I read this today, “Lord give me patience and give it to me right now!” I know the feeling. I have expressed that sentiment many times lately, and certainly have felt it. Life has felt out of control, in both big things (dealing with our HOA) and small things (Diane dropped herself and her phone in water). Both those things are a pain in the you know what. I have never liked being out of control of my circumstances. I should know better. To think we are in control of everything all the time is an illusion but how we all like to think we are in control. When we are not we usually take one of two positions. We either let go and let God handle it, which requires quite a bit of patience along with forgiveness sometimes. The second position is to fix it ourselves. Doing the latter comes with risks. The biggest one being we get angry, so angy we force our agenda. Logic and truth, forgiveness, selflessness, all those qualities are pushed aside as we bulldoze our position on others. We may find that what we do ourselves is not going to fix our situation. It may just make things worse, a lot worse. I know. There have been times when I let anger be my rudder instead of letting God be the captain of my spiritual ship, so to speak. As a result I ended up on the rocks.

God tells us to be slow to anger, to be angry but sin not How does one do that? His word also tells us in James 1:20 that our anger never brings us closer to the righteous life we are supposed to have.

As hard as it may be, we have to Let Go and Let God handle it. Now he may give us some instructions to do something, and we should do it. Action with His guidance will certainly be more effective than taking our own angry way. To borrow a phrase, this is easy to write but harder to live by, but live by it we must. We must not take things into our own hands. God’s timing is much different than ours, so we must ask for his help and then wait for it to come.

I don’t have to wait to make a trip to the Verizon store, however.

Proverbs 19

11 A person’s wisdom yields patience;
    it is to one’s glory to overlook an offense.

12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion,
    but his favor is like dew on the grass.

13 A foolish child is a father’s ruin,
    and a quarrelsome wife is like
    the constant dripping of a leaky roof.

14 Houses and wealth are inherited from parents,
    but a prudent wife is from the Lord.

15 Laziness brings on deep sleep,
    and the shiftless go hungry.

16 Whoever keeps commandments keeps their life,
    but whoever shows contempt for their ways will die.

17 Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
    and he will reward them for what they have done.

18 Discipline your children, for in that there is hope;
    do not be a willing party to their death.

19 A hot-tempered person must pay the penalty;
    rescue them, and you will have to do it again.

20 Listen to advice and accept discipline,
    and at the end you will be counted among the wise.

21 Many are the plans in a person’s heart,
    but it is the Lord’s purpose that prevails.

22 What a person desires is unfailing love,
    better to be poor than a liar.

23 The fear of the Lord leads to life;
    then one rests content, untouched by trouble.

24 A sluggard buries his hand in the dish;
    he will not even bring it back to his mouth!

25 Flog a mocker, and the simple will learn prudence;
    rebuke the discerning, and they will gain knowledge.

26 Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother
    is a child who brings shame and disgrace.

27 Stop listening to instruction, my son,
    and you will stray from the words of knowledge.

28 A corrupt witness mocks at justice,
    and the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.

29 Penalties are prepared for mockers,
    and beatings for the backs of fools.