Proverbs 14:29 (NLT)
29 People with understanding control their anger; a hot temper shows great foolishness.

A mild patient man is to be counted as one with intelligence and wisdom. They understand how to express themselves and keep emotions under control. But there are some who are provoked at the simplest spark of provocation. Their anger flares as they attempt to place fear in others and stand in awe of themselves. But the hot tempered person is only fooling themselves because instead of others standing in awe they come to distrust, and not respect the individual.

There was a great Super Bowl commercial where a man walked into a convenience store talking on his cell phone. Oblivious to the rest of the world the man continued to talk back and forth on the phone as he approached the clerks behind the cash register. As the man continued his cell phone conversation he blurted out “YOUR GETTING ROBBED” in response to something said on the other end of the cell phone. Upon hearing that statement the clerks pulled out cans of pepper spray and started to attack the man talking on the phone. They lost their cool because they thought they were being robbed. They reacted to emotion instead of understanding the situation taking place. If they had taken the time to think about the man talking on the cell phone they could have realized it was a part of his conversation that they misinterpreted. But how often do we misinterpret things because we don’t take the time to understand. How often will we react in anger before we grasp the feelings of the other person? Pray for understanding that you may control your response to anger. Pray God will help you to be slow to react, slow to speak, and fast to understand.