This week we are preaching on the men in the Book of Proverbs.  Today we’ll be discussing the wrathful man.  He has trouble with anger.  He has no rule over his own spirit [Prov 25:28].  The wrathful man:

Stirs up strife – Prov 15:18 – the wrathful man stirreth up strife.  In Prov 29:22, an angry man stirreth up strife, and a furious man aboundeth in transgression.  He’s the one causing the trouble that he’s getting mad about.  He stirs it up, instead of appeasing it.  He holds on to it and keeps stirring the pot.  He abounds in transgression.  Saul is the perfect example of this man.  He stirred up strife with David, Jonathan, the priests, his own daughter, and many others.  If the wrathful man would calm down, everyone else would be much calmer.

Deals with pride – Prov 21:24 – proud and haughty scorner is his name, who dealeth in proud wrath.  Pride is usually at the root of his anger.  He takes things too seriously.  He takes things personally.  He’s a perfectionist.  He thinks he is better than others.  He thinks he can do things better than others.  He thinks he’s the best.  So, he can’t laugh himself.  As a result, he’s going down. Prov 18:12, before destruction the heart of man is haughty.  He destroys his health and his relationships with his anger.

Lacks discretion – Prov 19:11 – the discretion of a man deferreth his anger.  He lacks enough discretion to discern when a thing isn’t worth getting mad over.  He gets mad at and about anything.  He doesn’t have enough discretion to let things blow over.   He reacts before he even considers whether this is something to get that worked up about.  

Suffers punishment – Prov 19:19 – a man of great wrath shall suffer punishment: for if thou deliver him, yet thou must do it again.  He never learns from his blow-ups.  We met a man in jail who was in for his fourth time.  He admitted that they would have to lock him up again after he got out.  His anger gets the best of him and he ends up in jail every time.  There are some men suffering a different kind of punishment today.  Their anger has caused such harm to others that they will suffer the consequences for the rest of their lives.

Makes few friends – Prov 22:24-25 – Make no friendship with an angry man: and with a furious man thou shalt not go: Lest thou learn his ways, and get a snare to thy soul.  Other men figure this out right away.  They don’t like being around a wrathful man.  Anger seeks a convenient target and, so, anger is often aimed at close friends.  They don’t want to be that target.  

Conclusion: if you are wrathful, you have to change.  It’s not the circumstances.  It’s not the other people in your life.  It’s you.  And you must learn to rule your spirit so that your anger doesn’t rule you.