How Fast Do You Think You Were Going Back There?

This post has two illustrations about anger personal and application.

I may have shared this story before.  So if it sounds familiar forgive me.  There was one morning several years ago that I had a bad time getting ready.  I was angry with my wife and the kids.  I got the kids to school and was driving to work.  As I was thinking about the morning and busy blaming my wife and kids for the wonderful mood I was in I saw blue lights flashing in the rearview mirror.  I pulled over and the officer asked the question, "How fast do you think you were going back there?"  He said I was going 65 in a 55.  I thought for a moment "if only my family had not made my morning so bad I would not have got a ticket."  Later as a cooler mental state prevailed I recognized the thinking error of blaming my family for something that could not possibly be their fault no matter how difficult the morning was.  I also recognized the power of anger to make us speed through life in a destructive manner.  Latter when I shared with my wife she (to my shame) was very gracious, disappointed, but gracious none the less.

In the Scriptures there seems to be two speeds when it comes to anger Slow and Quick. 

He who is slow to anger has great understanding, But he who is quick-tempered exalts folly.
Proverbs 14:29 (NASB)

God is "slow to anger."

You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
Psalms 86:15 (NASB)

Being quick with anger is considered foolishness:

A quick-tempered man acts foolishly
Proverbs 14:17 (NASB)

Many verses command us to be slow to anger: Proverbs 14:29 (NASB), Proverbs 15:18 (NASB), Proverbs 16:32 (NASB), Proverbs 19:11 (NASB) and James 1:19 (NASB).

So let me ask you, When it comes to anger "how fast were you driving back there?" 

Have a blessed day!