Overcoming Anger: Embrace Humility and Trust God

My wife and I recently took a great trip to Nashville to celebrate our 20th anniversary. We walked over 10 miles, visited the sites, listened to some good music, and ate well. We were shocked to see the extent of Hurricane Helene’s devastation along the Pigeon River as we traveled the two-lane I-40 through western NC. I’m unsure how they plan to rebuild the mountainside to support the eastbound lane. Thankfully, greater minds than mine are working on it. 

Somewhere between Nashville and Knoxville on our return trip, I scanned radio stations and landed on a preacher preaching on Jesus’s teaching in Matthew 5:21-26 about anger. I’m always intrigued when I come across someone preaching on the radio, so I paused for a few minutes to listen to what he had to say. He was “bringing the heat,” as they say. The part of the sermon that stuck with me (I don’t remember whole sermons either) was when he gave his explanation for why there are so many angry and bitter people in our world (and the church). He said, 

“We get mad and bitter when we try to fix things we don’t like about ourselves or that have happened to us. We don’t have the power to do that, but it doesn’t stop us. We fail. We get irritated with our failure. We try to fix the things that caused our failure. We fail again. We get frustrated again. The cycle will continue, leaving us consumed by anger and bitterness. This is why there are so many bitter and angry people in our world. They’re trying to fix themselves, other people, and our society, and they can’t. It makes them mad.” 

He’s right. You, like me, are probably too familiar with this cycle. You’ve been frustrated by a failure, tried to fix it yourself, realized you couldn’t, and then got mad at yourself and others or things/circumstances because nothing you try seems to resolve your problem. And, to add insult to injury, not only are you mad at yourself and everyone else, but you don’t like your angry self. 

What’s the solution? 

First, we must set our pride aside. That’s hard because it requires us to admit and accept that we aren’t perfect and that we are powerless to make significant change in these difficult moments. We think that acknowledging our weaknesses will enslave us to the forces of the world working against us. However, it frees us from the burden of trying to fix our problems on our own, enabling us to trust in God’s ability to heal and change our hearts and lives. Second, we must trust our Lord to receive us as we are and to fix our problems. The most freeing part of the gospel, in my opinion, is the reality that Jesus welcomes us with all our imperfections and failures. Trusting him to do it, however, is excruciatingly hard. We are determined to “fix ourselves up” before giving ourselves to him, but that’s as unnecessary as it is impossible. We must learn to release more and more of ourselves to Jesus daily. Third, we must do what we can to improve our situations, make amends, and put ourselves in the best position to glorify God in everything we do. While we can’t fix ourselves or others, we can certainly take steps to improve our lives, make amends to those we’ve offended, alleviate burdens, and make good decisions (Matt. 5:23-26). God expects us to take responsibility for the things we change while leaving the results to him. 

Prayerfully, these thoughts will help you this week as you navigate through our broken, fallen, and imperfect world. Set your pride aside, trust the Lord, and take the steps necessary to improve yourself, your life, and the lives of others. 

Have a great day, and glorify God in everything you do!