By Brenda Cannon Henley
These rainy days here in our beloved Southeast Texas have been good thinking days for me. While I hunger to get outside to the water or the beach, the weather has kept me inbound and I can only look out the window to see the waves or the water, but boy, can I think. I can envision myself and my friends fishing in an open boat, reeling those big bad boys in, and keeping the big ones to cook in a good old fashioned fish fry with hushpuppies, cole slaw, boiled potatoes and corn on the cob, and maybe a big fresh peach cobbler to finish off the meal.

During the past four days, I have had occasion to witness an amazing, but somewhat frightening example of allowing the sun to go down on the wrath of two people. I have read the Bible verses in Ephesians 4:26 and 27, and I have taught from these same references, but never before in my adult life, have I seen verses and thoughts take life and come to mean what I now know it to teach. That is one of the most wonderful aspects of reading and believing Scripture. I don’t care how many times you read the same verses, or how old you are when you find them, from time to time, they just simply seem to light up or come alive with new and deeper meaning for those who want to see it clearly.

The primary verses teach that we can be angry, and not sin, and that we are not to let the sun go down on our wrath. We are also taught not to give the devil an opportunity to work in our lives, families, homes, businesses, schools, and so forth. But, do we listen and comprehend? My beloved Mama Cole said often that no matter how mad she got at Papa Cole, she never went to sleep without telling him she loved him very much and kissing him good night. She said it worked wonders to make their marriage a good one and one that withstood the tests of illness, struggles, childbirth, and growth.

“Parogismos,” or “anger,” is not momentary outward, boiling over rage or inward, seething resentment, but rather a deep-seated, determined, and settled conviction. According to Scripture, some anger is necessary to protect that which is good and right. Jesus became angry when His house was misused and he threw out the moneychangers. Good Christian people hate evil, injustice, immorality, and ungodliness, but we cannot do it in a matter, which causes us to sin. Anger, that is sin, on the other hand, is an anger that is self-defensive and self-serving, that is resentful of what is done against oneself. It is this kind of unbridled anger that leads to murder, sexual offenses, and ultimately, God’s judgment. It is selfish, undisciplined, and vindictive and certainly sinful and to be avoided at all costs.

If something or someone has made us very angry, our first impulse might be to say or do something that we will live to regret. Paul teaches that if we take this unbridled anger to bed with us, and sleep on it for the night, and wake up with it fresh in our hearts and minds, we have inadvertently given the devil the opportunity to get his foot in the door of our lives and use it for his own purposes. If this anger is prolonged, one may begin to seek vengeance and violate the principle taught clearly in Romans 12:17-21.

Christian people are taught never to pay back evil for evil to anyone. As much as possible we are to respect what is right in the sight of all men. As much as it depends on us, we are to be at peace with all men. We all realize that there are times when peace cannot be reached and an impasse causes us to have to move on and leave the issue unresolved. We are also taught that we are not to exact our own revenge. (Boy, that was a hard pill for me to swallow at one time in my life — I simply wanted to make things right in the moment).

Hopefully, I am learning as I mature to allow God to handle the things in my life and the lives of my family members that need to be handled. It is written in Scripture, “Vengeance is Mine, I will repay,” says the Lord. “But if your enemy is hungry, feed him, and if he is thirsty, give him a drink, for in so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head. Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.”

One thing I am certain of at this stage in my life is that if we allow ourselves to harbor anger and wrath, Satan will take advantage of it for his own uses. He will feed that anger (2 Corinthians 2:11) with self-pity, pride, self-righteousness, vengeance, defense of our rights, and every other sort of selfish sin and violation of God’s holy and just will for our lives.

Brenda Cannon Henley can be reached at (409) 781-8788, at
[email protected], or by using the contact form below.

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