This is the second part in a three-part blog series addressing the problem of anger from Psalm 4:4-5. Check out part 1 here.
Be angry, and do not sin; ponder in your own hearts on your beds and be silent. Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. Psalm 4:4-5
Step 3: Think about it.
What do you do when you lie down at night before you go to sleep? I think. A LOT! The lights go out, the conversation stops, the breathing slows, the house grows quiet, and the thinking begins. Sometimes the thoughts flow so rapidly that I can’t even catch, process, or manage them until they are gone, and I am off in another direction. But the psalmist says here to intentionally ponder, meditate, think, process, work through, focus, and answer the questions of our hearts.
Answer the questions of your heart.
Lying in your bed before you go to sleep is a fantastic place to ask the Lord to answer the deep questions of your heart.
In this case, the question that needs to be answered is, “Why am I angry?”
So, why are you angry? Think about it in this moment.
Seriously, take 30 seconds right now to breathe, feel, and think.
I believe many people walk around in a low-grade state of ticked off and they haven’t stopped to ponder on their beds and wonder why. Go back to the first point: you are angry.
No, really. You likely are.
Maybe we should start being a little more ok with that and work through it.
So, naturally, the next logical step is what are you going to do about it, right?
Wrong.
Step 4: Shut up.
That’s right! Zip it! Close the pie hole! Honestly, this is such good stuff from the one who made us in His image. God gets angry, He knows how anger can be a great force for good or for evil, and He knows what we need when we need it. And as God is my witness, boy do we ever need more shutting up. For real, there is more than enough anger, vitriol, trolling, raging, vengeance, shutting down, owning, tearing down, irate people out there talking a whole bunch of trash, devaluing everyone who does something even slightly provocative toward us and the world.
Enough of that!
How about more restraint?
Where words are many, transgression is not lacking, but whoever restrains his lips is prudent. ~ Proverbs 10:19
A fool’s lips walk into a fight, and his mouth invites a beating. A fool’s mouth is his ruin, and his lips are a snare to his soul. ~ Proverbs 18:6-7
…the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things. How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire! And the tongue is a fire, a world of unrighteousness. The tongue is set among our members, staining the whole body, setting on fire the entire course of life, and set on fire by hell. ~ James 3:5-6
How many people have been offended by a shinbone? How much damage has been done by an elbow tendon? How many people have you hurt with your belly button?
How about your tongue?
Shutting up is the best course of action in our anger.
One of the fruits of the Spirit is self-control, not owning people and popping off on them (even in your mind).
Seriously, zip it. God says.
Part 3 coming October 3, 2022.