Proverbs 16:32 He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.
In the early 1980s, while attending Bible college and living in Australia, I ministered in prisons for a few years. A common regret among the inmates was the fact that some of them ended up in prison because they could not control their anger. At a crucial moment, they lost all clarity of thought and struck out violently and caused a manslaughter charge against themselves. Repeatedly they said, “I don’t know what came over me, but I lost all ability to think straight.” Prov. 29:16 A fool gives full vent to his anger, but a wise person holds it in check. Anger cost them their freedom and, in some cases, the terrible expense of losing connection with their families, who could not bear the shame of what had happened.
God had warned Cain that if he did not get his anger and jealousy toward his brother Abel under control, the sin of unrighteous anger would cause him to fall. Gen. 4:6 So the LORD said to Cain, “Why are you angry? And why has your countenance fallen? 7 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. Cain did not listen to God but instead fed his anger towards his brother and murdered him. The petulance of Cain’s response to God’s questioning about the murder brought the full expense of what it would cost Cain for the rest of his life. Gen. 4:11 So, now you are cursed from the earth, which has opened its mouth to receive your brother’s blood from your hand. 12 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.
King Saul had sent David and Johnathan out to combat against the Philistines, and they won the war. Upon David returning, the women came out to greet the conquering men with dancing and singing. They poetically and rhythmically stated that David had slain his ten thousand men, and King Saul had slain his one thousand men. Instead of rejoicing in the festivities, Saul became angry and jealous. 1Sam. 18:8 Saul was very angry; this refrain displeased him greatly. “They have credited David with tens of thousands,” he thought, “but me with only thousands. What more can he get but the kingdom?” From this point on, Saul’s anger became very expensive, and it cost him the kingdom because Saul could no longer think straight. One blunder after another, to the point where Saul was seeking out and consulting a witch to speak to the dead for him.
The Pharisees lost their illumination of understanding the scriptures because of anger and palpable jealousy they had towards Jesus. They went as far as to call a curse upon themselves for the right to crucify the Lord. Matt. 27:25 All the people answered, “His blood be on us and on our children!” Historians often remark and comment on the approximately 18 laws that the Pharisees and Jewish leaders broke to illegally crucify Jesus. The anger that had built up within the Jewish religious organizations had reached a frenzy of madness. They even got the crowd shouting to crucify Jesus, who was an innocent man. The expense of these choices has never been tallied because they are still ongoing. I believe this is why we are asked in the Word to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Psalm 122:6 Pray for the peace of Jerusalem! May those who love her prosper!
We are living in a time of a major manifestation of anger being expressed at any slight or sideways glance. Road rage on a world scale, whether a person owns a car or not, is becoming a default setting and standard of pushback people feel they have the right to enforce. Where did this thoughtless anger towards another human being come from? I would answer that it came from hell, and people are being suckered into Satan’s dumb argument. John10:10a The thief does not come except to steal, and to kill, and to destroy. Many are reacting rather than acting. Prov. 12:16 A fool’s anger is known at once, but a prudent person conceals dishonour.
We are going to need a steady diet of prudence to get our civility back. Anger costs a lot and becomes expensive when the anger manifested starts causing car accidents, broken windows, and hair pulling at the malls. Someone always gets hurt and sued. The repayment of destroyed property becomes prohibitive in price. The Lord said that by the love we have for one another, the world would know that we belong to God the Father and that God the Son was clearly living in our hearts. I think I would rather pay the price of righteousness and be at peace with the Lord than be at odds with the world, which I have no way of changing, no matter how many fights I get into. I just can’t afford anger; it makes life way too expensive. John 14:27a Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives.
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