Archive for November, 2023
Are You as Frustrated as a Termite in a Yo-Yo? Part Four
Luke 21: 25 – 28
Frustration is so common it is expedient to consider a biblical approach as to how to deal with it. Consider some does and don’ts in dealing with it. Two different daily posts will relate to this. The first day is devoted to things not to do.
Don’t resort to vindicating yourself by finding someone to blame for it.
In their time of frustration many people try to find someone or something to blame in order to justify themselves. “They made me do” is a cover-all for all sorts of inexcusable attitudes and actions.
Author, Dr. Knaus said, “We cause our frustrations because of what and how we think…”
Solomon wisely wrote: “As a man thinks in his heart so is he” (Proverbs 23:7). If an individual or a group starts thinking they have been wronged and have the right to destructively retaliate, violence results.
Few people are willing to take responsibility for their own actions. One of the most extreme possibilities I have heard of in this matter relates to a report that peanut butter allegedly increases one’s sex drive. Can’t you just hear some rapist pleading innocent in a court of law declaring: “I am innocent, Jiffy made me do it.” “…each of us shall give an account of himself to God” (Romans 14:12).
Never do wrong in order to get a chance to do right.
“Do not evil that good may come.”
“See that no one renders evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good both for yourself and for all” (I Thes. 5:15).
Don’t resort to violence. John the Baptist was God’s oracle who said, “Do violence to no man” (Luke 3:14).
Proverbs 16:32 reminds us: “He who is slow to anger is better than the mighty, And he who rules his spirit than he who takes a city.”
Violence may hurt others but it doesn’t help you.
Don’t get “ballistic” over your frustrations.
Plato said, “The good man will suffer evil rather than do evil.”
Don’t resort to vengeance. Don’t ever resolve to get even with someone.
Vengeance is reserved by God for His exclusive use. In that way it will judicially be applied. “Do not avenge yourselves, but rather give place to wrath… Vengeance is Mine, I will repay, says the Lord” (Romans 12:19).
If vengeance is God’s business, get out of His way and let Him to His work. He doesn’t need your help.
And as for you, well “Casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” (I Peter 5: 7)
Are You as Frustrated as an Eskimo in His Fur Trimmed Parka in Hawaii? Part Three
Luke 21: 25 – 28
In general there are two types of frustrations.
There are episodic frustrations which are temporary problems, such as missing an important phone call, trying to get a knot out of a shoestring while friends call you a klutz or worse, or being unable to solve a computer glitch.
An episode of frustration is you slamming the fridge door because your favorite snack isn’t there.
It’s you kicking the cat or dog because someone chewed you out when you didn’t deserve it.
There are process frustrations which occur when a person continuously feels blocked in an area of life. Process frustrations build up and cause major problems.
It is you and circumstances standing face to face with life shouting “no way” and you responding “yes way” and circumstances won’t yield.
A few years ago psychologist William Kraus wrote a book entitled “How to Conquer Your Frustrations.” Some of his observations are worthy of noting. He said:
1. Frustrations exist when our wants, wishes, and desires get thwarted or interrupted. The feeling results from disparities between what we want and what we find available. For example, when our level of aspiration exceeds our level of achievement, we will likely experience frustration.
2. Frustrations can range from imperceptible to powerful.
3. Frustration starts from a feeling of discomfort.
4. We cause our frustrations because of what and how we think about our frustrations.
5. Strong frustrations result in mixed emotional states that have a disorganizing effect on memory and behavior.
6. Depending on how we interpret our feelings of frustration, they can stimulate positive change, aggression, regression, complacency, or compulsive behavior.
This last one means you choose how you will respond to your frustrations. Options are available to you. You are not a slave to your heredity or environment. You have willpower. You are responsible.
In their time of frustration many people try to find someone or something to blame in order to justify themselves. “They made me do it,” is a cover-all for all sorts of inexcusable attitudes and actions.
Are You as Frustrated as a Sheep That Is Allergic to Wool? Part Two
Luke 21: 25 – 28
Webster defines frustration as “a deep chronic sense of insecurity arising from unresolved problems.”
You know that from your own experience. It is when you want something or want to do something real badly and things happen that just step in your way and shout “NOT.”
You have seen it, or perhaps you have been the one seen, whose plans are frustrated and you go ballistic.
Youth experience it when they get all “jacked up” and life kicks out the jack, causing a big letdown.
Frustration is a Moses coming to a much-needed spring of water and finding it dry, starts beating on the rock with his rod.
It is a John who gets fed up with the opposition and asks Jesus to call down fire from heaven on them.
Do you ever feel as frustrated as the fellow who bought a new boomerang and had trouble throwing the old one away?
