Anger Overboard

              Anger Overboard 

Haven't we all been thrown overboard to a sea full of anger? Maybe some of us go down to the depths of this sea too often. One minute we safe on the ship of happiness and our normal daily life and the next minute we allow anger throw us over, we move from zero to a hundred real quick and we begin to act on these feelings. We drop logic and hold on tightly to irrationality.
     This was the story of Simeon and Levi; Leah's sons. In one day these two knuckleheads accelerate with an anger level of 200km/S wipe out an entire clan and kill every single male human species after putting them through the painful decision of having their foreskin cut off by circumcision at a later age. Their loins were hurting and swollen up, one can only imagine the amount of pain they were in, with no pain killers as we have now and definitely no antibiotics so those woundss were probably infected, they just laid there probably had drank alot of alcohol to ease the pain and manage a good afternoon nap, only to be paid a surprise visit by the two brothers, their swords  with anger and vengeance as their driving force and without mercy the did a full massacre ; every single man, they took all their cattle, flock, donkey and everything in the city and fields. A total sweep for the vengeance of the rape of their sister Dinah (Gen.34).
This gruesome act led Jacob to put a curse on his sons rather than a blessing as he lay on his deathbed "a curse be on their anger because it is so fierce... I will scatter them throughout Israel and disperse them among its people" (Gen. 49:5-7).
     Anger is so destructive that it can rob us of a whole lot, from blessings to friendships and meaningful relationships and even from our supposed destinies. Simeon and Levi allowed anger cheat them from their inheritance which was then passed down to their younger brother Judah.
Jacob's proclamations on Simeon went as far as causing Moses in Det.33 to skip the tribe while blessing all other tribes. By the second census (Num.26:14) the tribe of Simeon was the smallest in number and weakest causing them to share territory with Judah fulfilling Jacob's word on dividing and scattering them.
The tribe of Levi, on the other hand, were redeemed from this curse when they took to the service of the Lord and God chose them to be his priests (Ex.32:26-29) restoring honour to these displaced sons of Jacob.
      Ok maybe, we don't go the extra mile with anger like these two but the embarrassing truth is I do find myself in this situation of getting onboard with my feelings, get angry, become very irrational, words start to fly out, my typing speed and the assimilation of words in my head fly to 20 words per second. Now if I get to analyze my anger almost always it is rooted in selfishness; I didn't get my way and I want my way.
    Jonah, Moses and Cain alike all had their share of going overboard with emotions. In Gen.4:6 and Jon.4:4 God changes it here by asking Cain and Jonah respectively, " why are you angry? Do you have a good reason to be angry?" Sadly most times we never have a good enough reason to show this emotion. God asked these questions not to get a reply or an explanation of your outpour rather he seeks to help us think about the situation from his own perspective. Yes, Jonah was angry he wanted God to judge his enemies rather than bring about a revival and forgive them.
Moses was frustrated with the constant complains, ingratitude and unappreciative nature of the Israelites so he broke the commandments.
Cain was jealous and angry about God's refusal of his poor offerings.
Simeon and Levi were soaked and dripping anger after learning that their one and only sister was raped and the kind of gossips that would be spread and the damage it will bring on their reputation.
Yes we all get angry for the different reasons that  may seem right .
But do we really want to make permanent decisions based on temporary emotions? Think about your anger from God's perspective before you go hitting the accelerator on your anger board.
      Now the hardest part is accepting our faults, accepting getting angry is ok but what of when anger becomes a sin? What of when anger encloses our hearts? And our tongues begin to spit out words we do not really mean, and we start to act in the most irrational way.
Guard your heart from it comes the issues of life; anger encroaches into our heart and with its abundance the tongue speaketh, this tongue holds the power of life and death. Now if we can hold back this anger from encroaching at the doors of our hearts and Pierce this tongue and limit this quick hand and add a little patience with a whole lot of holy spirit then we would be good.

"Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don’t use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don’t stay angry. Don’t go to bed angry. Don’t give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life."
Ephesians 4:26‭-‬27 MSG