Lingering Anger
Cease from anger... it only causes harm.
Psalm 37:8
NKJV
In a 1994 newspaper article, War's Lethal Leftovers Threaten Europeans, Associated Press reporter Christopher Burns writes: 'The bombs of WWII are still killing in Europe. They turn up; and sometimes blow up; at construction sites, in fishing nets, or on beaches fifty years after the guns fell silent. Hundreds of tons of explosives are recovered every year in France alone. Thirteen bombs exploded in France in 1993, killing 12 people and wounding 11. 'I've lost two of my colleagues,' said Yvon Bouvet, who heads a government team in the Champagne-Ardennes region that defuses explosives from both WWI and WWII. Unexploded bombs become more dangerous with time. With the corrosion inside, the weapon becomes more unstable, and the detonator can be exposed.'
What is true of lingering bombs is also true of lingering anger: it explodes when you least expect it. Anger is not something to be proud of; it's something to be prayed over because: it hurts those closest to you; it causes you to lose respect in the eyes of others; it closes doors of opportunity; it puts you on dangerous ground with God. Take a moment and read what God's Word says about your lingering anger: 'Cease from anger, and forsake wrath; do not fret-it only causes harm' (Psalm 37:8
NKJV). 'He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city' (Proverbs 16:32
NKJV). 'The discretion of a man makes him slow to anger, and his glory is to overlook a transgression' (Proverbs 19:11
NKJV).
