Verse of the Day: 1 Samuel 11:6, Then the Spirit of God came upon Saul mightily when he heard these words, and he became very angry.
Managing our emotions can be a very tricky venture. Today, we see an increasing push toward taking a pill, or several pills, to control this emotion or that emotion. If we are sad, we are led to believe that there is something wrong with us. If we get angry, we are demonized and told that there is something wrong with us that can only be fixed by taking some new medication that will not only fix our anger and depression, but can also, potentially, cause all kinds of physical or mental problems we do not already suffer from, even thoughts of suicide. What? Are we that naïve, or are we that unlearned in the Scriptures that we cannot see that our emotions can actually be a help and not a hindrance? It is when we allow our emotions to run wild that we get into trouble. When we fail to trust God in the circumstances of our lives, this is best time for the devils to use the emotions that God blessed us with to be pressure release valves, as weapons to self destruct. King Saul became angry when he heard the reason God’s people were overcome with grief. Note that his anger came after the Spirit of God came upon him. Yes my brothers and sisters, there will be times that our anger will come from the Spirit of God inside us, when we witness an injustice against God and His people. When society decides that living for the Lord and doing what is right is to be labeled “intolerance and evil”. Becoming angry because laws are established that clearly violate God’s Word is not wrong. Our anger becomes sin when we channel that anger in ungodly ways. Ephesians 4:26, “Be angry and do not sin.” Our tendency to sin in our anger is when we respond in anger to actions or situations that involve our personal hurt. This usually happens when our pride is hurt, when someone does something toward us directly, such as reject us, disrespect us, slander us, or do something that is meant specifically for our hurt. Sometimes, the anger comes from a misunderstanding; when we perceive something to be hurtful toward us, when it was not the intention of the person who caused the hurt. This kind of anger becomes sin because it is an anger that is founded on selfishness. “How could they have done that to me?” As if any of us are exempt from people treating us badly. King Saul was angry because of the injustice against God’s people, and God used that anger to establish and confirm him as Israel’s king. In Exodus 32:19-20 we read of Moses’ anger, “It came about, as soon as Moses came near the camp, that he saw the calf and the dancing; and Moses’ anger burned, and he threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the foot of the mountain. 20 He took the calf which they had made and burned it with fire, and ground it to powder, and scattered it over the surface of the water and made the sons of Israel drink it.” This was not a common characteristic for Moses personally, as we are told in Number 12:3, (Now the man Moses was very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) I point this particular verse out because in Numbers 12, this is said of him in a situation where Miriam and Aaron were speaking against Moses because he was married to a Cushite woman. We see that when the attack was against him personally, Moses did not react as he did when the injustice was against God. Moses’ reaction in Numbers was the reaction that we are instructed to have when an occasion arises for our anger to be kindled. James 1:19-20 clearly states, “This you know, my beloved brethren. But everyone must be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger; 20 for the anger of man does not achieve the righteousness of God.” Our reaction to personal attacks will easily lead us down the “sin path”. There were occasions when Jesus became angry, when He healed the man’s withered hand in Mark 3, verse 5 tells us that Jesus became angry at the hardness of the heart of the people in the synagogue. In Matthew 21 and Luke 19, Jesus became angry because the Temple was being used as a den of thieves. The bottom line is that it is not a bad thing to display our emotions. Anger in and of itself is not sinful. However, what we do with our anger is what makes it sin. We can be angry because of an injustice or because of circumstances, but we can be constructive in how we release that anger, never using that anger as justification to return evil for evil. If the injustice is toward us personally, then our response should be a slow tendency to get angry. Instead, we should be seeking to do our best to be at peace with whoever caused the injustice, always being ready to forgive, and allowing God to be the Avenger of whatever was done against us.
Today, God extends an invitation to you to accept His gift of salvation (Rom 6:23). Will you accept it? Anyone who calls on Jesus, by faith, in repentance, confessing your sins, will receive eternal life. Do not put off calling on Him, and receive Him and His gift of salvation today (Rom 10:13).
No comments:
Post a Comment