Call The Bomb Squad. And The Medic.
By Jeff Page, Director of Young Adults Ministry
On August 4, 2020 a horrific fire that resulted in an explosion caused more than 204 deaths and 7,500 injuries in Beirut, Lebanon. It left an estimated 300,000 people homeless and resulted in $15 billion in property damage. The underlying cause of the disaster? Unsafely stored ammonium nitrate that denoted.
Six years earlier Lebanese authorities confiscated a cargo of 2,750 metric tons of ammonium nitrate from the ship MV Rhosus. That’s the equivalent of around 1.1 kilotons of TNT! The Lebanese authorities then stored the ammonium nitrate in a port warehouse and promptly forgot about it for six years. It was a tragedy that could have been prevented.
What happened in Beirut serves as a powerful metaphor for our most intense experiences of anger. When something crosses our will, it connects with something explosive inside of us, something we might have forgotten about or not even be aware of, and then BOOM! We are seized by a fiery and explosive anger.
Anger is the explosion that happens when someone or something pushes our buttons. Let’s ask Jesus to shrink our buttons and reduce the fuel they activate.
Let’s also invite Him to bring light to any hidden or forgotten ‘explosives’ for our anger. These explosives might look like an unhealed wound, an unmet need, or an internalized lie. They might look like unresolved conflict, unaddressed shame, sin, or guilt. Even if we don’t explode externally in anger, we might do so internally, harming our own physical, mental, and spiritual health as well as our relationships.
Outbursts of anger are often disproportionate to the cues we experience. Someone may say something rather innocent to us and all of a sudden we go from calm to furious, instantly becoming a human torch. When that happens, it is because there is something hidden in us that has been activated by those circumstances. It is as if someone stepped on a landmine and you are the explosion. Maybe a friend accidentally steps on your toe. Your response will be far more extreme if your toe is already broken, right? Your response will be much more significant because of the injury, the wounding, the unhealed pain.
As you dig deep into hard stuff, remember that you are not alone. Jesus is for you. Invite Jesus to be your bomb squad and your medic. He may uncover something painful that needs to be addressed and that’s okay. He is the Great Physician of heart, mind, body and soul.
Prayer: Search me and know my heart, O God. See if there are any hurtful ways in me and lead me in life everlasting. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
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