His premise: Anger is a result of one of two things.
1) You expect something; it doesn't happen.
2) Something happens; you didn't expect it.
At the bottom, anger is related to expectations.
The emotions that come from thwarted expectations (disappointment, frustration, rage, etc) are common experience to us all. James 1:19-20 says, "This you know, beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger, for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God."
As Sam pointed out, anger is like a "light on the dashboard," pointing to disappointed expectations. When you notice anger "lit," consider these three questions about your expectations.
1) Were they realistic?
2) Were they biblical?
3) Could you yield them?
Bumper sticker in the neighborhood: "If you're not outraged, you're not paying attention."
Better: "If you're outraged, you're not paying attention."
Why? Because God is the only being in the universe who has a pure right to be outraged at how He is treated.
At the moment when the most catagorically evil act in the universe was being committed (the death of Jesus at the hands of wicked men), God did not respond as every reasonable expectation (both realistically and biblically) would dictate.
Instead, by the death of His own Son, He opened the way of mercy for undeserving wretches like me.
I think I'd be a lot less likely to get angry if I just kept that in the front of my mind.
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while w were yet sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8)
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