Today we learned that God does get angry. Matter of fact, the Bible tells us that God "feels indignation every day." (Psalm 7:11). Jesus also got angry. When he entered the temple and overturned the tables of the money-changers, he even made a whip of cords. While in the synagogue in Capernaum, "he looked around at them (Pharisees) with anger..." (Mark 3:5).
The anger that God and Jesus displayed in the Bible was without sin. The anger that God feels every day, and the recorded events in the Bible of Jesus' anger is and was for the right reasons. "The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord..." (1 Kings 11:9). Paul tells us in Romans that "God's anger is being revealed from heaven against all impiety (lack of reverence) and against the iniquity of men who through iniquity suppress the truth." (Romans 1:18). The anger Jesus had in Capernaum was because he "...grieved at their (Pharisees) hardness of heart..." (Mark 3:5).
As we learn more about how to deal with Crazy Makers, much of our effort must center around self examination. We can't change others, but we can learn to react in a way that will bring glory to God. It requires that we be surrendered to the power of the Holy Spirit. We must grow in knowledge and wisdom if we are to be successful dealing with Crazy Makers. It will also ensure that we do not become Crazy Makers to others. Taking our knowledge beyond the classroom is dependent upon the priority we place on walking with God. "The fear of the Lord is the beginning...". (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10).
In today's lesson, I pointed out our brain's center of emotions--the amygdala. Located in the physical center of the head, the amygdala receive inputs from all of our senses and unconsciously processes those senses. It then sends signals to the body to prepare the body to react to a perceived threat, or to anticipate pleasure. In the case of a threat, fear and anger will manifest themselves in a similar physiological way: muscles tense up, burst of energy, increased heart rate, rise in blood pressure, increase rate of breathing, face becomes flush, and a release of adrenaline and noradrenalin. When someone "pushes your buttons", you will feel these sensations. It is then up to you to manage the body's natural survival instincts. (Look at slides 20 and 21 to see facts about Jesus' anger)
Anger is learned and can be unlearned, or you might say, the way we respond to our fear/anger can be learned. In this lesson we discussed the 5 ways to disarm button-pushers (slides 25-30). It requires hard work and training to ensure that our bodies respond and behave in a way that always brings glory to God. It takes a complete surrender to the power of the Holy Spirit. We MUST learn to fear the Lord and a life of apathy, impiety, and iniquity--things that make God angry.
The slides from today's lesson are below. Next week, our You Make Me Crazy study will continue with a lesson titled: "How to Resolve Conflict".
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