Rage or Compassion?

James 1:20

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“Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.”

‭‭James‬ ‭1:20‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Today, we drove through the mountains of Colorado from our home near Denver to Palisade on the western side of the state. For the most part, the drive was pretty nice. Traffic was reasonable, most people weren’t speeding, and the weather was fine. However, at one point we came up behind a car that was driving half on the road, half on the shoulder, weaving, and going very slowly.

Since he was backing up traffic and forcing everyone to go around him — and being a major safety hazard — my anger kicked in. As we passed this guy, my wife took a look at him to see what the heck was going on with this guy. We were both muttering under our breath about his driving.

Here’s where the Holy Spirit kicked in. While it appeared that the driver was impaired by too many Sunday afternoon beers at one of our state’s many microbreweries or had helped himself to way too much recreational marijuana — another of our tourist attractions — it occurred to both of us that perhaps the person was having medical issues.

For all we know, he could have been having a stroke while driving, or was in the first stages of a migraine where vision is impaired (I’ve had this happen and have had to pull over to the side of the road).

The point is, even in a situation where it appears someone else is definitely in the wrong and is endangering everyone else, we need to consider all the possibilities and show compassion. In the heat of the moment, it’s hard to do this. We should at least take stock of the situation after our anger has subsided and we’re out of possible danger.

As James pointed out, our anger is not what God wants to see. He’d rather have us consider those other possibilities and determine a compassionate solution. Sadly, there was no way to quickly call the Highway Patrol and have them get this person off the road. Instead I just pray that he made it home safely and didn’t cause an accident in the process.