is food for the soul, Jesus Christ is the Bread of life and The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction. Pro 1:7 KJV
When we get angry because of correction it is usually because of pride which is closely associated to a wrong identity. Pride can cause people to burst out in anger but not so with a person who has knowledge of God and who He is, because that person is insightful and A person’s insight gives him patience, and his virtue is to overlook an offense. Pro 19:11 HSCB If we know God, we will know who we are because we are identified in His image.
Apostle Peter writes in 2 Peter of how we are to add self control to our knowledge and then perseverance which is patience. These are moral qualities that go hand and hand for a believer who is actively seeking to know God. Thayer's Greek Lexicon defines the word knowledge in 2 Peter as moral wisdom such as right living.
5 For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;6 and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;7 and to godliness, mutual affection; and to mutual affection, love. 8 For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 2 Peter 1:5-8 NIV
Apostle Paul cried out Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and His ways past finding out! Rom 11:33 God's wisdom and knowledge should be considered as precious riches and a treasure that we should desire to seek and find.
If we are ever going to win the battles over our soul in the area of anger, we are going to have to apply the knowledge of God to every area of our lives and give no place to the devil. Jesus Christ died so we would be victorious over comers filled with faith when He returns, not so we can be weighed down with the condemnation that comes when a person a loses self control and fails to have a disciplined tongue! The Bible instructs us on how important it is to speak with caution because our words our powerful and in them are death and life.
Death and life are in the power of the tongue, and those who love it will eat its fruits. Proverbs 18:21
An angry tongue stirs up strife but a gentle word will turn away wrath, therefore, be sure to season your words with salt and life lest your own words condemn you.