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Slow to anger by Deon Crafford

Proverbs 16:32 Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

James 1:19-20 Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

The in the last 16 chapters of the book of Proverbs, the fall-out of anger is addressed 12 times, which makes me think Solomon suffered the same affliction as I, despite us not sharing the same wisdom. Anger is potentially the biggest vulnerability of man, and often the most destructive in outcome. Because once taken to anger, I instantly lose all the fruits of the Spirit and what ensues is a trail of hurt, brokenness, bitterness and mistrust. Anger breeds anger and the spiral leads to devastating results like full scale war, murder, divorce and broken families. Anger feeds on relationships and without Godly forgiveness those broken relationships never recover. Why then the vulnerability to anger? It comes back to the same old thing – it’s about me and my expectations. If things don’t go according to what I want or expect, if it is not as easy as I thought or wanted, if there are some obstacles that frustrate my progress or desires, I am a sitting duck for anger. The counter is to reconfigure back to my relationship with God. To find my small picture of now in His big picture of forever. And if I do patience naturally ensues, love seeps to the surface and Godly forgiveness restores what is broken. The expression of anger does not make us powerful and feared, but rather weak and pathetic.

Love to all

DC