Week 43: When Blessing Disarmed Anger

I was a passenger in a car driven by a pastor friend of mine, travelling along a narrow, dusty road in Tonga. The road was rough and dry, and every vehicle stirred up clouds of dirt behind it.

Quite suddenly, a car behind us pulled out and passed us at speed—far too fast for such a narrow road—throwing up a thick cloud of dust that completely engulfed our car.

My pastor friend was not pleased.

His reaction was immediate. His body tensed. His words sharpened. He was ready to pursue the other driver and, as he later joked, 'offer some pastoral counsel.' That’s putting it nicely.

Sitting beside him, I recognised the familiar surge of irritation filling the car—the kind that feels justified in the moment. But I also recognised it for what it was: a choice point.
So I said to him, calmly but firmly,

Pastor, this is not what I’ve been teaching you about the power of blessing.
He looked at me, still gripping the steering wheel.

Then I said,
Here’s what I want you to do. Speak out loud:

I bless the driver of that car in the name of Jesus.

May the love of God pursue him, and overtake him, and arrest him—in Jesus’ name.

There was a brief pause.

Then we both laughed.

But something important had already happened.

As my friend spoke those words, the atmosphere in the car changed immediately. The anger drained away. The sharp edge was gone. The ‘toxic squirt’ of irritation simply dissipated.

The other driver was no longer an enemy. There was no desire to chase, confront, or retaliate. Peace returned as quickly as it had been disturbed.
And there was more.

By choosing to bless rather than curse, my friend himself was blessed.

Scripture promises this: 1 Peter 3:9
“Do not repay evil with evil or insult with insult. On the contrary, repay evil with blessing, because to this you were called so that you may inherit a blessing.”
That day, on a dusty Tongan road, nothing dramatic happened on the outside.

No confrontation.

No pursuit.

No correction.

But something very real took place.

Anger dissolved.

Peace returned.

And a blessing was received.

What could have escalated into offence ended in freedom.