Organizing the Inside – Day 194 Let’s Take Out The Trash

March 15, 2012 at 4:30 pm · Filed under Encouragement, Inspiration, Love, Relationship, Wisdom, Women's Ministry and tagged: Anger, Forgiveness, God

16So don’t be misled, my dear brothers and sisters. 17Whatever is good and perfect comes down to us from God our Father, who created all the lights in the heavens.He never changes or casts a shifting shadow.18He chose to give birth to us by giving us his true word. And we, out of all creation, became his prized possession. 19Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. 20Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires.
James 1:16-20

The silent treatment
God makes it clear in His Word that our human anger doesn’t achieve His righteous purpose. So what about the silent treatment? I found myself trying to get my anger under control by giving my husband the silent treatment.  Actually, this is no way to deal with anger and will eventually cause more problems. This only gives the enemy an open door to promote more self defeating behavior. And “don’t sin by letting anger control you.”Don’t let the sun go down while you are still angry, for anger gives a foothold to the devil. Ephesians 4:26, 27 (NLT)

For those who know me, you’d likely agree;
I generally have a very laid-back demeanor. I don’t often have emotional highs or lows. My temperament is melancholy; therefore when I experience extreme or unreasonable emotional highs it sends a red flag. The most recent experience was when my husband (for the hundredth time) didn’t replace the recycle bin in the kitchen.  I really felt my need to punish such behavior was justified. I wanted to send Him a message that this kind of disorganization would no longer be tolerated. He’d crossed the line and the silent treatment was the only language He would understand. So, I made a conscious choice to maintain complete silence until I got my point across.

The Lord can use the recycling bin,
the trash can, or whatever household items He chooses to speak to our hearts. The object of the lesson is not as important as the message itself. During my silent protest it became apparent that I was overreacting, and God used the recycle bin to show me I’d let things build up.  I allowed hostile resentment about the recycle bin to build in my heart… really?  I began to see that each time the recycle bin was not left in its appointed place, my choice to stuff down my feelings, again was self-defeating. When we feel extreme emotional highs or lows, pretending the feelings don’t exist is like dumping more trash in the compactor.

I had to empty my compactor.
I believe the answer is simple; give it to God and leave it there. Yep, God wants our trash. Certainly He doesn’t want us carrying around all that stuff. The unforgiveness, anger and resentment towards others hurt you far more than you realize. Anger can keep you from being the woman God wants you to be. God is the only one equipped to dispose of our trash. Don’t keep stuffing your feelings down until the compactor starts to spill over with smelly junk. If you’ve been carrying around a full compactor it’s time to allow God to clean it out. Go to Him in prayer and let Him give you peace in exchange for your anger, love in place of your resentment.  Hard feelings will only weigh you down, and hold you back. Let it go! Then go on to fulfill His righteous purpose for your life. Take my yoke upon you. Let me teach you, because I am humble and gentle at heart, and you will find rest for your souls. Matthew 11:29

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