When My Anger Feels Too Big

Devotional

Ever shake up a soda and then open it?

You can't stop it. It's already going. It's all over the counter before you even move your hand.

Anger can be like that. One second you're fine. The next second your fists are tight and words are coming out that you did not plan on saying. And then you're standing there looking at the mess.

Here's something that might surprise you. Anger isn't always wrong.

God gets angry. He's angry at bullying. He's angry when people get treated like they don't matter. So the feeling itself isn't the problem.

The problem is when anger grabs the steering wheel.

That's why the Bible says something kind of strange: "Be angry and do not sin."

Read that again. It doesn't say never be angry. It says you can feel it without letting it wreck things.

So how? When it's filling up your whole chest, how do you keep it from taking over?

The Bible gives you two things to do.

**First, slow down.**

"Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger."

Fast to listen. Slow to talk. Look at that order. When you feel it rising, you don't have to say anything right that second. You can close your mouth. You can breathe. You can go to another room.

That doesn't make the anger disappear. It just means you're not letting it do the talking.

**Second, tell God.**

"Pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us."

Pour out. That's not tidy. That means you can bring the messiest, angriest version of it straight to God without fixing it up first.

You don't have to sound calm. He can take it. A refuge is a safe place, and a safe place is exactly where you go when things feel dangerous inside you.

And there's one more thing worth knowing.

Sometimes anger is sitting on top of something else. Underneath it there might be hurt. Or feeling embarrassed. Or something that just wasn't fair.

The psalm says to get quiet on your bed and think about it. When you get still, you can start to see what's actually under there.

And here's the best part.

Jesus got angry and never once sinned in it. He turned over tables in the temple because people were using God's house wrong. But he never lost control, and he was always gentle with people who were hurting.

He did that perfectly. And when you don't, that's covered too. You can tell him. You can come back.

So next time it feels too big for your body:

You're allowed to feel it. You're not allowed to let it run you.

Slow down. Tell God the truth. Look underneath.

He isn't scared of your anger.

He's bigger than it.