Undisturbed

Bible Reading: Acts 26:24-32

Key Verse: Verse 28 – “Then Agrippa said unto Paul, Almost thou persuadest me to be a Christian.”

Key Words: Almost thou persuadest me

I can remember it like it was yesterday: having my mother crying out with every ounce of energy she could muster, “M-i-c-h-a-e-l, get back here right now.”  It seems as though Mom didn’t appreciate the fact that I had made our bathtub the new home to a dozen or so tadpoles.  To say the least, she was upset, and rightly so.  She explained to me in language that could be clearly understood that tadpoles were not to be a part of the Rouse family, and that I was to “never pull that little stunt again.”  She was disturbed!!

But you know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed.  In Acts 16 after Paul and Silas had prayed and sang and had an old-fashioned prayer meeting in that Philippian jail, the earth began to shake and the prison cells all shook open.  Darkness prevailed in that dungeon called a prison and the guard on duty that night was disturbed.  You see, he thought for sure all the prisoners had fled; and as a result, he would be tortured and then executed so he decided to take his own life until Paul interceded.  God disturbed this man and as a result, he and his family were born again.

King Hezekiah was told that he was going to die in II Kings, chapter 20.  This disturbed the great king.  He was so disturbed that he prayed.  Evidently he prayed hard enough and righteously enough to get God’s attention and God gave him fifteen more years of life.  Being disturbed caused the great king to humble himself and pray.

Now none of us like to be disturbed; but the truth is that we’ll never be motivated to action until God uses something or someone to disturb us.

The other night the phone rang—actually, it was early morning about 1:00 or so.  Now, when the phone rings at that hour a hundred things begin to run through my mind…are my parents all right?  What about the kids and grandkids?  What about church family?  Has something happened to one of the buildings?  Yes, I admit it.  I was disturbed.  When Linda answered and I heard her say, “You’ve got the wrong number,” I breathed a sigh of relief; and then at 1:00 in the morning, I began to thank God for my parents, daughters, grandkids, my church family, and for God’s safety and blessings—all because God used an early morning phone call to disturb me. 

 You know, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed!!  The problem is when we are like Agrippa…undisturbed.

                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Remember, there really is nothing wrong with being disturbed about the right thing.

Uncompromising

Bible Reading: Exodus 8:25-32

Key Verse: Verse 25- “And Pharaoh called for Moses and for Aaron, and said, Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”

Key Words: Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land

Pharaoh, rather than letting the people of Israel go, kept attempting to get Israel to compromise.  In our text for today, Pharaoh makes a revealing statement, “Go ye, sacrifice to your God in the land.”  Pharaoh didn’t care if they sacrificed to God so long as they stayed in Egypt.  I’ve found Satan to be the same way.  He doesn’t care if we sacrifice to God; just don’t leave the “worldly lifestyle behind.  Don’t go all the way for God.  Stick around the world, enjoying the world.”  What a compromise proposal Pharaoh had!  In essence, he was saying, “You can have the best of both worlds.  You can sacrifice to your God and still live a worldly life.”  How revealing!  But when you decide you’re not going to compromise, hard times may come for awhile.  But joy will come in the morning.  But when you do decide to compromise, it can and will consume you…literally.

 A hunter had his gun aimed at a large bear and was ready to pull the trigger.  Just then the bear spoke in a soft, soothing voice, saying, "Isn't it better to talk than to shoot?  Why don't we negotiate the matter?  What is it that you want?"  The hunter lowered his rifle and answered, "I would like a fur coat."  "That's good," said the bear. "I think that's something we can talk about.  All I want is a full stomach; maybe we can reach a compromise."  So they sat down to talk it over.  A little while later the bear walked away alone.  The negotiation had been successful - the bear had a full stomach and the hunter had a fur coat!

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Remember what Dante said, “The hottest places in hell are reserved for those who, in a period of moral crisis, maintain their neutrality.”

Unforgiving

Bible Reading: Mark 11:20-33

Key Verse: Verse 26 – “But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive your trespasses.” 

Key Words: if ye do not forgive

 Have you ever experienced not being forgiven by someone?  While it hurts and is hard to go through, the one I pity is the one unwilling to forgive.

