Don’t allow the enemy steal your Peace.
…patience is better than pride.
9 DO NOT BE QUICKLY PROVOKED IN YOUR SPIRIT,
FOR ANGER RESIDES IN THE LAP OF FOOLS. (The Old Testament’s evaluation of the ‘danger of anger’, only one letter difference in English in those two words!) Ecclesiastes 7
The Wisdom literature has much to say about ‘Anger’ and why at times we should be careful not to give way to it.
10 PRIDE ONLY BREEDS QUARRELS,
but wisdom is found in those who take advice. Prov. 13:10
Many of us may not believe this or even want to accept it, but the Bible is clear about the source of much trouble, our own Pride.
Two further verses from Proverbs 17;
14 Starting a quarrel is like breaching a dam;
so DROP THE MATTER “BEFORE” a dispute breaks out.
The breaching of a dam releases large volumes of water and is often devastating. We can pursue the argument and risk releasing devastation, or walk away before that occurs. It’s our choice.
19 WHOEVER (NO EXCEPTIONS!) loves a quarrel loves sin;
WHOEVER builds a high gate (another dam) INVITES DESTRUCTION.
Most people who get involved in arguments wouldn’t see it as Loving Sin, but Proverbs makes a definite connection and we need to pay attention to it.
I AM TESTING ‘YOUR OFFENCE’.
I listened to an interview with Ana Werner recently and this phrase remained with me. She and her husband had served abroad as missionaries and after one trip they returned home. They didn’t have a car, but someone gave them one. One morning her husband got up to surprise Ana by going to bring her a coffee and pastry, but alas, the car they’d received as a gift had been stolen. So after they talked about it, Ana heard the words above, ‘I am testing your offence’. Many times we get into difficulties because we do or say something unwise. On other occasions God Himself allows us to experience storms to reveal things in us and train our character. It’s often in the tough times that we learn our deepest lessons.
God will test us to reveal if there is offence in our hearts and we don’t want to keep failing the test and have to repeat it over and over again.
In the New Testament we see many examples where the Lord Himself was continually provoked and maligned by enemies, looking for anything to trap Him. But at the very beginning of His Ministry, He preached the Beatitudes (Beautiful Attitudes);
43 ‘You have heard that it was said, “Love your neighbour and hate your enemy.” 44 But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, 45 that you may be CHILDREN OF YOUR FATHER IN HEAVEN. Matthew 5
God is seeking for Children to be with Him, now and in eternity, but He checks to see that we are like Him.
God bless and keep you today.