By Katy Mariotti

A Path to Wisdom

You can listen to today’s devotion by clicking on this SoundCloud link.

“Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.”
James 1:19-20 English Standard Version

Recently, my son asked if he could use my phone to take a picture of a beautiful sunset, and while outside doing so he also took a picture of these houses that are being built next door. My immediate instinct was to delete the pictures because I didn’t even want them on my phone. Why such a strong reaction? Because I feel angry.

Anger is not an emotion I feel very often. I don’t like tension or confrontation, and even aside from that, I always lean more towards seeing what I myself can do better when there’s a situation that comes up, rather than blaming someone else. But for some reason these houses have gotten under my skin.

I was annoyed from the start that the property was even sold, especially because the circumstances were quite sketchy (at least three former mayors of the town involved in the private sale of the property). But as it’s NOT mine, I don’t have any say, and so I let that go. Now that the houses are actually being built, though, the builders have BLATANTLY ignored the town noise ordinances, making loud construction noises (banging, beeping vehicles, etc.) early in the morning and late at night.

You can probably feel my frustration from the tone of that last paragraph. We have contacted the police at least five times and it still hasn’t changed the situation. But I realized the other day that I’m annoyed that they’re making noise even when I can’t hear it from my house. It bothers me that they’re ignoring the rules as if they don’t apply to them.

As I said, being someone who does not feel anger often, I don’t know what to do with it. The Bible has much to say on anger, and most of it has to do with not getting angry in the first place. I think this is good advice, but what do you do when you ARE angry? In looking up what the Bible says about anger, I also found many verses on wisdom. Wisdom is a gift from God, and we can learn from anger how to be wise in the future. In Colossians it says:

“Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”
Colossians 4:5-6 ESV

The Bible gives great advice when we are angry: Be quick to hear. Be slow to speak. Let your speech be gracious. Make the best use of your time. Sometimes anger can show us how not to be, and it teaches us who to trust, which both lead to wisdom. I pray thanksgiving for wisdom today, and pray that God grants it to each of us when we feel anger.

Copyright Holy Cross Lutheran Church, Colorado Springs, Colorado