Angry Man

“An angry man stirs up strife, and a furious man abounds in transgression.” Proverbs 29:22

One night, my husband and I were seated at a table with four people we did not know—a gentle-mannered grandpa, his smiling teenaged grandson, and a man and woman who may or may not have been married (they did not wear wedding rings.) We introduced ourselves and began to speak of our lives and where we were from. The grandpa was from Florida, the grandson from Alabama, and the couple was from Canada. We added our two cents’ worth from California.

The man, upon saying he was from Canada, proceeded to spew the worst vitriol about his government and its leaders I’ve ever heard. Now, I’ve heard quite a bit of the same in our own country, so this attitude was nothing new. But he went on…and on…and on, saying what he wished he could do to certain people holding office, and how he’d give them a piece of his mind, and worse. He got louder and uglier by the minute. All of us gently tried to redirect the conversation, to no avail.

The woman beside him said with a half-laugh, “He gets pretty riled up about things.” That set him off even more. He proceeded to attack schools, lifestyles, young people, other world leaders, and everything else but God. There was no way to gentle this man. I began to think that “this kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting” (Mark 9:29).

Interestingly, he proceeded from this to how he’d spent his whole life breaking unridden horses. He told us how he could gentle even the wildest horse in two days by using a strong bit but only “pinkie pressure” on it, by talking to it, by rubbing down its legs, and so forth. If only someone could use his own approach to “break and gentle” him!

“Make no friendship with an angry man, and with a furious man do not go, lest you learn his ways and set a snare for your soul” (Proverbs 22:24-25).

Jesus is the One I want to hang out with. He is neither angry or furious. He speaks “Peace!” to the storms. He can gentle the man. Maybe He will command peace in him. Maybe He will convict him. Maybe He will show the man a better way. Maybe the man will simply get tired of all the anger, and will give himself over to gentleness. Perhaps he will learn to pray for all those people and events in his life over which he has no control, those things that send him into the abyss of hatred.

For those of us with angry people in our lives, let’s pray continually for their hearts to be softened to the One who tenderly loves us. Let’s pray that when their lives are out of control, they realize that the Father in heaven is always in control, and has a future and a hope held out to them.

Lord, speak peace to the anger in ourselves and in others. Teach us Your gentle ways, that we may live in peace with one another, and find rest for our souls. Amen.