Tuesday, March 15th, 2022

I was listening to a message from Pastor Darrin English a few weeks ago, and something he said really stuck in my mind during this time of fear and anxiety from the pain and suffering we see overseas. He said, "I refuse to let the pace of this world dictate the pace of my worship." Sometimes, when things seem to be spinning out of control, we forget or even just lessen how able our God is. We let ourselves get caught up in the furor of the day and we lose our ability to see things as God wants us to: with eyes for eternity. The Apostle James wrote, "My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." By listen, he means hear the word of God - the Bible - as his audience for his letter was primarily Jewish, and in that day, no one had their own personal copies of the Scriptures. They were read aloud each week; so, to seek God's Word eagerly was to be "quick to listen."By slow to speak, he meant both the fact that it's hard to listen when we are speaking, but more importantly, we are to fill our minds with God's Word, not our own. In times of great stress like those we are in today, we talk to ourselves far too much, convincing ourselves of things in fear, and crowding out the peace that reading God's Word provides. In that absence of God's Word, we can't help but become angry over what we convince ourselves of, and James declares rightly that anger "does not produce the righteousness that God desires."James speaks directly to the human condition here, that we are all prone to: when times are tough, we talk ourselves into a frenzy, that frenzy produces anger, and that anger produces nothing good! Thus, when the world seems to be spinning faster and faster, it is on us to worship like we trust that God is fully in control -- because He is! Today, go to God's Word; take refuge and rest in it; allow it to give you peace in these times of stress, fear, and heartbreak.

"My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires." -- James 1:19-20