It’s normal to get angry, but uncontrolled anger can cost you dearly. When Nabal refused to feed King David and his soldiers, David’s anger almost drove him to murder. Only Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saved David from the destructive potential of his own unchecked emotions. Looking back, David told Abigail, ‘Blessed is your advice because you have kept me this day from coming to bloodshed’ (1 Samuel 25:33 NKJV).
Our anger is often rooted in pride. Naaman the leper felt insulted when Elisha told him to dip seven times in the muddy Jordan River. ‘Naaman became furious, and went away and said, “Indeed,” I said to myself, “He will surely come out to me, and stand and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and heal the leprosy”‘ (2 Kings 5:11 NKJV).
The Arizona Republic, a USA newspaper, reported that when Steve Tran of Westminster, California, closed the door on 25 activated bug bombs, he thought he had seen the last of the cockroaches that shared his apartment. But when the spray reached the pilot light of the stove, it ignited, blasting his screen door across the street, breaking all his windows and setting his furniture ablaze. ‘I wanted to kill all of them,’ he said. ‘I thought if I used a lot more, it would last longer.’ According to the label, just two canisters of the pesticide would have solved Tran’s roach problem. The blast caused over $10,000 damage to the apartment building. And the cockroaches? Tran reported, ‘By Sunday, I saw them walking around.’ Yes, ‘A quick-tempered man acts foolishly’.
