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iQuestions Faculty, June Hunt 
 
 
Question: 
 
I have real problems controlling my anger. I quickly fly off-the-handle 
and lose my temper. How can I get this issue under control?  
 
Answer: 
 
No one wants to be out of control. No one really wants to “fly off the 
handle” because later there’s a sense of regret.  Where does this anger 
come from? One of the most valuable things you can do when you are 
angry is to evaluate, “what’s the cause?” You see, there are four 
sources of anger: hurt, injustice, fear, and frustration. Look at your 
past and look at the situation. What caused that initial emotion of 
anger? Then go before God. There’s a marvelous scripture, in Psalm 
139: “Search me, O God, and know my heart. See if there is any 
offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting”. 
 
What this says is, “God, I’m willing for you to put a searchlight on my 
life, looking at the cracks and the crevices, to help me understand why 
I’m doing what I don’t want to do.”  Is there hurt in your past that has 
not been dealt with? Was there injustice, or fear, or frustration?  
There’s the classic situation of a person who comes home frustrated 
from work and kicks the cat. The cat had nothing to do with that 
person’s anger. It all related to their past. 
 
I grew up in a home where my father was angry. We walked on 
eggshells; everyone did and I hated his anger. I did not know, until 
many years later, following his death, that he grew up in a home with 
a violent father. His father would physically beat his mother and the 
children. Many times he stayed at another person’s home, a relative’s 
home, or he would sleep on a church pew. I had no knowledge of this, 
 
 
and I know he never processed that pain. But, we don’t have to be 
controlled by our past.  
 
What do we do? We say, “Lord, I choose to release every bit of that 
pain to you.” I suggest, you write down every single thing you are 
angry about. Everything from the past; it will take a while. Ask God to 
bring to your mind what you need to remember.  You could have an 
anger bowl. Put all the little pieces of paper with things that made you 
angry in a bowl. Then take it and offer it to God. You could actually put 
a match to it, and say, “Lord, I’m releasing all this anger into Your 
hands. I choose to present this as a burnt offering to You. Heal me. 
Help me. My hope is in You.” 
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