Q&A Series: On Proverbs 16:32

[Photo Credit: Dan Alderman on Flickr]

Question: What Bible verse has been on your heart recently... and why?

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

Proverbs 16:32 (NLT)

Whoever is slow to anger is better than the mighty, and he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.

Proverbs 16:32 (ESV)

Patience is not touted as a virtue in Bangkok. Most taxi drivers illustrate this clearly as they try to maneuver their way through bumper to bumper traffic, making tsk-ing noises, tapping the wheel, occasionally sighing in frustration. What I want to say to them when I can see these ticks and twitches from the backseat is "you signed for this!" and "no one forced you to be a taxi driver in Bangkok!" However, even though I feel like I'm going to meet my Maker almost every time I get in a taxi or sit on the back of a motorcycle taxi, this verse comes to mind and makes me think about the things that draw out my ticks. What unmoving traffic do I rail against as if my anger could actually change anything?

I heard a great sermon by Tim Keller recently called "Forgiving and Forgiven" (I highly recommend you listen to it; I plan on listening to it at least five more times this month) where he says that we have to redirect our anger away from a person but towards a problem. He tells us to ask two questions when we feel angry and impatient:

1. What am I defending? 
2. What am I attacking?

Keller says we must first repent of our selfish defense and comb out selfish parts of our motives in order to ask these questions and be able to redirect our anger appropriately. I used to think it was somehow wrong for me to continue to struggle with the same sins after I became a Christian. Dr. Moore addresses this in Tempted and Tried, "Pretending the appetites are instantly nullified by conversion is a rejection of what God has told us--that we are still in the war zone" (p.73). I thought that my struggle with anger was evidence that spoke against the certainty of my salvation. I let my salvation rest on how well I was following Jesus instead of on who saved me from death, from hell, from meaninglessness. 

How can I respond to this scheme of the Enemy? That's where the self-control comes in. How exactly though does one "rule his spirit"? I can ask those two questions when I feel like I'm losing patience and becoming angry. Sometimes the things I rail against are related to culture shock (you'd think I'd be over that after living here almost eight months...). However, just like the traffic in Bangkok, the things about Thai culture that frustrate me are not going to change just because I don't like them. I can sigh, 'tsk,' shake my head, or blow up all I want but that's not how one looks more like Christ--our ultimate goal in being disciples of Christ.

Keller goes on to say that you have to be continually in worship, constantly meeting with God so that Christ's character grows in you and pushes off the old character. He instructs us to throw off sinful anger! Get rid of it! Do not put up with it in your life.

My prayer for myself and for whoever reads this blog is that you make worship a priority so that when something rubs us the wrong way, we can be of one mind with Christ. Pray that we cling to the Word, meditate on it, and treasure it.