“Why are you angry, and why has your face fallen? If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin is crouching at the door. Its desire is contrary to you, but you must rule over it” (Genesis 3:6-7 ESV).
Cain, the firstborn of Adam and Eve, was angry. He was furious that God had preferred his brother Abel’s offering over his own. As Cain sullenly stewed in his anger, God spoke to him, warning him of how unresolved anger was like something “crouching’ at his door, filling him with sinful desire. But Cain didn’t listen to God. His anger led to murder. In anger, Cain killed his own brother.
The apostle Paul probably had this story in mind when he warned the Ephesians, “Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27).
If you go to bed mad, you leave the door open to the devil! Unresolved anger leaves you open to the devil’s devices and to your flesh’s desire to rule over you, so that a battle breaks out within you and threatens to overflow on to those around you!
The apostle James wrote about this. He said, “What causes quarrels and what causes fights among you? Is it not this, that your passions are at war within you? You desire and do not have, so you murder. You covet and cannot obtain, so you fight and quarrel” (James 4:1-2).
Uncontrolled and unresolved anger is a dangerous thing. It is harmful to you and everyone around you. Therefore, let us ask God for help, yielding our anger to Him, asking for His self-control. For as James has also said, “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God” (James 1:19-20).
PRAYER: Dear Heavenly Father, do You see any anger in us this day? Show us its source. Help us to see the sin that crouches at our heart’s door. Fill us with Your forgiveness and help us to put away wrath and to seek reconciliation in all of our relationships. May we forgive as You have forgiven us. In Jesus’ name, amen.