Swift to Hear; Slow to Speak, Slow to Wrath

 
Blessed is the man who endures temptation; for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.  Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am tempted by God”; for God cannot be tempted by evil, nor does He Himself tempt anyone. But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren. Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning. Of His own will He brought us forth by the word of truth, that we might be a kind of first fruits of His creatures. So then, my beloved brethren, let every man be swift to hear, slow to speak, slow to wrath; for the wrath of man does not produce the righteousness of God. James 1: 12-20

Today our text comes from the book of James. And in the verse few verses James told those precious saints to count it all joy when they, not if they but when they entered into various trials because the trials in their lives had a purpose and that purpose was to produce or develop patience or endurance. Endurance is staying power.  Endurance is the ability to remain in position in spite of the winds and the waves of life beating you down. Endurance is the ability to withstand hardship or stress. Endurance involves strength and tolerance.  I will never forget the prophetic words that were spoken over Pastor Mike and me at our ordination ceremony, “God is increasing your ‘tolerance’ level”. That was almost six years ago and we have certainly needed more endurance, more tolerance, more strength and certainly more faith working in the ministry.

In the book of Job we read about a man who suffered for righteousness sake.  He suffered what he did so that God could be glorified.  He suffered so that we could be left a testimony of the faithfulness of God and his ability to bring us through anything.  Job suffered that for you and for me.  Sometimes when I read Job I just shake my head and wonder how in the world one person could go through so much and endure.  Most of us would have jumped ship at the first sign of a strong wind on the horizon.  That phrase “to jump ship” is an old navy expression and what it referred to was that a sailor would sign up to be aboard a ship for a certain period of time, usually for the entire duration of the voyage.  During that time they were not allowed to have any unauthorized leave, nor could they leave the ship without prior authorization and if they did decide to leave they would usually wait until the ship was close to land and they would jump over the side of the ship, hopefully unnoticed.  In doing that they would have abandoned their post and deserted the ship.  They would not have completed the agreement they made to endure the time that they signed up for, in other words they did not keep their word.  They also left their post and someone else would have to step in and pick up the slack or do the job that they previous was commissioned to do.  When we get under a little pressure the first thing we want to do is, “jump ship.’  Times get a little difficult and the first thing that we want to do is, “jump ship.”  Things don’t go as we planned and the first thing we want to do is, “jump ship.” And Why do we prematurely want to leave or give up?  James says (paraphrasing) that we give up, abandon, desert because we are tempted, drawn away and enticed by our own desires.  Hmmmm, we abandon our posts because we are drawn away by our own desires and enticed.  To be enticed means to be led away by exciting hope or desire.  To be enticed means to be attracted by something or someone offering us hope of reward or pleasure.  Often times it will appeal to what feels good to us but in the end is not the will of God at all or it may be the will of God but not the right timing. Almost twelve years ago Pastor Mike and I were at the end of our military tour in Augsburg, Germany and he was presented with an option to stay or to go and he chose to go and we bought what we thought would be our retirement home in Georgia because we had traveled around so much and were ready to settle down.  While in Augsburg we had pastored a wonderful congregation and God was blessing us tremendously. When we got to Georgia and moved into our home we had not been in it a week and I had a dream that we were leaving.  And when I woke up in my mind I said, “Get thee behind me satan”, because I just knew that that dream could not have come from God.  I mean we had just gotten there and we finally had a real house that we could paint the walls any color that we desired.  And for 18 months God dealt with us.  Mike retired and was so quick to get out of the army that he didn’t even have a formal retirement ceremony- he just wanted out!  During that time we went through one trial after another.  I mean just as soon as one was over another would come and our faith was challenged on every front imaginable.  But also during this time we knew that God had his hand upon us.  And in the midst of it all God gave me a prayer partner and we began to fast and pray concerning our circumstances.  And the Lord gave my prayer partner a vision.  In the vision Mike was leaving our home and he had on a white shirt on and tie and a brief case in his hand with a smile on his face. And to make a long story short; he came to me one day soon after and said, “If I have to leave the United States and go back to Germany would you be willing to go with me?” And I said without hesitation, “Yes”.  