Help Me God, I'm Angry Series

Alba 8-12-13 (Revised 9-25-2022)

HELP ME GOD, I'M ANGRY

In his autobiography, “Number 1”, Billy Martin told about hunting in Texas with Mickey Mantle. Mickey had a friend who would let them hunt on his ranch. When they reached the ranch, Mickey told Billy to wait in the car while he checked in with his friend.

Mantle's friend quickly gave them permission to hunt, but he asked Mickey a favor. He had a pet mule in the barn who was going blind, and he didn't have the heart to put him out of his misery. He asked Mickey to shoot the mule for him.

When Mickey came back to the car, he pretended to be angry. He scowled and slammed the door. Billy asked him what was wrong, and Mickey said his friend wouldn't let them hunt.

"I'm so mad at that guy," Mantle said, "I'm going out to his barn and shoot one of his mules!" Mantle drove like a maniac to the barn. Martin protested, "We can't do that!" But Mickey was adamant. "Just watch me," he shouted.

When they got to the barn, Mantle jumped out of the car with his rifle, ran inside, and shot the mule. As he was leaving, though, he heard two shots, and he ran back to the car. He saw that Martin had taken out his rifle, too.

"What are you doing, Martin?" he yelled. Martin yelled back, face red with anger, "We'll show him! I just killed two of his cows!

Anger can be dangerously contagious. As Proverbs 22:24-25 puts it, "Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul.”

Will Rogers said, "Whenever you fly into a rage, you seldom make a safe landing." And he was right. Chuck Swindoll said, "I got so angry that I gave him a piece of my mind. And it was a piece that I couldn’t afford to lose."

There used to be a TV show called the, "The Incredible Hulk." The main character was a scientist named Dr. David Banner. Most of the time he was a nice guy.

But when he became angry he would repeat those famous words, “Don’t make me angry, you wouldn’t like me when I am angry.” And if the person ignored his warning, right before your eyes he would transform into Lou Ferrigno, a big green monster.

The whole series was built around Dr. Banner's search for a cure. Dr. Banner didn’t like what anger did to him, and he did all he could to prevent it from happening.

Anger is not something that has to be taught. Go to the nursery and find the sweetest baby girl in that nursery.

Take away the bottle from that sweet little girl, or don’t change her diaper on cue, and you will see anger such as you seldom see elsewhere. You will see a red face contorted with rage, and you will hear sounds that penetrate the walls.

Anyone can be angry. The old can become angry as well as the young. The rich and the poor - all people have the capability to become angry. If I were to ask, of all the human emotions you're capable of experiencing, with which one does it seem to be the most difficult for you to cope?

I believe that the majority of us would say that dealing with the emotion of anger is the most complex and challenging of them all on a day-in day-out basis.

Anger can and will surface at the strangest times, brought about for the strangest of reasons, and exhibited in the strangest ways.

Anger, if not handled properly, can be a very dangerous and destructive emotion. It can be hurtful to us physically, emotionally, relationally and spiritually.

There is always a price tag for improperly handling anger. Anyone who has experienced an incident when they let their anger get the best of them will admit that the actions committed in that kind of anger are later regretted.

That's the reason that we need to cry out, “God help me, I'm angry.”

But wait a minute. If we ask God to help us deal with our anger, how will that help us? Because I read in the Bible that God also gets angry. Yes...

1. God Gets Angry

Look in the scriptures: Numbers 32:13 “So the Lord’s anger was aroused against Israel, and He made them wander in the wilderness forty years, until all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone.”

And I Kings 11:9-10 “9 So the Lord became angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, 10 and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods; but he did not keep what the Lord had commanded.”