Swift to Hear, Slow to Anger, and the Wrath of Man

James 1:19-20

19 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath:

20 For the wrath of man worketh not the righteousness of God.(KJV)

"Let every man be swift to hear." How many of you are good listeners? I am not the best listener myself. I am still learning in that department. I hear part of something and usually have the whole picture in my mind before the person is finished speaking. Unfortunately, sometimes my picture is false or incomplete because I have not listened well.

Other times certain things they say clue me in immediately as to what is going on. But what is important for me and all of us to remember is we don’t always hear it all before the person is finished speaking. On top of that, think of how you feel when you are telling someone something and they don’t let you continue explaining or sharing or whatever. You figure they are not really listening. I am still learning how to be a proper listener, and thanks to the help of my husband and daughter, I am improving. Sometimes we need someone to catch us in our not listening properly to someone, and it is a good thing for me I have two family members to let me know when I am not doing it right.

"slow to speak"–I fall down here too, do you? A verse in Proverbs really hit me over the head when I read it. (I love Proverbs. It really sets a person straight)

Prov 18:13

13 He that answereth a matter before he heareth it, it is folly and shame unto him.(KJV) When I read that verse, I really started working on obeying it. It is all part of learning how to listen and knowing when to speak.

Eccl 3:1

1 To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven:(KJV)

Eccl 3:7

7 A time to rend, and a time to sew; a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;(KJV)

Proverbs is a great book, isnt’ it? So is James. So practical. So here in verses 19-20 we have James teaching in his letter to the Jews, who have been scattered throughout the areas around Israel, that it is needed for people to be quick to listen and slow to speak. Do you think people must have had trouble in those days with listening to each other. Certainly they did. That is why James had to bring up the subject. Have you ever heard different ethnic groups arguing over subjects?-well various ethnic groups in this world have been great at interrupting and not listening, but quick at expressing their own opinions and sometimes all together at one time. You don’t find this in all ethnic groups, but in many of them. Evidently the Jews fit into that group in James’ time.

The third point James made in verse 19 was they should be slow to wrath, slow to get angry at others. And he explains why in the next verse. Your anger is not going to bring about the righteousness of God. All you are going to do is bring anger back into your face. Have you noticed that when you get angry with someone, they usually get angry back very quickly and you then find communication breaking down as a result, hurt feelings, misunderstandings, etc.? Certainly you have. When I realized that my anger at my son in his teen years was just bringing out more anger in him, I changed my ways, and there was more peace between us. I was getting angry, you see, at his stubborness and unwillingness to listen and heed, but trying to deal with him in anger was not accomplishing a thing, instead it was driving him away. So God showed me how to more peacefully deal with him. He turned out to be a fine man with lots of wisdom too.

If you are finding you are trying to bring about God’s righteousness in the lives of those you love, anger won’t accomplish it. If you have children that aggravate you, learn how to sit down with them and talk with them calmly about what they are doing wrong and let them know the consequences of disobedience and be willing to bring those consequences into reality where you have the ability and need to do so. Some things, of course, will bring consequences from the world outside your home, and then they will learn from those. Don’t shield your children from experiencing the consequences of their bad behavior, and don’t avoid rewarding them for their good behavior either. They need to know that their decisions and behaviour have consequences for good or evil.

Now to digress a bit. With this study in James, God had to remind me of the scriptures I covered so far because of my brother-in-law. God has really been testing both my patience and his brother’s patience. I haven’t held up as well as my husband in this, and God had to convict me and correct me the other day when I found myself holding against Billy his lack of cooperation because he does not understand. So I had to go and ask his forgiveness and he having felt better after doing what he was told, not only forgave but realized I had been right in insisting on him minding. Because of his lack of being able to understand what his problem is and how it is solved and that medicine does not alway bring about instant healing, getting his cooperation on even normal things has been difficult. But if God is patient, and He is, we have to be too.

Have a great and blessed weekend. The Good News Lady