THINK TOGETHER.
What is the angriest you've ever been?
READ TOGETHER
Proverbs 19:19. A man of great wrath will pay the penalty, for if you deliver him, you will only have to do it again.
Anger (Solomon calls it wrath here) is one of the most dangerous things you can have living inside of you. There is anger that comes and goes depending on the circumstances, and then there is anger that we can carry around with us. That is the anger Solomon is describing here.
I remember when I was 15 and my family moved to a new state and I had to go to a new school, leaving all my friends behind. I was angry. I was angry at my parents, and at my new school, and maybe even at God. I carried that anger with me. And I was paying the penalty. That anger kept me from liking anyone or anything for a while. Anything that made me mad just got added to the anger that already existed.
What about you? Is your anger making things better or worse? Solomon says that unchecked anger always makes things worse. In the second line he says that if you help an angry person you will just have to do it again, and again, and again. What he's saying is that until a person deals with the source of their anger, they will keep getting into trouble over and over again.
God is the only one who can be angry and not let it consume him like a fire. Why? Because God's anger is always from love and justice. God gets angry, but not for his own sake, but for the sake of others who are being hurt. The Trinity gets angry for each other. God's anger is never selfish. How do we know? Because God's greatest anger was poured out on Jesus at the cross, and that was for us, not for himself. The more we look at the cross and trust that God is not angry at us, the more we can be delivered from our anger without it coming back so easily.
Because of Jesus God is not angry at us.
With Jesus we don't have to hold on to anger.
DO SOMETHING TOGETHER
Help your kids to learn how to process their anger rather than carrying it around. Consider a three step process for body, soul, spirit. Body –what is a physical activity they can do to release anger? Soul – what is a song they can sing to calm their soul? Spirit – what is a prayer they can pray to take their anger to God?
PRAY TOGETHER
Jesus, you took God's anger at my sin for me. Now I know that God loves me and delivered me from wrath. Help me to not be controlled by anger any more. Amen.
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