“你不要心里急躁恼怒，因为恼怒存在愚昧人的怀中。” - 传 7:9
神会带领我们进入顺境和逆境。两者都可以成就神的旨意，帮助我们的生命实现成长。这并不说，是神造成了我们的痛苦，也不意味着每一个逆境都会转变为顺心的结果。但有些时候，我们的逆境的确可以被神使用，为我们带来更大的益处，只要我们留心就能发现这益处。
如果我们太快恼怒或变得生气，我们可能就不会注意到这种益处，一段看似糟糕的逆境，可能对我们个人成长来说是一段虽然艰难却很重要的功课。
什么事情会激怒你？家庭作业？条例规则？交通拥堵？排队等待？不情愿地辛苦工作？得不到升职加薪？竞争没有优势？当事情不按我们的意愿发展或者我们得不到自己想要的东西时，我们很容易感到恼火。但我们又在多大程度上把这类事情看作是学习的机会？
努力使自己不那么容易被这种挫折所烦扰，这是获得这一美德的良好开始。这也有助于锻炼解决问题的能力，使我们准备好面对更大的艰难。在我们的生活中，即使有人确实在某一问题上出错，也可以帮助我们以建设性的方式处理问题——尽管会有必须承担的后果。
愤怒是一种强大的工具。人若太快太频繁使用，往往就会造成更多的伤害，毫无益处。神是不轻易发怒的，我们最好以祂为榜样。
祷告
神啊，感谢你没有快快对我们发怒。帮助我们也能变得不轻易发怒。阿们。
传道书 7:8-14
8事情的终局强如事情的起头，存心忍耐的胜过居心骄傲的。
9你不要心里急躁恼怒，因为恼怒存在愚昧人的怀中。
10不要说：“先前的日子强过如今的日子是什么缘故呢？”你这样问，不是出于智慧。
11智慧和产业并好，而且见天日的人得智慧更为有益。
12因为智慧护庇人好像银钱护庇人一样，唯独智慧能保全智慧人的生命，这就是知识的益处。
13你要察看神的作为，因神使为曲的，谁能变为直呢？
14遇亨通的日子你当喜乐，遭患难的日子你当思想，因为神使这两样并列，为的是叫人查不出身后有什么事。
Easily Provoked
"Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools." - Ecclesiastes 7:9
God leads us into good times and bad times. Both can serve God’s purpose in helping us grow. This does not mean God causes our suffering, nor that something good will always come from every bad situation. But sometimes our bad times can be used by God for our greater good, if only we’ll pay attention.
If we get annoyed or angry too quickly, we’re not likely to consider that what seems like a bad time to us might just be a hard but important lesson for our personal growth.
What provokes you? Homework? Rules? Traffic jams? Having to wait in line? Having to work hard? Not getting a promotion? Not winning a game? It’s easy to get annoyed when things don’t go our way or we don’t get what we want. But how often do we see these kinds of things as learning opportunities?
Working on being less easily annoyed by a learning opportunity can give us a great start on this virtue. It can help to apply problem-solving skills as well, preparing us to move on to harder situations. And in cases where someone is actually at fault for a problem in our lives, this can help us handle the problem in a constructive way—even if it’s necessary to apply consequences.
Anger is a powerful tool. When it’s used too quickly, it tends to cause more harm than good. God is slow to anger, and we do well to follow his example.
Prayer
God, thank you for not quickly getting angry with us. Help us to be slow to be provoked as well. Amen.
