I was talking with my friend Rich Brown recently about some
thoughts on anger that I have been working through. I mentioned that
Dallas Willard connects anger to our ego. Rich mentioned in passing that anger
is also connected to idolatry. It didn’t hit me at the time how profound that
statement was.
In a recent situation, I was battling my own anger when I
asked God, “why, in Your providence, are You allowing me to face this
situation? What do You want to teach me through my own frustration?” I realized
that my anger was rooted in disproportionate values. In other words, my anger
was rooted in idolatry.
When our hearts are trusting in God, with our hope rooted in
His providence, there is little that can shake us; however, when we desire
something more than we desire the glory of God (whether it be comfort, plans,
success, reputation, respect, ect.), we grow angry when it is taken away from
us.
When we are angry, we should ask God what that anger reveals
about our hearts and ask Him what He wants to show us from our anger. We will
probably find that uprooting our hearts idolatry is more important and
gratifying that what we wanted in the first place.
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