Sunday 5 Nov 2017

November 5: Proverbs 27:3-4

Key Verse: Proverbs 27:4
Anger is cruel and fury overwhelming, but who can stand before jealousy?

Devotion:
Which is easier to carry, a rock weighing 5 kilograms or 5 kilograms of sand? Well, unless you have the sand in a nice bag, it will be almost impossible to pick it up in one go! Each has its drawbacks, and each has its strengths and until we have tried both, we will not be able to say with all honesty which is easier than the other. Neither are going to be pleasant to have to carry because they are both heavy, but with a little thought we can get to carry them. What we do find much harder to carry is what people can lump upon us. People can give us burdens to carry without thinking about it, they can overload us without realising it; and those burdens will be the ones which weigh us down more than anything. When people get angry with us, they throw all sorts of things at us and we have to do something with them!

For those who do not believe in Christ, they have a weight on their shoulders they don't know the half of! They have a weight which far out-weighs anything we could ever give them. Yet most people go through life trying to figure out what their excess baggage is, never looking at the obvious truth because it just looks too simple. We always want to find a complex answer to everything to make us feel like it has been worth the struggle! We are being out-weighed by our own thoughts. Wrath and anger are weights we carry around and don't think about. They pull us down, building up inside, until they come out screaming – and we find ourselves screaming! Wrath does not know bounds, it rips through everything and anything in its path. It is not kind and thoughtful but cruel and thoughtless overwhelming anything and everything.

Envy will pull us down further below the surface than anything else we know; and we won't know it until it is far too late! Without asking Christ to lift you above wrath, anger and envy, we may as well be on the Titanic! We need His strength and guidance to lift us above those thoughts and feelings and allow His love to shine through us!

Points to Ponder:
How much anger does it really take to upset you?

How much do you rely on God to lift you above your feelings?