Those who wait on the Lord will find new strength.
—Isaiah 40:31 NLT
When should you slow down?
Slow down when you don’t have all the facts.
Succumbing to a spur-of-the-moment reactionary rant before knowing all the facts is unfair and unprincipled. “What a shame—yes, how stupid!—to decide before knowing the facts” (Prv 18:13 TLB).
Slow down when you’re hurt or angry.
James advises, “Be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry” (Jas 1:19). Notice the cadence: quick, slow, slow.
If you’re quick to listen and slow to speak, you’ve tapped into the self-discipline of being slow to become angry. But if you reverse the cadence to slow, quick, quick: slow to listen, quick to speak, you’ve pulled the trigger on anger.
“The godly think before speaking” (Prv 15:28 NLT). “It’s smart to be patient, but it’s stupid to lose your temper” (Prv 14:29 CEV).
Lift your pen before drawing a conclusion.