Daily Devotions

Prov 20: 3It is to one’s honor to avoid strife.

We are told in the scriptures that we ought to be slow to anger. It did not say that we cannot become angry. It is a fact that in this world there will be strife and differences which is why there are so many personal, corporate, national and international conflicts.

With all the conflicts that are going on, some will ultimately affect us and here king Solomon wisely tell us that ‘It is to one’s honor to avoid strife.’ Strife is when the differences become more intense and it begins to cause friction. The temptation to get angry is always with us and Paul reminded in Eph 4: 26 ‘Don’t get so angry that you sin. Don’t go to bed angry and don’t give the devil a chance.’

Being angry is not a sin but if it is not dealt with it will lead to sinful thoughts and then sinful deeds which we will regret later on. This can be angry words that hurt which we do not mean or it could be actions in other ways that cause hurt.  In this verse Paul tells us that if we succumb to the anger, then the devil will manipulate that and cause us to fall into sin.

We have the Holy Spirit who is with us and enables us to overcome the temptation to sin. Peter also wrote in 1 Peter 2:23 although he was abused, he never tried to get even. And when he suffered, he made no threats; instead he had faith in God who judges fairly. This is the help of the Holy Spirit to keep us from sinning.

This is the character of our Holy God, He is merciful. In Psalm 86:15 But you, the Lord God, are kind and merciful. You don’t easily get angry, and your love can always be trusted.

This is the promise of God, that He is always kind and merciful and He is not easily angered. It does not mean that God never gets angry, there were many occasions that God was very angry with the Israelites because they had deliberately sinned against God who had given them many opportunities to repent but they are so stiff necked and they refused.

Let us seek God daily and ask that He will help us to control our anger so that we will not be entrapped by the devil.