Leo Tolstoy thought he was getting his marriage off on the right foot when he asked his teenage fiancé to read his diaries, which spelled out in lurid detail all of his sexual dalliances.  He wanted to keep no secrets from Sonya, to begin marriage with a clean slate, forgiven.  Instead, Tolstoy’s confession sowed the seeds for a marriage that would be held together by vines of hatred, not love.  “When he kisses me I’m always thinking, ‘I’m not the first woman he has loved,’” wrote Sonya Tolstoy in her own diary.  Some of his adolescent flings she could forgive, but not his affair with Axinya, a peasant woman who continued to work on the Tolstoy estate.  “One of these days I shall kill myself with jealousy,” Sonya wrote after seeing the three-year-old son of the peasant woman, the spitting image of her husband.  “If I could kill him [Tolstoy] and create a new person exactly the same as he is now, I would do so happily.”  Another diary entry dates from January 14, 1909. “He relishes that peasant wench with her strong female body and her sunburnt legs, she allures him just as powerfully now as she did all those years ago…” Sonya wrote those words when Axinya was a shriveled crone of eighty.  For half a century jealousy and unforgiveness had blinded her, in the process destroying all love for her husband.

 What a shame! 

                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Forgive those who refuse to forgive you.

Pastor’s Note:  Just a piece of pastoral advice: public sins, public confession; private sins, private confession.  Leo should have confessed to God and lived a pure and clean life from that point.

Unrealistic

Bible Reading: Philippians 3:10-21

Key Verse: Verse 12 – “Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect: but I follow after, if that I may apprehend that for which also I am apprehended of Christ Jesus.”

Key Words: Not as though I had already attained, either were already perfect

We often make life difficult for ourselves by setting unrealistic goals.  Others make life difficult for us because of their unrealistic expectations of us.

Our life and work within the Christian community will go much better if we acknowledge our own shortcomings and do not make unreasonable demands on others. Adoniram Judson wrote, “In encouraging other young men to come out as missionaries, do use the greatest caution. One wrong-headed, conscientiously obstinate fellow would ruin us.” Then he described the sort of person he preferred: “Humble, quiet, persevering men; men of sound, sterling talents (though, perhaps, not brilliant), of decent accomplishments, and some natural aptitude to acquire a language; men of an amiable temper, willing to take the lowest place, to be the least of all and the servants of all; men who live near to God, and are willing to suffer all things for Christ’s sake, without being proud of it, these are the men.” Then Judson added, “But oh, how unlike this description is the writer of it!” 

Some one unknown to me once said, “We make unrealistic demands of our pastors, their wives, and other Christian leaders, and we judge them unfairly.  But the work of Christ will get done more quickly and efficiently if we recognize the value of others and admit that we too have shortcomings. Then, as we do our best, we can admit that like everyone else we are not perfect yet! “

But you have to admit, those with unrealistic ideas and thoughts can make life hard for us all.

  

                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Have goals for yourself but make them realistic.  Be realistic in your expectations of others.

Unfufilled

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 5:1-8

Key Verse: Verse 4 – “When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it; for he hath no pleasure in fools: pay that which thou hast vowed.”

Key Words: When thou vowest a vow unto God, defer not to pay it

 

Living an unfulfilled life can not only be depressing, it can be hard.  All one has to do is look at Cain, Esau, Demas…all these lives were unfulfilled.  If our life is to be a full life, a satisfied life, we must fulfill our promises to God and man.

Booker T. Washington describes meeting an ex-slave from Virginia in his book Up From Salvery: 

I found that this man had made a contract with his master, two or three years previous to the Emancipation Proclamation, to the effect that the slave was to be permitted to buy himself, by paying so much per year for his body; and while he was paying for himself, he was to be permitted to labour where and for whom he pleased. 

Finding that he could secure better wages in Ohio, he went there. When freedom came, he was still in debt to his master some three hundred dollars. Notwithstanding that the Emancipation Proclamation freed him from any obligation to his master, this black man walked the greater portion of the distance back to where his old master lived in Virginia, and placed the last dollar, with interest, in his hands. 

In talking to me about this, the man told me that he knew that he did not have to pay his debt, but that he had given his word to his master, and his word he had never broken. He felt that he could not enjoy his freedom till he had fulfilled his promise.

