A mini series on AngerPart 1I’ve started a new series in the teenage girl’s Bible class I teach each Wednesday night on anger. In the first class we began by defining anger and talking about how anger made us feel. After that I had the girls to mark the following Scriptures in their Bibles:
Psalm 103:8
Ephesians 4:31
Ephesians 4:26
Matthew 5:22
Proverbs 29:22
After discussing what these Scriptures meant and how they applied to our lives today I told the girls we were going to look at different people in the Bible who we have record of getting angry with the purpose of seeing how they handled their anger and what the consequences where.
We spent the rest of the class time discussing Cain …
Cain … Genesis 4: 5-15
Who was Cain?
Member of the first family
The 1st son that we have record of being born to Adam and Eve
Was a tiller of the ground (farmer)
Why was Cain angry?
When it came time to sacrifice to God, God’s law was to offer a sacrifice of blood from an animal but Cain had grown some beautiful vegetables and he thought he could decide what to give God instead of letting God decide what He wanted sacrificed to Him. So Cain brought some of his good vegetables and sacrificed them to God on the altar.
Vs 3 – and in the process of time it came to pass that Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
God was not pleased that Cain did not obey Him nor was He pleased with Cain’s attitude … and Cain got mad.
Vs 5 – 7 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry and his countenance fell. So the Lord said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? “If you do well, will you not be accepted? And if you do not do well, sin lies at the door, and its desire is for you, but you should rule over it.
God asked Cain, “Why are you angry? If you do as I say you’ll be happy, but if you don’t, you’ll struggle with sin.
How did Cain handle his anger?
Instead of telling God he was sorry and changing his mind to obey God from then on, Cain got mad at Abel and took his anger out on him.
Vs 8: Now Cain talked with Abel his brother; and it came to pass, when they were in the field that Cain rose up against Abel his brother and killed him.
Cain had a bad attitude and killed his brother Abel in a fit of jealousy. What was Cain jealous about … God accepted Abel’s sacrifice but not his.
Vs 9 – 10: Then the Lord said to Cain, ‘Where is Abel your brother?” He said, “I do not know. Am I m brother’s keeper?”
What were the results/consequences?
God knew Cain had killed Abel and that he was not sorry so God punished Cain.
Vs 11-12: “So now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened it’s mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. “When you till the ground, it shall no longer yield its strength to you. A fugitive and a vagabond you shall be on the earth.”
Our anger and what we do with it can lead to unpleasant consequences ...
Family turmoil – Cain’s actions caused great pain to his parents and tore the family apart … uncontrolled anger can do the same to us
Inner turmoil – guilt
Spiritual (separation from God) and sometimes physical separation from those we love – Cain was banished away from his family and became a wanderer … we can be spiritually and physically separated from our family too because of anger
Closing Thoughts …
Sometimes when we don’t like what God says/what His Word says, we get angry and take it out on others! That’s what Cain did and look what it got him!
Hearing what God has to say makes some people angry rather than repentant.
Anger itself is not sinful, but how we deal with it and what we do with it can be.
We are more easily tempted to sin when we get angry
Next class we’re going to look at Mrs. Job … her anger came as a result of overwhelming tragedy in her and her family’s life ... how did she handle it?
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