“But if we look forward to something we don’t yet have, we must wait patiently and confidently.” (Romans 8:25)
I was unsuccessful at anything I had tried. I wondered if I might be nearing my wit’s end. I had ordered an appliance from a national chain through a local store. Since the appliance was not in stock at this location, I was informed that it would be delivered to my home the following week. That’s when it all began – a series of events that ended up being a comedy of errors during which the anticipated merchandise would not be received. Dealing with the customer service and delivery personnel was horrendous. I attempted exhaustively to work through automated phone calls, responding many times to the same questions over and over again. On those occasions that I did get a ‘live person’ – I was either unable to understand the person or was given promises that someone would call me back but never did.
Throughout this sequence of mishaps – I tried to not become angry, but I was at the very least frustrated. While I had desperately desired to act with patience and kindness, the excuses and inattentiveness to provide a solution did at various points cause me to simmer. I know in times like these we can either serve as a witness to our faith or provide a poor example of what no one would want to become. On one delivery attempt I received the wrong appliance, and I took my frustration out on the truck driver. Eventually I apologized to him for my level of exhaustion. He indicated that he understood and told me the story of a time when he made a delivery to the house of a lady who said she was on her way to church and had very little time. Because the process took longer than anticipated, she became verbally offensive and threw the delivery man’s clipboard. He said that he calmly picked up the clipboard and said to the lady, “Ma’am, did you just say that you were on your way to church?” Oooops!!!
Motivation speaker and self-help author Wayne W. Dyer once wrote: “Anger is a choice, as well as a habit. It is a learned reaction to frustration, in which you behave in ways that you would rather not.” The Old Testament scripture puts it this way: “Control your temper, for anger labels you a fool” (Ecclesiastes 7:9). I am always partial to the counsel found in the Book of Proverbs which states – “A hot-tempered person stirs up conflict, but the one who is patient calms a quarrel” (Prov. 15:18); and “Through patience a ruler can be persuaded, and a gentle tongue can break a bone” (Prov. 25:15). The Apostle Paul would challenge us this way: “Therefore I, the prisoner of the Lord, implore you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience, showing temperance for one another in love” (Ephesians 4:1-2).
I recently heard that even though there are regulations governing the weight and length of the bats players use in major league baseball, some players shave the handles of this equipment. Doing so to an extreme could contribute to what has become an increasing number of broken bats, which combined with a healthy swing not only fly uncontrollably at other players but also dangerously into the stands toward fans. This example could serve as an analogy for what happens when an individual becomes frustrated, allowing anger to surface to the breaking point where they meet their wit’s end. The Bible tells us: “They reeled and staggered like drunkards and were at their wits’ end.” (Psalm 107:27). Scripturally speaking, when we reach our wit’s end, we waver in our devotion to God. It is then that we are no longer able to depend on our own wisdom and what we know to be true – we must rely on our faith. And that’s not a bad place to be. For when we exercise our faith with confidence – God will provide the solution before we ever come close to our breaking point and the reaching of our wit’s end. We just have to know when it’s time to invite Him in. The sooner, the better.
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