Nor can you or I…I am convinced that as many hardships and unhappiness come from unfulfilled promises.  Let your “yea” be yea, and your “nay” be nay.

  

                                                                                       Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Live a fulfilled life by fulfilling your promises to God (and man).

Uncertainty

Bible Reading: Isaiah 45:1-19 

Key Verse: Verse 18 – “For thus saith the LORD that created the heavens; God himself that formed the earth and made it; he hath established it, he created it not in vain, he formed it to be inhabited: I am the LORD; and there is none else.”

Key Words: thus saith the LORD

We live in a day of uncertainties.  The economy is volatile.  As a result, many jobs are insecure.  Our safety with terrorism being what it is causes some uncertainty.  Many churches are making changes, and not for the better.  Violence in our schools has caused some to cry out for more controls.  Life is filled with uncertainties.

In a world of uncertainty many of us are going through some hard times.  But isn’t it reassuring to know that God and His Word are certain?  We can count on God’s “thus saith the Lord.”

In his book Light for Anxious Souls, George Cutting told about a farmer who lacked the assurance of salvation.  He foolishly prayed that as an evidence of his acceptance, the Lord would cause 10 sheep of his flock -- and only 10 -- to gather in a certain shed out in the pasture. 

Later that day, when the farmer anxiously approached the shed, he was relieved to find exactly 10 sheep. That gave him a temporary sense of peace.  Doubt returned with the shocking thought that it may have been just a coincidence.  So he asked the Lord that 10 different sheep might gather in an opposite corner of the pasture.  And they did! 

When the farmer was asked, “Did this give you assurance?” he said, “No, nothing gave me certainty until I got the sure Word of God for it.” 

Cutting concluded, “He was all in a fog of uncertainty until he planted his foot firmly on the ‘Thus saith the Lord.’“ 

And so it is with us all.  Our only certainty of life is in “thus saith the Lord.”  Now, you can count on that!!

  

                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Put your trust in God’s Word, not in society’s promises.

Unloved

Bible Reading:  Psalm 142

Key Verse: Verse 4– “I looked on my right hand, and beheld, but there was no man that would know me: refuge failed me; no man cared for my soul.”

Key Words: no man cared for my soul

There is no pain worse than the pain of being unloved.  It’s one of the most difficult things one could ever experience.  This is what David was feeling as he sat in the cave (which cave is not known).

There are many today who feel as David felt then…that no one loves them, no one cares for them.

Bits & Pieces records the story of a father and son who had become estranged. The son ran away, and the father set off to find him.  He searched for months to no avail.  Finally, in a last desperate effort to find him, the father put an ad in a Madrid newspaper.  The ad read: “Dear Paco, meet me in front of this newspaper office at noon on Saturday.  All is forgiven.  I love you.  Your Father.”  On Saturday 800 Pacos showed up, looking for forgiveness and love from their fathers. 

Today, maybe you know of someone who feels unloved.  You can be the one who shows this one who feels unloved that you care, that you love them; but most of all, you can show them God’s love and tell them God cares.

If today you feel unloved, remember “For God so loved the world” and that includes you…you are loved!!  My plea to you is to believe this and accept God’s love for you!

  

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ If you know someone who feels unloved, show them God’s love.

Unknown

Bible Reading: I Corinthians 6

Key Verse: Verse 2 – “Do ye not know that the saints shall judge the world? and if the world shall be judged by you, are ye unworthy to judge the smallest matters?”

Key Words: Do ye not know

There is an old saying, “What you don’t know won’t hurt you.”  Well, that’s a big lie!  What you don’t know can kill you, and will surely lead to some hard times.

In our Scripture reading for today, some of the members were taking other members to court so Paul asked them seven questions:

• Verse 2: “do ye not know” in regard to saints judging the world.
• Verse 3: “know ye not” we shall judge angels?
• Verse 9: “know ye not” unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God?
• Verse 15: “know ye not” your bodies are the members of Christ?
• Verse 16: “what, know ye not” in regard to being joined to harlots.
• Verse 19: “what, know ye not” your body is the temple of God?

What they didn’t know did hurt!!

