CHAPTER 2
THE DANGER OF ANGER “Do not make friends with a hot-tempered man,do not associate with one easily angered, or you may learn his ways and get yourself ensnared.” Proverbs 22:24-25, NIV
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his is a very different warning from those you may have received if you grew up focused on finding the “right crowd.” Solomon is not saying to associate only with people of like social status. He’s not urging you to make sure that everyone around you makes you feel comfortable, and he’s not saying to have friends who are a step up rather than down the social ladder from you so they will pull you up, not down. What Solomon is talking about here is character. It is character, not income, which makes a difference. It is character, not similarity of culture, which makes a good friend. Moreover, Solomon has focused on one particular character flaw as being perhaps the most dangerous. Let’s look at another statement made by Solomon: “Do not hasten in your spirit to be angry, for anger rests in the bosom of fools” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). Maybe you thought “road rage” was a new thing; that it is the stress of a technological age that causes otherwise peaceful people to become angry. However, Solomon wrote these words long before traffic jams, time clocks, and credit card bills! Anger has been making 12
