We needed to keep ourselves as sharp as the business end of Mexican hornets.”
–J. Lee Butts (Ambushed)
“Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour.”
–1 Peter 5:8 (NKJV)
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Do you ever get frustrated? Do people, things, or events frustrate you at times? I recollect that my earliest frustrations would probably have been a ball game in which I didn’t get a hit. If we won, it wasn’t too bad, but if we lost I was frustrated. Speaking of baseball, one of my greatest frustrations would be with half-hearted play. It was even worse as a coach. I had a few teams in which the players thought of themselves as grand champions, but in reality they were a little more than a glorified intramural team–frustration.
Computers! My they are frustrating, at least to me. That goes all the way from my personal computer all they way through to the provider and the internet. Recently, in the past month I have been frustrated as all of my morning Echoes are not being received. You try to do a service, maybe inspire or exhort or encourage, and then because of some “glitch” it is not received; well, it’s frustrating.
People, especially those you work with can be frustrating. I heard the phrase, “good enough for government work,” several times in the military. To me that was frustrating. I felt that we all should be doing the best we could. Co-workers and administrators who do their own thing and go about work with a lackadaisical attitude were especially frustrating. Don’t they know? Don’t they understand? The work they were doing was supposed to be unto the Lord.
Then there are the bureaucrats! Some of them go beyond frustrating. Some of them actually make me ill and want to vomit. With their smug smirks and evil agenda, well, it sometimes just jerks my jaws. When I see their faces come up on the news I must turn them off.
Read the prophets and the one thing that most of them have in common was frustration. Dare to read Jeremiah and say that he wasn’t a frustrated man of God. Amos, Jonah, Haggai, Malachi–they were all frustrated with the lives of the people and those in leadership most particular. Perhaps the only prophet where frustration isn’t seen is that of Daniel, but he became sick when he had his dream of the end times.
Daniel was grieved over what he saw. Do things grieve you along with the frustration? Are you grieved at what is happening to our wonderful country? More importantly, is the Holy Spirit grieved with the actions of people, with the country, with you and me? We should be careful with our lives that we do not grieve or frustrate the Holy Spirit. Paul writes,
“And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God [do not offend or vex or sadden Him], by Whom you were sealed (marked, branded as God’s own, secured) for the day of redemption (of final deliverance through Christ from evil and the consequences of sin).”
–Ephesians 4:30 (Amplified)
Now I want to ask, Is God frustrated with us? Are we living our lives the best we can? Are we serving Him, working out our salvation? When we become complacent or compromising, I believe that we are in danger of frustrating and grieving the Holy Spirit.