Anger is an acid that can do more harm
To the vessel in which it is stored
Than to anything on which it is poured…
Mark Twain
Be ye angry, and sin not:
let not the sun go down upon your wrath:
Neither give place to the devil.
(Ephesians 4:26 -27)
Many years ago as a child, my father having returned from Jamaica brought a record [a primitive form of music] with him. The title of the song was Desiderata. It was a poem set to music. The original poem was written in 1927 by Max Ehrmann. Those of you who know the poem might be wondering what it has to do with the topic. Follow me for a while and you will see.
The apostle James in the book of the same name chapter 4 verses 1 and 2 give us our starting point.
From whence come wars and fightings among you? come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?
Ye lust, and have not: ye kill, and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.
(James 4:1-2)
James asks the question “where does all the fighting come from?” he then goes on to tell us that many time the starting point for our anger and fighting, is jealousy. The desire to have what someone else has and you do not.
Max Ehrmann in his poem gives us a warning about this when he writes…
If you compare yourself with others, you may become vain or bitter,
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Genesis 4 tells us that after Adam and Eve were cast out of the Garden of Eden that Eve gave birth to a son by the name of Cain followed by a son named Abel. We are not told the age difference between the two males. Whether it was a year, two, five, or ten we don’t know. What we do know is that Cain was a farmer whilst his brother became a shepherd. We know that there came a time when an offering was given by the brothers to God. Adam must have taught his sons something because both men brought offerings. Cain from his harvest, and Abel from his flocks.
And here is where the warning from the Desiderata can be seen to come into play.
The bible tells us that when the offerings were made:
And in process of time it came to pass, that Cain brought of the fruit of the ground an offering unto the LORD.
And Abel, he also brought of the firstlings of his flock and of the fat thereof. And the LORD had respect unto Abel and to his offering:
But unto Cain and to his offering he had not respect. And Cain was very wroth, and his countenance fell.
(Genesis 4:4-5)
Cain compared his offering to that of his brother and in his vanity felt that his offering was as good as Abel’s but when God rejected it he became bitter, grew angry and as the youth would say began to ‘screwface’.
Even at this point there was hope as God warned Cain…
And the LORD said unto Cain, Why art thou wroth? and why is thy countenance fallen?
If thou doest well, shalt thou not be accepted? and if thou doest not well, sin lieth at the door.
(Genesis 4:6-7)
The sad thing about this is that he did what Paul told the Ephesians to not do; he allowed the sun to go down on his wrath. In doing this he gave it time to fester and grow and in a short space of time to be unleashed on his unsuspecting brother.
Imagine how different things would have been if Cain had listened when God spoke to him. If instead of getting angry, he had approached Abel and offered a trade of food for a lamb to sacrifice, unfortunately Cain chose the way that…
‘…seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.’
(Proverbs 14:12 and 16:25)
We know the end result of Cain’s choice.
We are told that later Cain talked with Abel. What their conversation was about we will never know but we know that the result was that Cain lost his temper and murdered his brother. The first physical death to occur, was not an accident or old age but murder.
In the book of Matthew in his sermon on the mount Jesus says the following:
Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, Thou shalt not kill; and whosoever shall kill shall be in danger of the judgment:
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
(Matthew 5: 21 22)
The word ‘Raca’ that is used by Jesus is of Chaldee origin and means – empty one, or more literally, thou worthless one (it was used as a term of utter vilification). Jesus literally says that to be angry without cause and curse your brother is the same as killing him.
Have you gotten angry at someone and said something that you wish you could have taken back or not even said in the first place?
What are the lessons that Cain has left for us?
Be happy with who you are.
By all means seek to improve yourself; there is nothing wrong with that. But do it for the right reasons not because someone else is doing so. Comparing yourself to others is a dangerous path. Even if it doesn’t lead you to destroying another person it can lead to destroying yourself. What happens when you compare yourself to someone who can do things that you cannot? You end up poisoning yourself. Your anger becomes a bitterness which eats away at you from the inside.
Be willing to admit when you are wrong.
David [who we will look at later] was a man who did wrong yet was called a friend of God. Why? It was because no matter what he did, he never tried to blame someone else for his failures; he owned up to them and changed his ways accordingly.
Never hold on to anger.
Had Cain kept his head and stayed cool Genesis 4 would have read differently. Cain failed because when God told him to put away his anger, he held on to it. Some of us hold on to hurts that were inflicted on us many years ago. These hurts fester and rob us of the full joy of serving God, and like lava in a volcano bubble away below the surface just waiting for the eruption to come spewing out.
Cain is the poster child for the dangers of anger. However everything that has been said comes with a caveat. When Paul wrote to the Ephesians he said: Be ye angry, and sin not:
Does that mean there is a time that you can be angry without sinning? YES!
And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves…
(Matthew 21:12)
And they come to Jerusalem: and Jesus went into the temple, and began to cast out them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves;
(Mark 11:15)
And the Jews’ Passover was at hand, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem,
And found in the temple those that sold oxen and sheep and doves, and the changers of money sitting:
And when he had made a scourge of small cords, he drove them all out of the temple, and the sheep, and the oxen; and poured out the changers’ money, and overthrew the tables;
(John 2:13-15)
Remember what Jesus said in the Sermon on the Mount?
But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause…
There were people doing business in the house of God, buying and selling and in a lot of cases doing so dishonestly. Not only were they wrong in what they were doing they were doing it in the wrong place. Seeing them defile the temple this way angered Jesus, yet there was no sin in what he did. There was a just cause for his anger… it was a righteous anger.
The next time you feel yourself getting angry over something ask yourself the question…
Is this a righteous anger?
Do I have the right to be angry?
One last thing to note is that after venting his anger, Jesus did not hold onto his anger but he showed his compassion.
And said unto them, It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves
And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.
And when the chief priests and scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children crying in the temple, and saying, Hosanna to the Son of David; they were sore displeased;
(Matthew 21:13-15)
Max Ehrmann tells not to compare ourselves to others its dangerous…
God tells us that anger allows sin to lie at the door…
Mark Twain called anger an acid that eats away…
Paul tells us to be angry and sin not…
Cain
- Compared himself to his brother and found himself wanting
- Got angry
- Allowed his anger to grow
- Murdered his brother
My encouragement to you is to constantly keep checking yourself… or better yet find someone you can talk to in times of stress and anger, someone who will pray and advise you. Surround yourself with people who will bring positive things into your life. Seek God and his word and trust it.
So until the next time…
The Lord bless thee, and keep thee:
The Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:
The Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace.
MARNATHA.