During the Franco-German War of 1870-71, two unexploded shells were found near a house. The homeowner cleaned them up and put them on display near his fireplace. A few weeks later he showed these interesting objects to a visitor. His friend, an expert in munitions, suddenly had a horrible thought. “What if they’re still loaded?” After quickly examining the shells, he exclaimed, “Get them away from the fire immediately! They’re as deadly as the day they were made!” Without realizing it, the homeowner had been living in grave peril.

 What you don’t know will hurt you!!

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ Don’t live in spiritual ignorance.  1) Find a good church and attend faithfully.  This means Sunday School as well.  2) Listen and heed God’s Word.  3) Spend much time in prayer.   Don’t live in spiritual ignorance for what you don’t know will hurt you.

Unbelief

Bible Reading: Mark 9:14-32

Key Verse: Verse 24 – “And straightway the father of the child cried out, and said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.”

Key Words: help thou mine unbelief

It’s amazing to me how many people live with doubts, superstitions, and unbelief.  These three can cause some really hard times in our lives.

• Cain didn’t believe and ended up being a vagabond.
• Saul didn’t believe and lost his kingdom.
• Israel didn’t believe and ended up in captivity (book of Nehemiah).
• The Pharisees didn’t believe and crucified Jesus, to no avail.  Praise God, He arose on the third day!

The disciples of Jesus said they believed and then confessed that they really didn’t.  So it was with the father of the demon-possessed boy.  Unbelief can and will lead to some hard times.

Two fishermen were driving along a highway when they came to a crossroad with a "Closed" sign blocking the main road.  They noticed fresh tire tracks leading around the sign, so they decided to follow the tracks and disregard the sign.  They had gone some three miles when the road ended at a broken bridge.  The only thing to do was turn around, and on passing the road block again they observed this inscription on the reverse side of the sign: "It was really closed, wasn't it?"

 Not believing God causes many people to have to make U-turns in life.  If only they had believed!!

 

                                                                             Dr. Mike Rouse           

What to do: 

✞ You can believe, or you can spend your life making U-turns.

Unaccepted

Bible Reading:  Job 42:9-17

Key Verse: Verse 9 – “So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went, and did according as the LORD commanded them: the LORD also accepted Job.”

Key Words: The LORD also accepted Job

Job’s friends had refused to accept him because they believed he was being punished by God for sins he had committed; but in the end the friends realized the error of their way and God accepted Job and accepted his friends after Job had prayed for them (verses 8 – 10).

Being unaccepted by your peers is a difficult thing to live with.  It certainly can produce some hard times in your life.

Campbell Morgan was one of 150 young men who sought entrance to the Wesleyan ministry in 1888.  He passed the doctrinal examinations, but then faced the trial sermon. In a cavernous auditorium that could seat more than 1,000 sat three ministers and 75 others who came to listen.  When Morgan stepped into the pulpit, the vast room and the searching, critical eyes caught him up short.  Two weeks later Morgan's name appeared among the 105 REJECTED for the ministry that year. 

Jill Morgan, his daughter-in-law, wrote in her book, A Man of the Word, "He wired to his father the one word, 'Rejected,' and sat down to write in his diary: 'Very dark everything seems.  Still, He knoweth best.'  Quickly came the reply: 'Rejected on earth. Accepted in heaven. Dad.'" 

In later years, Morgan said: "God said to me, in the weeks of loneliness and darkness that followed, 'I want you to cease making plans for yourself, and let Me plan your life.'" Rejection is rarely permanent, as Morgan went on to prove.  Even in this life, circumstances change, and ultimately, there is no rejection of those accepted by Christ. 

 To that we can heartily say, “Amen!”

                                                                                               Dr. Mike Rouse                                                                                                                                                                                 

What to do:  

✞ The key to happiness is not so much being accepted by men as being accepted in heaven.

Unemployed

Bible Reading: Jeremiah 14:1-9

Key Verse: Verse 3 – “And their nobles have sent their little ones to the waters: they came to the pits, and found no water; they returned with their vessels empty; they were ashamed and confounded, and covered their heads.”

Key Words: they were ashamed and confounded

The truth is you don’t find unemployment in the Bible.  But for those of you who may be unemployed, that really doesn’t make you feel any better, does it?  But you do find times of leanness where famine has ravished the land.  This is certainly a hard time for those who experience such as this.  It’s during these times that we “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).

