Dealing With Anger

It is just human nature to retaliate or respond in anger when we feel that we have been wronged. This response is so naturally ingrained that it happens reflexively, like when the hammer hits that perfect point on your knee in the doctor's office.

Yet as is true in most areas, what the Lord asks of us is in complete opposition to our natural, fleshly inclinations.

"For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9)

I've been reading about King David's reign in II Samuel. Yesterday I read about the time when his son, Absalom had strategically turned much of Israel against his father in his pursuit of overtaking the kingdom.

As I read about David taking his trusted men and fleeing, I got so irritated as I wondered why he didn't stand his ground and fight like a man.

As I've experienced many times, through further reading I was able to find the answer. As David and his men got to a stopping point in the wilderness, he spoke these words to Zadok...

"Take back the ark of God to the city. If I find favor in the Lord's eyes, He will bring me back and let me see both it and His house. But if He says, I have no delight in you, then here I am; let Him do to me what seems good to Him." (II Samuel 15:25-26)

David recognized that he was not entitled to the kingship in the first place, that it had been a gift bestowed upon him by God, and that He who had gifted him with it had just as much the right to take it away.

His greatest desire was not for worldly position, but to be wherever God wanted him to be. Maybe this, I thought, is why David is often called "a man after God's own heart."

So I have to ask myself...what do I desire more, God's will for my life or my own?

When someone tramples on your heart, can you remember that God in His sovereignty has allowed it, and can use it for your good if you will let Him?

Our greatest desire in these difficult situations should be to respond in accordance with His will.

Choosing to ignore your inner fleshly voice long enough to seek Him for direction can be an uncomfortable and sometimes even, a painful process.

Yet it is one that is well worth the trouble.

"Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord and He shall life you up." (James 4:10)

There's no worldly position in existence that can trump that.