Thought for Today
Deuteronomy 28:20 The Lord will send upon you disaster, panic, and frustration in everything you attempt to do
Nehemiah 4:15 When our enemies heard that their plot was known to us, and that God had frustrated it, we all returned to the wall, each to his work.
Matthew 5:22 But I say to you that if you are angry with a brother or sister, you will be liable to judgment;
James 1:19 You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger;
I am easily frustrated, aggravated and can become angry when I am. Does it sometimes seem to you that the more ‘advanced’ our world becomes, the more automated and computerized it becomes, the more frustrating our world becomes?
I often remind myself and others that we never live in the world in which we were raised. The advent of the Electronic Age may have made that trope truer than ever before. The computerized age in which we live today is certainly far different from the world of the latter half of the 20th century. Today, everything has a chip in it. When I was younger, chip meant a flaw in the surface of something, not an electronic device. If a china plate had a chip, it was ruined. When a mirror had a chip, it no longer reflected a true image. Not only is almost everything today operated by chip, the chips are now powering ‘artificial intelligence,’ promising that our devices can run themselves and make decisions for us.
As you might be able to infer, we have had a computer ‘issue’ this morning. The specific details are not important. But, if you have ever had a problem with your computer, your phone, your television, etc., you may well have experienced the aggravation, the frustration of our modern Electronic Age. For centuries, our devices were not smarter, better or faster than we are, They were merely devices we used to make our lives easier. Screwdrivers, hammers, plows, tractors and so on were just tools. Humanity progressed from using stones as hammers to shaping and crafting metal hammers, but a hammer was just a hammer. Plows developed from the simple use of a stick to create a furrow to metal bladed plows, but they were still just plows.
How many of us today really understand how our computers, our smart phones or our televisions actually work? Some days I’m not even sure how to operate my computer, smart phone or television.
Far too often, those days are filled with frustration and anger. I’m not sure it is satanic, but, coincidentally, those days of frustration seem to always occur at the most inconvenient times. I encounter computer problems on the days I most need my computer; and, the same seems to be true for all of my devices.
On those days, I wonder, ‘Was Jesus ever frustrated?’ Certainly, Jesus never had to deal with being unable to log on to his computer, never had his smart phone battery go dead when he most needed to make a call. Jesus never knew the frustrations of the Electronic Age.
For those who are wondering whether or not Jesus ever did become frustrated or angry, read Luke 19:45 – 47 or the accounts of that same incident in Matthew or Mark. Jesus was frustrated and angry because God’s people and especially their leaders had turned God’s house into a commercial marketplace instead of a house of prayer. The 5th chapter of Matthew’s gospel offers me another example of Jesus’ frustration as he tried to get God’s people to look beyond the letter of the Law to the intent and meaning of the Law.
On my angry and frustrated days, I like to remember James 1:19 and especially “let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger.” In our modern, Electronic Age world, in our crowded urban society, life would be better and safer were we all to be quicker to listen, slower to speak and slowest to anger. Hopefully, as you read this and as you have such days, you will hear Louis Armstrong singing in your mind What a Wonderful World and you will see those trees of green and those red roses, friends shaking hands and you will remember God’s love.
Stay safe, let God’s love conquer frustrations and anger, trust God,
Pastor Ray