ManageYourEmotionsBook8.5x5.5_RevJULY.indd

“The heck I ain’t,” Mantle replied, “I’m gonna kill that mule” Once they found the mule, Mickey took his rifle and pow, shot the mule dead. Turning around and seeing Martin’s rifle smok- ing, Mantle asked, “What the heck are you doing?” “I got two of his cows,” answered Billy. 24 One can’t help but chuckle over such a story, understanding, of course, that outbursts of anger are typically no laughing matter.As theWord records, “Do not associate with a man given to anger; Or go with a hot-tempered man. Do not be eager in your heart to be angry, For anger resides in the bosom of fools (Proverbs 22:24, Ec- clesiastes 7:9). Ben Franklin adds, “Anger is never without a reason, but seldom a good one.” 25 I realize there is a time and place for us to demonstrate righteous anger, understanding as well that God both possesses and expresses anger.Yet, for our purposes here let’s stick with anger as a negative emotion--one which you’ll discover on numerous occasions throughout Scripture. Most often, we see anger expressed between people, but at times, people also got angry with God.Whatever the case, it rarely ends well. The Bible says, “Cease from anger and forsake wrath; Do not fret; it leads only to evildoing” (Psalms 37:8).As Ben Franklin also quipped, “Whatever is begun in anger ends in shame.” 26 Anger, along with jealousy, caused Cain to kill his brother Abel. Centuries later, in a fit of rage, David’s son Absalom killed his half- brother Amnon because he raped Absalom’s sisterTamar.This paved the way for a plot that eventually led to Absalom’s death. This chapter will focus on a character known for being swal- lowed by a big fish, but anger played heavily in his life. Jonah, the 9 th Century prophet of Israel was called by God to go to Nineveh and preach to that wicked city. In disobedience, he headed by boat in the opposite direction. Soon a storm began and Jonah was thrown over- board and swallowed by a big fish. Three days later, he was vomited up on dry land. Given a second chance, the reluctant prophet went

26