Devotional for Wednesday, April 13, 2016
“Victory Over the Sin of Anger”
by Dona Hake
Proverbs 15:1 ERV
“A soft and gentle and thoughtful answer turns away wrath,But harsh and painful and careless words stir up anger.”
Anger is an emotion that everyone of us can admit we have had to deal with. What is anger? Here is one definition I was able to find:
anger:
a strong feeling of displeasure and belligerence aroused by a wrong.
God desires that we purpose to do that which is right in His sight. We all well know that there will always be opportunities to react in anger, but the Lord will help us in this area if we seek Him for help in those moments of temptation. Today I want to encourage you that when opportunities come to make you angry…look up and take hold of God’s ability that will cause you to rise above the temptation to sin.
It can be very hard at times to resist getting upset with people’s actions, words, and deeds especially when it goes against the truth you know to be so real in your heart. Many times it is hard to understand how people can be so deceived, and the fruits of how they think and believe turn into actions that can really so to speak pull the rug from out under our feet. People can say things and do things that can leave you in a place in which you have a choice to make. You can either choose to react in a calm response and God’s wisdom and peace, or react in a carnal way and become angry.
In my life I can honestly say that in those times I permitted myself to be angry and react out of that anger that I only made matters worse. This scripture in Proverbs admonishes us that a harsh word only stirs up more anger. Speaking wrong words in an already bad situation is like taking a baseball bat and hitting a beehive. You know what the end result is going to be, and it makes no sense to even go there. Sometimes we just need to ask God to help us hold our tongue, give us the proper answer according to His wisdom, or just keep our mouth shut, and lay hold of silence. Sometimes silence really is golden!
Today I encourage you to meditate upon the truth that soft, simple, and thoughtful words will create an answer from your heart and mouth that will bring peace to a situation rather than strife, anger, and harsh words. This is a Proverb that all of us can put into practice, for we will never escape the fact that people can be mean, lacking thoughtfulness, and speaking words that can hurt the heart. If we do not handle such things in God’s way, we will ultimately be tempted to react in anger.
Let us look to the Lord for He has girded us with everything we need that we can react properly to any temptation that we may encounter. May we walk in that place of guarding our peace and guarding our hearts with all diligence for all things truly do proceed from the depths of our hearts.
