“Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty,
and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
~ Proverbs 16.32
Don’t you hate slow traffic? Whether it is rush hour or road construction, traffic is enough to test anyone’s patience. I remember an incident I experienced several years ago in St. Louis. After a very exhausting day, I was heading home only to be met by a viciously long line of cars. Many of you know this kind of traffic: it’s one of those moments when you contemplate putting your car in park and maybe even pulling out a book! While I was slowly inching my way to an intersection, I noticed a young woman approaching from the opposite direction. She needed to turn past me to reach a nearby parking lot. Since we were essentially parked due to traffic, I realized I had an opportunity to let her advance. As the car in front of me inched forward, I waited to let this mother of two pass between the cars and reach her destination.
While I was still contemplating my good deed for the day, the driver behind me did not think so highly of my actions. Although the light in front of us was still red and we were stagnant, the man behind me forced his way into the right lane so that he could stop his car next to mine. Upon rolling down his window, he gave me some choice words about my actions. As we sat in our cars next to each other I listened to this man berate and demean my decision as well as my character.
The light turned green, and he drove off. I was struck wondering what had happened to this man to make him so angry. He was clearly having a bad day that stretched beyond our short interaction. Perhaps I was a bit numb due to the traffic, but I remember feeling sadness. Sadness for a fellow image-bearer and for whatever his life had become to cause him to berate a stranger for choosing to show mercy to a young mother. Now, please know that I do not share this story to make this man look impatient or myself look gracious. I have wanted to be that man far more times than I care to admit. While I may not have verbalized my frustrations to the man at that moment, I have seen those days of anger.
We live in a world that wants us to hurry up. Our society measures greatness by the speed of our minds, legs, and technology. There are very few places where being slow is rewarded. No one values slow traffic, but perhaps as followers of a slow-to-anger Lord, there are times when we should be more mindful of our need to slow down.
One such way is when we experience anger. There are times when we experience righteous anger, which can compel us to act in good ways. However, many times our anger is not righteous; it is misplaced frustration towards ourselves or towards another person. It sometimes stems from guilt or shame. Other times it is directed at others who have not met our expectations or those who have inconvenienced us. In such moments it is as if someone or something has struck at our pride and told us that we are not as great as we think we are. We must guard our hearts from guilt and pride.
The author of the opening proverb tells us that our ability to be slow and wise with our anger is greater than our ability to exercise might. To put it another way, when we are quick to react in anger it may be because we are seeking to exhibit our personal might. In these moments, the author instructs us to learn to react slowly in our emotions, especially in our anger.
Perhaps the Lord is calling us to consider a different kind of greatness. This greatness is not about moving quickly or exhibiting power. Instead, we read that it is better to be slow than to be fast. In the Lord, it is far greater to be patient and gracious than hasty and upset. Why is being slow to anger so much greater than being mighty? Certainly, there are benefits to slowing down. We make friends a lot easier. We promote a gracious community. We are less stressed. But the chief among all these reasons is because God is slow to anger. He repeatedly reveals Himself in this way in Scripture. One example is when He passed before the Israelites in Exodus 34. He declared to His people that this was a defining characteristic of who He is. He wanted them to know and trust that He engages graciously in a world that has much wrong in it. More so, we find that God knows our wrongs and still wants to confront us with love. When we do the same, we reflect Him to the world around us. Let us learn to slow down, articulate our anger, and ask the Lord to help us respond in tenderness. As we grow in our ‘slow,’ we will find the joy of knowing Him and His character in each moment!
