On the Way to Wonder

Yesterday we read in James 1:20 that “man’s anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires.” When I was a young adult back last century and when “groups” were the vogue, a crew of friends and I met with a counselor at college and of course it was easier to focus on the injustices of siblings or parents as the cause of my deficiencies. A couple years later a godly elder confronted me and said, “You’re angry.” I didn’t realize it showed! He pointed me to Genesis 4:6 where the Lord speaks to Cain after his offering is not as pleasing as Abel’s, his brother. God says, “Why are you angry? Why is your face downcast? If you do what is right, will you not be accepted? But if you do not do what is right, sin is crouching at your door, it desires to have you, but you must master it.” That visual image of an evil presence crouching at the door seeking to devour me has stayed with me and encouraged me to deal with my anger, my disappointed wants. I am challenged to focus on what I do have and not the wrongs of the other. Proverbs 2 for today reinforces this idea. The search for wisdom rather than self justification and approval draws our focus to God rather than self. “The Lord gives wisdom (v.6), “he holds victory (v.7)”, “he is a shield to those whose walk is blameless (v.7)”, and “he guards the course of the just and protects the way of his faithful ones. (v.8)” Those are beautiful promises that slow my roll when I am angered. Anger is real. It makes my face downcast. He consumes me unless with God’s help I can master it. As you meet disappointments today, may you sense God’s presence and arms holding you and know he cares. Blessings.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 2nd, 2020 at 6:01 am and is filed under Spiritual Vitamins. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.