In such situations Satan means it for bad but God can take it and use it for good.  Such an example of this is during the time of the Irish Potato Famine (1846 – 1851) which resulted in a 30 percent drop in the population of the west of Ireland. The prolonged suffering of the Irish peasantry had broken the survivors in body and spirit. 

John Bloomfield, the owner of Castle Caldwell in County Fermanagh, was working on the recovery of his estate when he noticed that the exteriors of his tenant farmers' small cottages had a vivid white finish. He was informed that there was a clay deposit on his property of unusually fine quality.  To generate revenue and provide employment on his estate, he built a pottery at the village of Belleek in 1857.  The unusually fine clay yielded a porcelain china that was translucent with a glass-like finish.  It was worked into traditional Irish designs and was an immediate success. 

Today, Belleek's delicate strength and its iridescent pearlized glaze is enthusiastically purchased the world over.  This multimillion-dollar industry arose from innovative thinking during some very anxious times.  

 So today, if you are going through the famine of unemployment take heart; don’t give up.  God can take it and bring good from it.  We read in Proverbs 3:7-8, “Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the Lord, and depart from evil.  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.”

                                                                                     Dr. Mike Rouse   

What to do:  

✞ “He that endured to the end shall be saved.”  Keep enduring.

Unheeded

Bible Reading: Hebrews 11:23-31

Key Verse: Verse 25 – “Choosing rather to suffer affliction with the people of God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season;”

Key Words: the pleasures of sin for a season

One of the things that have bothered me for years is to hear adults tell teens that there is no pleasure in sin.  That simply is not the case.  The problem with sin is that there is pleasure in it.  Teens know that adults know that.  Maybe that’s the reason our message goes unheeded.  Both teens and adults go through hard times as a result of not heeding the message.

Listen up!!  There is pleasure in sin, but it is short-lived; it is only for a season!

Teenagers are much more inclined to take warnings about steroids seriously if the drugs’ muscle-building benefits are acknowledged in the same speech, say doctors at Oregon Health Sciences University. That was the case when the doctors lectured nine high school football teams on the effects of steroids. They found that football players who heard a balanced presentation on steroids were 50 percent more likely to believe that the drugs could harm their health than those who were told just of the dangers. This isn’t the only instance where scare tactics have been known to fail. In spite of a massive, ongoing campaign on the hazards of cigarette smoking, millions continue to light up. Health experts might be more successful if they acknowledged smoking’s pleasurable aspects. Then once they had a smoker’s attention, they could let loose on why it’s time to quit.

 If we want to be heard and heeded, we must also be honest!

                                                                                          Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ You can live in sin and it is pleasurable, but only for 

a season.  Remember, you make your choices and then your choices make you.

Unprofitable

Bible Reading: Ecclesiastes 2:1-11

Key Verse: Verse 11 – “Then I looked on all the works that my hands had wrought, and on the labour that I had laboured to do: and, behold, all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”

Key Words: all was vanity

Notice all the personal pronouns in our Scripture reading for today: I, me, my, mine.  Then Solomon says all was vanity.  Everything I worked for, everything I labored in, was vanity.  Have you ever felt that way?

Reminds me of a recent news release from Charlotte, North Carolina, which told of a woman who set a world record while playing a convenience store video game. After standing in front of the game for fourteen hours and scoring an unprecedented seven and a half million points on the game called “Tapper,” the woman was pleased to see a TV crew arriving to record her efforts for posterity. She continued to play while the crew, alerted by her fiancé, prepared to shoot.  However, she was appalled to see the video screen suddenly go blank.  While setting up their lights, the camera team had accidentally unplugged the game, thus bringing her bid for ten million points to an untimely end!  The effort to publicize her achievement became the agent of her ultimate failure.

When we seek the attention, when we want the glory, when life and events are about “I, me, my, and mine” hard times will come for God shall always get the glory, not us!

 

                                                                                              Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ To God be the glory!  See that He gets it.

Unthankful

Bible Reading: Colossians 3:1-17

Key Verse: Verse 17 – “And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by him.”

Key Words: giving thanks to God

When you go through hard times, are you thankful for them?  Right now you’re probably thinking, “You’ve got to be kidding!”  No, I’m very serious.  We are told to be thankful for everything.  Now, doesn’t that include hard times?  I must confess to you that I’m not always thankful for those difficult situations; but I know in the end God will get the glory and I’ll be a better Christian for having gone through them, and for that, I am thankful.

