"Come quickly, Lord, and answer me, for my depression deepens. Don’t
turn away from me, or I will die. Let me hear of your unfailing love
each morning, for I am trusting you. Show me where to walk, for I give
myself to you." -Ps 143:7 & 8
Sometimes life is hard. When
we go through difficult seasons, we may question God's presence, His
goodness, His love for us, or the dreams He placed within us. "Why on
earth would this happen to me, God, if You are loving and just!?" we may
ask.
However, this is exactly the posture the enemy wants us to
have. Whenever bad things happen, as they did to Job, the enemy wants
to get in the middle and tell us God doesn't love us, He doesn't care
about us, and He doesn't have a plan for our lives. He wants us to turn
against our God. These statements are a complete and total lie!
But,
how do we get to the truth, when all our circumstances point to the
negative? It may be that we have never known anything besides the
negativity that surrounds us.
First, we need to get in the
word, to read what God says about us and our situation. We need to
pray, even if we don't feel like it. We need to worship, to praise God
in spite of whatever is going on - in His word it says that praise is
the antidote for heaviness. (Is 6:13) We need to get around encouraging people. And most of all we need to
believe - to have faith that in spite of any difficulty, our God is
still victorious. We have to realize that we live in a fallen world,
and that God does not want us to go through negative things, but He will
use them for our good. (Romans 8:28)
Are you going through
something negative right now? Stay in faith, let God be your hope, and
even if things don't change immediately stay in faith that God will do
what He promised. The answer may not come at the time we expect, but it
doesn't change the fact that God loves us, and sent His son to die for
us, so that we could live in heaven, eternally with Him.
"'Be angry, and do not sin: do not let the sun go down on your wrath..." -Ephesians 4:6
Things happen in life that are bound to provoke us to anger. There are parts of life that are not fair, and there are people who may drive us crazy. Consequently, at some point of time we will be dealing with anger. Anger is not wrong - anger is a part of life. Jesus was angry. He was angry that the Pharisees began selling in the temple. His anger was righteous anger (some may call it jealousy) that the priests turned a house of worship into a house of greed. (John 2:13-17)
When we are angry a lot, or when we become angry in the same type of situation, we'll know there's something more to our anger, something that we may need to resolve. We'll need to check under the hood, as our emotional engine is overheating.
We may be angry due to an injustice or due to bitterness and unresolved hurt. Whatever it is, we need to be cautious that we deal with what is causing the anger, and not let it go unresolved. Some of anger's effects are fatigue, rage, and depression. We can easily hurt or isolate ourselves from others if we let our anger get out of control. "A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger." -Proverbs 15:1 Anger is always a secondary emotion. Rarely do people who become angry get to the source of true thing that needs to be dealt with. But, effectively resolving these emotions result in more freedom and peace in our daily lives. God tells us to resolve our anger - because He knows we will experience more freedom as a result.
I know someone who used to have lots of anger. She became angry when she felt like too many expectations were being placed upon her. She grew up in a home with a performance-based mindset, that is, love and acceptance was based on her ability to achieve or believe certain things. As a result, she felt that she would only be loved and accepted for what she did. As a teenager she was really depressed and angry at herself but didn't know why. Later in life she realized she had to forgive her parents for placing so many expectations upon her and and give herself the grace to try and perhaps fail without feeling like it was the end of the world. She also had to learn to set realistic expectations to set herself up for success.
Do you struggle with anger? Pray that God would help you discover the source of that anger, so that you can experience more of His joy, freedom, and peace.
