Nuggets

“Good sense makes one slow to anger, and it is his glory to overlook an offense. The fear of the Lord leads to life, and whoever has it rests satisfied; he will not be visited by harm.” - Proverbs 19:11, 23 ESV

These two verses were part of my daily reading this morning and I felt compelled to share them. Verse 11 is one that I usually do not have much problem with. For the most part my temperament is even. So even in fact that, in conjunction with my introverted nature, I need to put effort into conveying empathy to others. Notice, I used the word “conveying” because I really am an empathetic person (and getting more so as my faith walk progresses or as I age, I’m not sure which), but if people don’t think you show it, they think you are unfeeling. 

Where my attitude fails me is when driving.  Luckily, I can use cruise control most of the time to avoid putting myself into competitive driving mode where I can be perceived as being the a hole by others.  There have been a couple of situations where I’ve been driving and someone merged in front of me that I perceived as being offensive and I accelerated to get in front of them only to worry about a road rage situation by the other driver. By the way, I saw a post today that I can relate to - “8 billion people in the world and I’m the best driver.”

The second verse from that Proverb chapter also spoke to me. My natural instinct would be to shun that verse because I don’t want to fear my God. I have finally gotten to the point of recognizing that when I have those feelings, I’m trying to tell God who he is. If that isn’t idol worship (creating my own, not real, God), it’s darn close.

It makes perfect sense to fear and show reverence to God. To long to be closer to him knowing that he loves us and wants the best for us.  Sometimes the best for us is letting us know that we have screwed up and need to ask for forgiveness.  When he does that, I pray that I’m open to his admonishment so that I can learn from my mistakes.  Let God be God.

“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” - Numbers 6:24-26