And back to Germany we came and that was 10 going on 11 years ago.  And what we discovered was that when we had left Germany the first time; we left too soon.  Our mission there was not completed.  There was something more that God wanted to do to us and through us and for whatever reason that was the place that He wanted to do it and so we returned.  And I said all that to say this, we were drawn away by our own desires and enticed by our very fickle emotions. Emotions can change suddenly and often.  God created us to be emotional people, but if we allow our emotions to rule; we can end up out of the will of God.  Even when we had finally received clear direction from God to return to Germany there was dangled a carrot on a stick  in the form of a promise of advancement in ministry.  That phrase carrot on a stick came from the idea of a carrot tied on a stick in order to get a horse or a donkey to move.  The carrot was the good thing to draw them to get them to move and if that didn’t work the stick was there to drive them or poke them or prod them to get them to move.  In any case the idea was to get them to move in whatever direction the one holding the carrot on the stick attached by the string wanted them to.  And you see the enemy will always try to derail us from the course that God has for us by dangling a carrot in front of us that appeals to our emotions- what makes us feel good.  And what makes us feel good are usually promises of things that will appeal to our egos, and we can be so enamored or smitten with the carrot that we don’t see the stick, which is tied to the string that is holding the carrot.  There are always strings attached when it is not God’s will. The blessing of the Lord makes a man rich and he adds no sorrow with it. Proverbs 10:22.  Now back to the text.  We are told that when we go through trials which are allowed to develop endurance in us we are be  swift to hear, slow to speak and slow to wrath.  The message bible says it like this…lead with your ears, follow with your tongue and let anger straggle along in the rear. This involves three things; our ears, our tongues and our emotions.  Who do we listen to?  Do we listen to the lies of the enemy who will sometimes say good things to get us to move in a certain direction but his motivation is always to derail us or do we do our best to stay in tune with God and follow his leading, no matter how strange it seems.  Sometimes God’s leading just does not add up.  Why would God tell Abraham to leave his own country, his family, and his father’s house to a land that he knew nothing of?  Why would God tell a teen aged boy to go against a man over 13 feet tall with only a sling shot and five smooth stones?  Why would God allow Joseph to be sold into slavery and he stay in prison for a long time for something that he did not do?  In each of these cases don’t you think that the enemy was whispering doubt and confusion in their ears to try and derail them from the course that God had laid out for them?  Who would they listen to?  Would they listen to the voice of God, self or satan?  Then there is the tongue…Our tongues will speak whatever voice we are in tune with. Are we speaking what God is saying to us?  The word says that faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Are we filling ourselves up with the word until it gets in our heart and then out of the abundance of our heart our mouths speak?  Most times the enemy does not have to derail us.  We do it to ourselves by the words that we release into the atmosphere. Words are powerful! And we should choose them carefully and not be hasty in what we say. And finally we are to be slow to get angry.  Anger has its place.  When Jesus said that they were selling and buying outside the temple, he got angry and turned over the tables and said that they had turned his father’s house into a den of thieves.  Anger is a very real emotion and can go from mild irritation to rage. Most times we should be experiencing only mild irritation and we allow little annoying things get to us to the point where we become enraged over nothing.  Wasted energy! Lord, help us to not allow people and things and circumstances to control our emotions. Anger management: isn’t not getting angry, but learning to control your responses. We cannot do this successfully without the help of the Spirit of God within us.  I have a saying, “I was so mad I could have cussed!”  But, I didn’t because of the Spirit of God within me whom I allow to restrain me.  We are to be quick to hear, slow to speak and slow to anger.  Don’t jump ship, don’t throw in the towel, and don’t give up in the midst of the trials. Be quick to hear the voice of God and follow his leading, refuse to listen to the lies of the enemy.  Be slow to speak, put a muzzle on it.  Don’t criticize, and complain.  This is the time to do less talking and more listening and when we do talk let it be to God first.  And finally slow to anger.  We are not being asked to suppress our anger.  Suppression of anger can lead to high blood pressure and all types of internal problems, but we are being advised to not becoming angry so quickly.  We can refuse to have a short fuse.  Ask the Holy Spirit to help you to control your response.  Don’t give them a peace of your mind; in doing that you will be giving up your “peace of mind.”

Vera LeRay Warner

Mühltal, Germany