How to Control Anger with God’s Wisdom (Proverbs 14)

A Few Thoughts to Consider

Do you struggle to respond well to others when you’re frustrated?

Proverbs 14 addresses this challenge. The main point of this chapter is to contrast the ways of wisdom and folly, righteousness and wickedness, and their respective outcomes in life. It emphasizes that wise and ethical conduct leads to stability, safety, and life, while foolishness and wickedness result in destruction and death.

While we might focus on any one of these passages, Verse 17 tells us, “ Top of FormA quick-tempered person acts foolishly, and one who schemes is hated.” The phrase translated “quick-tempered” literally means “short of nostrils.” “He has,” as Adam Clarke says, “no time for reflection; he is hurried on by his passions, speaks like a fool, and acts like a madman.”^[1] This stands in contrast with a person who might seem calm but is conniving and deceptive. As Allen Ross notes, “The quick–tempered person acts foolishly and loses people’s respect, but the malicious plotter is hated.”^[2]

If you’re like many, you tend to fall into one of two traps. Depending on your personality, you might get angry and lash out, or you might resort to passive aggression and scheme to get your way. “The comparison here,” Paul Koptak writes, “is between one who does foolish things on impulse and one who does evil that has been carefully planned and premeditated, a product of scheming. Both ends of the temperament spectrum lead to bad ends.”^[3] Instead, God wants us to do as Verse 26 instructs and walk “in the fear of the Lord.” This is where we find our confidence.

Ultimately, when we lash out at others or use passive aggression to get our way, we’re betraying the reality that we’ve lost confidence in God. When we are secure in our identity in him, we’re able to encounter difficult people and difficult situations his way.

A Meditation to PRAY

Praise | Heavenly Father, I praise you for your wisdom that guides us in the way of self-control and patience. I know that acting in haste or with a quick temper does not reflect the calm and understanding spirit you desire.

Release | I release to you my tendencies to react impulsively, asking for your strength to overcome these inclinations. Help me to embody the wisdom of measured responses and thoughtful actions.