Scripture:
"Cease from anger and forsake wrath: fret not yourself-it tends only to evildoing. - Psalms 37:8 (The Amplified Bible)
My verse selection today deals with several common areas of our emotional and thought lives. Anger, wrath, and fretting, we are told, lead to evildoing.
Anger as defined in the dictionary is a strong emotion of displeasure and resentment. Wrath is defined as fierce anger or rage. We are told to cease from the emotion of anger and to forsake the emotion of wrath.
When we consider many of the events that commonly pass through our lives it is understandable that we are faced with dealing with these emotions. It is so easy to let our circumstances irritate us, fueling these negative emotions. Anger can be expressed explosively or suppressed inwardly. Either way it is destructive to both us and others.
Our scriptural challenge is to cease (stop) and forsake anger and wrath. It is only by the grace of God working within that we can accomplish this. Without the help of the Holy Spirit it is next to impossible. Thank God for His wonderful gift. Our helper the Holy Spirit.
Finally we are told not to fret. Fretting is so easy an emotion to entertain. So natural a thing to do. Very often there are characteristics of our everyday circumstances which we do not understand. Life often presents us with unanswered questions and confusing situations. These always present to us opportunities to fret. Have you noticed that it is much easier to fret than to pray? Much easier to fret than to trust God?
We must be in control of these common negative responses to life. We must learn to do the opposite of our natural inclinations. We must stop being angry, forsake wrath and end our fretting because they all lead to evildoing. They are all destructive in nature.
Call upon the indwelling Holy Spirit to empower you today. He will help you overcome and conquer these common everyday emotional responses to daily difficulties. He alone can give us the grace to respond to our everyday situations with godly discipline.
