”Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Why are you angry?” Genesis 4:6
Anger, in and of itself, is not a sin. In fact, Paul tells us in Ephesians 4:26-27, ‘In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.’ However, what we say and do, or do not do in anger can cause a lot of damage. Anger is simply a secondary emotion triggered by something deeper,like: pain; fear; or not getting our way (not that deep). Anger, in a positive way, can stem from seeing an injustice done to another. To answer God’s question, ‘Why are you angry?’, we must look within ourselves to find the root of it. In doing so, we can take our anger to God and:
DO WHAT IS RIGHT…
”If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must rule over it.” Genesis 4:7
Cain was angry because Abel’s offering was accepted (better) but his was not. Most likely, jealousy (pain combined with fear) was the cause of this anger. Cain’s anger was his own fault. If he had done right as Abel had there would have been no trigger for anger. He simply failed. All God wanted was for him to repent and make it right. Instead, Cain, out of anger, killed Abel. Absolutely, people say and do things to us, but many times our anger stems from trying to do things: in our own way; on our own timeline; or for our own good. And because things do not always work out the way we want, we get mad. Cain’s real problem was with himself, not with God or with Abel.
…AND BE RESPONSIBLE.
”Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is your brother Abel?’ ‘I don’t know,’ he replied. ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?” Genesis 4:9
God asks - ‘why are we angry?’ Our retort is, ‘because my brother…’ (fill in the blank). God asks again, because someone else is not the reason, only a trigger. Our anger is our choice and responsibility. We can choose to trust God with what another did to us. It is possible (not easy) to deal quickly with our anger. We can be offended without taking offense and getting mad. The truth is, nobody makes you angry. By believing in God, whatever happens to us will eventually work for our good, so why get angry?
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