At times you can feel it building. Resources aren’t available or have run out, time to act is elapsing, people to help have abandoned and the pressure rises until finally “melt-down.”
It is you senselessly honking your horn in a traffic jam.
It is our response to a comedy of confusing circumstances that keep us from being punctual at an appointment.
It’s kicking carpet when things just won’t go right.
It’s our reaction to the toaster which burns our toast and smokes up the house when we are in a hurry to get going.
It’s the burning of Los Angeles when a jury reaches a verdict that from the public view seems to be wrong.
In such times we need supernatural help to: “Refrain from anger, and forsake wrath! Fret not yourself; it tends only to evil.” “But you, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.” “Whoever is slow to anger has great understanding, but he who has a hasty temper exalts folly.” (Proverbs 14: 27)
Prayer and reflection of familiar Bible verses are two stellar aids when frustration is boiling on the back burner.
Are You as Frustrated as a Bird Looking for a Worm in Astroturf? Part One
Luke 21: 25 – 28
Jesus spoke of a time when there would be “distress among nations, with perplexity…” and of “men’s hearts failing them.”
This summarily speaks of a time of great frustration. Perhaps you personally are facing a time of frustration. Certainly, it appears a broad segment of our nation is experiencing an epidemic of frustration. You know frustration!
Words such as stressed-out, uptight, and burnout spatter our conversations. We are a generation of high-strung temperaments with short fuses that cause explosions.
Frustration is an emotion fathered by anger. It causes our blood pressure to rise, our breathing to accelerate, the pitch and volume of our voice to heighten.
Frustration results from us reacting against seemingly impossible circumstances.
One country comic said, “It makes me so mad I could eat a goatburger!” That’s frustration.
A little boy going fishing with his dad asked the man from whom he was buying .25 worth of worms, “Mister, how many worms do you get for .25?” The man replied, “Son, I will do right by you. Life is too short to spend time counting worms.”
Life is too short to live frustrated. Yet, many people spend most of their life as frustrated as a bird looking for a worm in astroturf. You don’t have to!
Frustration is the fruit of our failure to succeed and achieve. It is the outgrowth of our inability to reach a goal. It occurs when our hopes fade and our dreams die.
Frustration is a Ulysses on his odyssey coming to a rain-swollen river which he must cross and, finding it flooded, wades out into it waist-deep and beats it with a chain. Such a frustrated response does no good. How many times have you found your stream flooded at the wrong time and you flogged it with a chain?
Frustration is a little boy who has beat on a locked door until exhausted and finally sits down and cries. Have you been there? Sure, all of us have been.
When that which promises to be exhilarating proves to be exasperating, we end up frustrated.
Your Divine Umpire
Many people seem to still be singing along with U2, “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” The reason is they have looked in all the wrong places.
You have got to know what is basic if you are going to get back to basics. Therefore, “Let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another…” (Col. 3: 15, 16).
The information barrage has led to a nation of people who feel culturally naked, personally disconnected, professionally perplexed, spiritually undernourished, and emotionally uninspired. Although we have the machines and means to grind our reams of information, we have little grasp of how to humanly interpret data and wisely apply accumulated knowledge represented in the ocean of facts readily accessible. Inner strength is missing because of uncertainty resulting from not having a well defined set of core values.
We are to let “the peace of God rule” in our hearts. The word translated rule can be translated as “arbiter.” An arbiter is one that makes the rules. The word translated “rule” came from athletic jargon and is the equivalent of “umpire.” Let the peace of God umpire in your heart.
Our hearts are arenas of conflict and competition. All sorts of feelings compete for our devotion. Cynicism and goodwill, indifference and concern, fear and hope, jealousy and trust all need an arbiter. It is the peace of God based on the Word of God that is to call the plays for us.
Dramatic change has contributed to making us a nation of insecure and uncertain worriers. A divine arbiter is needed.
The first step to becoming confident and content is to allow Christ’s peace, instead of Satan’s fears, to rule in our hearts.
Spin doctors and cultural therapists are at work to modify your moral values. However, some values never change. Regardless of how sophisticated the formula for putting humans in space there are still 16 ounces per pound and 12 inches to a foot. A ball is still a ball and a strike is still a strike. Let the Lord help you know the difference.
Certain moral and spiritual laws are just as inflexible. As William Penn observed, “Right is right though all men be against it, and wrong is wrong though all be for it.”
Establish as your divine standards such principles as these:
I believe in the eternal loving God who sent His Son, Jesus, to seek and to save.
I believe the Bible is the divine revelation of the mind of this loving God.
I believe the Holy Spirit to be a supernatural invisible companion Who abides with me as an on board guidance system.
I believe I am eternal and immortal and have two and only two options open to me regarding my eternal state.
I believe in “Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever more.”