Irritation

We all will face circumstances, or even people, that irritate us — that don’t go the way we think they should go.

We can come up with all kinds of justifications in our minds for our grumbling, our criticism, our anger — but that is all just our carnal nature examining and comparing and inflating our own ego to the point where we say, “I know better!!!”

But this is not the way of Christ, little children of our Almighty Heavenly Father. He says, “Do not judge one another” and “forgive” and “love your enemy”. And if this seems beyond your ability, it is because your trust lies in your own inability to accomplish it, not in His overwhelming ability to accomplish anything and everything. This is carnal thinking, relying on the ability of self — and it is the same type of thinking that leads us to judge others and grumble about our circumstances.

But to die daily to our carnal ways and choose instead to fellowship in spirit with Holy, Almighty God — will have us slowing our mental pace when we encounter “irritations” to “be still and know that He is God” and to remember that “we are not”.

Lord, help us, when we encounter those familiar irritations, to surrender them to you — to not fall into old patterns of carnal thinking and grumbling and complaining and anger — but to trust that you have a plan and purpose, and to provide us with a kind answer that soothes angry feelings. Amen.