A person who is continually angry in discussion is one who
has bitterness in their heart. We have probably all met people who cannot
calmly discuss a matter unless they are the center of attention or everyone in
the room agrees with them.
These people will use harsh tones of voice while speaking so
long that no one else can interject into the conversation. When someone
attempts to voice their side or opinion, this person will cut them off raising
their voice to be in control.
"Make no friendship with an angry man; and with a
furious man thou shalt not go:" Proverbs 22:24
I have encountered this a lot with certain people, when it
happens I excuse myself from the conversation and begin to pray that the person
will see their own bitter heart. Confrontation does not work with controllers,
they get louder and meaner when they cannot have the floor.
God has called us to peace, when we encounter this, we don't
have to stay friends with these people, we can walk away and begin to pray for
them.
If the Lord has ordained that they be in our lives, out of
our control, then we can choose not to engage in conversation with them while
serving them as any slave would be expected to do with a master.
The hardest lesson I had to learn in my life, has been that
I don't have to make anyone else listen or understand. God can take care of
teaching the unteachable. He can give us peace in the midst of a war.
Let the manipulative person talk, we do not have to engage,
often these people are looking to cause a fight, don't indulge them by entering
into the battle.
In a way, the arguer and fighter is attempting to draw us
into a battle, it makes them feel superior if they can cause us to do or say
something ungodly.
Proverbs 1:10
"10 My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou
not."
The subtlety of the enticement is covert, but it nonetheless
just as damaging as following a sinner into an ambush of the innocent as the
following verses speak of in Proverbs 1. May the Lord give us discernment, when
to engage in conversation and when to walk away, when to pray and when to
speak.