David, a two-year old with leukemia, was taken by his mother, Deborah, to Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, to see Dr. John Truman who specializes in treating children with cancer and various blood diseases. Dr. Truman’s prognosis was devastating: “He has a 50-50 chance.” 

The countless clinic visits, the blood tests, the intravenous drugs, the fear and pain—the mother’s ordeal can be almost as bad as the child’s because she must stand by, unable to bear the pain herself. David never cried in the waiting room, and although his friends in the clinic had to hurt him and stick needles in him, he hustled in ahead of his mother with a smile, sure of the welcome he always got. When he was three, David had to have a spinal tap—a painful procedure at any age. It was explained to him that, because he was sick, Dr. Truman had to do something to make him better. “If it hurts, remember it’s because he loves you,” Deborah said. 

The procedure was horrendous. It took three nurses to hold David still, while he yelled and sobbed and struggled. When it was almost over, the tiny boy, soaked in sweat and tears, looked up at the doctor and gasped, “Thank you, Dr. Tooman, for my hurting.” 

 “Lord, thank you for my hurting.”

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do: 

✞ In everything give thanks.

Unable

Bible Reading: Joel 3:9-17

Key Verse: Verse 10 – “Beat your plowshares into swords, and your pruninghooks into spears: let the weak say, I am strong”

Key Words: let the weak say, I am strong

We all face those people or things in life that cause us to think we are “unable.”

To Israel it was the giant called Goliath that caused them to think they were unable to defeat the Philistines.  Again, it was the Anakims in the Promised Land that caused Israel to think they were unable to claim the Promised Land.  In Nehemiah’s day it was the condition of the walls that caused the people of Jerusalem to believe they were unable to rebuild.  These were hard and difficult times for Israel.

Now, what hard things are you facing that cause you to think you are unable to be victorious, unable to move forward?

In 1982 Nick Vujicic was born with Tetra-amelia Syndrome, a rare genetic disorder.  Nick has no arms or legs, although he has two small feet attached to his torso.  Growing up Nick struggled emotionally and physically to accept his condition.  But today Nick, a born-again believer, has what he calls a ridiculously good life. 

Nick is able to use his physical condition for God and draws a crowd wherever he goes which enables him to witness to dozens and hundreds of people at one time.  Nick took his inability and made it into an ability.  That which he was unable to do has now become his strength.

It’s your call.  You can sit and pout over what you can’t do or you can focus on what God can do.  Let your “unable” become your “able.”

 

                                                                                        Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:

✞ Let your unable become your able.

Unwise

Bible Reading: James 3

Key Verse: Verse 13 – “Who is a wise man and endued with knowledge among you? let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom.”

Key Words: Who is a wise man

When you are wronged by others, what is your response?  When one is wronged, it tells you three things.  First of all, it tells you about the one who inflicts the wrong.  Hurt people, hurt people.  Proud people also hurt people.  Secondly, it tells you about the character of the one wronged, by how they handle being hurt by others.  Those wronged tend to respond in one or more of the following ways.  First, the person of weak character will be highly offended and attempt to get even by threatening, by withholding love, attention, or possessions.  They may even withdraw, move on to another person or place.  The person with strong character will forgive and pray for those who have hurt them.

When Jesus was wronged and falsely accused by the leadership of the Pharisees, He answered them not a word, and while dying on the cross, He prayed, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

If you have ever been wronged by others, here are some verses to remember.  Matthew 5:9, “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God.”

• Matthew 12:34b, “...for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.”  (So what are your words saying about your heart?)
• Ecclesiastes 5:2c, “...therefore, let thy words be few.”
• Matthew 7:12, “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
• James 3:2b, “If any man offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.”
• Psalm 19:14, “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart, be acceptable in thy sight, O LORD, my strength, and my redeemer.” 
• I Peter 3:10, “For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile.”
• Psalm 119:165, “Great peace have they which love thy law: and nothing shall offend them.”

I close by giving you four thoughts. 1) Choose your words carefully.  2) Two wrongs never equal a right.  3) Remember, your talk talks, and your walk walks; but your walk talks louder than your talk talks.  4) I am seldom sorry for what I do not say.  But I am often sorry for what I do say.

