Getting mad is not a problem. But it might very soon lead to a problem, depending on what you do with your anger. God created our negative emotions for good and for our benefit. But only if we submit our emotions to His control will we look back and truthfully say they benefitted us. An out of control sequence example follows: Bitterness can slow burn to wrath - anger - clamor - evil speaking; many of these emotions can hurt others (and yourself) in ways we cannot afford. The best way to avoid this is to try to resolve our anger before we go to sleep (in a timely non-procrastinating manner).
On the other side of this coin we can sometimes use anger as fuel to advocate for a higher cause than is currently even considered. Such is the case when Jesus overturned the money-changer tables in the temple, telling them that they had turned His Father’s “House of Prayer” into a “den of thieves.” His obvious anger left them no room to wonder if they had done wrong. They scattered quickly.
But if a pattern of only considering ourselves persists, out focus will remain on ourselves, our feelings, and we can become unaware or uncaring about wrongly hurting the feelings of others. Another bad outcome is when anger escalates and often explodes. This can even play out as “two terrorists blowing each other up.”
Mothers Against Drunk driving have channeled their hurt and anger into constructive advocacy against loss of life due to driving and drinking. It is also possible to let God channel hurt and anger into a result of treating others the way He has treated us. Some things are not possible for us to forgive in our own strength. But IF we have experienced forgiveness and love from God, and we then submit our own hurt and anger to Him, He can exchange it and enable us to forgive and love others who wrongfully hurt us.
Some of you have read or heard about such cases, such as finding strength to forgive a murderer. If God has turned your angry emotions around and exchanged them like this, I’d like to hear about it. I have had such an experience related to the unnecessary death of my wife in a local hospital.
