Bible Reading: Zephaniah 1-3; Revelation 15.
Memory Verse: “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.” Zephaniah 2:3 (KJV).
Be slow to anger implies Anger can be controlled. You can be quick or slow to anger; this is a process which is within your control. No wonder God says in Ephesians 4:26 KJV “Be ye angry, and sin not: let not the sun go down upon your wrath:”
So how do you manage or control your anger? First is to always exercise patience whenever the emotion of anger is triggered. Do not act immediately. Stop to think what line of action should you take such that you will not sin against God. In all your activities, this should be uppermost in your heart. You should not be hasty in your words either, Proverbs 29:20 KJV says “Seest thou a man that is hasty in his words? there is more hope of a fool than of him.”
Some people do not express their anger in words but in silence. A particular couple had a quarrel and decided to give each other silent treatment (where one will not talk to, or answer the call of another). This went on during the day till they went to bed. The wife, being an asthmatic patient, had an attack midnight and was tapping the husband to help her get the inhaler but the man continued the silence treatment without finding out what the wife needed. By the time it was morning when the husband realized what happened at night, the wife was dead from the attack!
So anger could be expressed in silence form as in this case and this is why you should ask yourself of the treatment you are about to give to the offender if it is scriptural.
If the husband had asked himself in this case, he would have convinced himself that keeping malice in any form is unscriptural. So, it is important that you check your action at all times whether it aligns with the word of God.
Related to that is the need to forgive at all times. Remember that Jesus said to Peter, that one should forgive his offenders four hundred and ninety times! “Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.” Matthew 18:22 KJV. So forgive your offender and if you are the offender, then ensure you apologise to the other party.
Then to avoid a repeat of the event that led to your anger, visit the underlying problem and resolve it. Note that your effort should be geared towards solving the problem and not attacking the offender.
In everything you do, it’s important that you seek to please God Almighty even at the point of anger to avoid the anger of God. Zephaniah 2:3 (KJV) says “Seek ye the Lord, all ye meek of the earth, which have wrought his judgment; seek righteousness, seek meekness: it may be ye shall be hid in the day of the Lord’s anger.”
Prayer point: Father, in the mighty name of Jesus Christ, help me to please you at all times even in the face of anger.
Bro. Biodun Oyapero