 

                                                                                            Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Make wise choices when hurt because you will live with those choices forever.

Unhappy

Bible Reading: I John 1

Key Verse: Verse 9 – “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

Key Words: If we confess

When we become angry with others we tend to do one of three things.  Some repress their anger, still others suppress anger, but the vast majority resort to a third solution–they seek revenge.

Have you ever hungered for a little sweet revenge?  I read recently about a story that took place in 1992.  Lady Sarah Graham Moon, at the age of fifty-five, was dumped by her British aristocratic husband.  She sought to get even with him in the following ways.  First, she poured gallons of paint on his cherished BMW while it was parked in his girlfriend’s driveway.  A week later she cut four inches off the left sleeve on thirty-two of his tailored suits, $1,600 suits I might add.  The following week she gave away sixty bottles of his finest wine.  Her actions did not go unnoticed, she caught the attention of the press and became somewhat of a celebrity.  One lady wrote her to share how she had cleaned the toilet with her unfaithful husband’s toothbrush, then watched with glee as he brushed his teeth.  Of course, none of these can compare with the revenge of Vera Czermak.  When she learned that her husband had betrayed her, Mrs. Czermak became suicidal and decided to jump to her death from their third floor apartment in Prague.  Surprisingly, she survived the jump because she landed on her husband who was leaving the apartment on his way to work.  She lived, he died.  She was charged with murder and is now serving time in prison.

 Oh, by the way, Mrs. Moon was sued by her husband and won.  Vengeance really does not pay.  Remember, we said we usually do three things with our anger: we repress it, suppress it, or attempt to get revenge.  But there is another thing we can do with anger which is far better, and that is confess it (I John 1:8), and I have found that confession has far better consequences than the other methods of handling our anger.

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ When someone hurts you, confess it.  Leave the vengeance to God.

Unprepared

Bible Reading: Psalm 1

Key Verse: Verse 3   - “And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper.”

Key Words: And he shall be like a tree

God compares us to a tree.  Those who gain strength from God’s Word grow, but our strength also grows from adversity if our faith is founded in God’s Word and not man’s wisdom.

I read the following story which was taken from The Evangel. We were going through a great furniture factory when our guide pointed out to us a superbly grained and figured sideboard in the natural wood.  He stated, “It is the finest selected timber of its kind.  The secret,” he said, “is this.  The trees from which it was taken grew in a place where they were exposed to almost constant conflict and storms.”  What a suggestive fact!  The storm-beaten tree develops the choicest and finest woven fibers.  When it is cut down and the saws lay bare its exquisitely figured grain, the cabinetmaker selects it as the material for his finest work.  So it is when life is beset by sorrows and trials.  If it withstands the storm, the wind of God strengthens and beautifies it.

Character cannot be developed into its strongest and most beautiful form without storms and trials.

  

                                                                                                Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Stay the course.  A winner is someone who goes through the trials and doesn’t quit.

Unbearable

Bible Reading: 1 Corinthians 13

Key Verse: Verse 7 – “Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things.”

Key Words:  Beareth all things

We read in James 1:2-4, “My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.  But let patience have her perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, wanting nothing.”

God is a God of love and doesn’t enjoy watching us suffer, much like we as parents would not enjoy watching our children suffer.  This reminds me of the following story.

A little boy’s legs were not developing as they ought.  The pediatrician told his parents that their son needed to wear a leg brace, which would help to position the legs and feet to grow properly.  The parents wanted to do the right thing for their son but were miserable following the doctor’s orders.  The bar held the little boy’s feet and legs completely straight and unbendable.  Each night when his parents would put the brace on and put him to bed, he would cry from discomfort and from his dislike of it.  The little boy was sure to have felt hurt that his parents would treat him wrongly and possibly he even doubted their love for him.  The mother was at times tempted to take off the bar but resisted because she felt in her heart that she was doing the right thing for her son.

As difficult as this time was, the doctor, the mother, and the father did what they did because of their concern and their thought for his future well-being years down the road.  They were willing to sacrifice convenience now for a better life later.

God cares for His children.  Right now He might use means of restraint and discomfort to achieve His desired result but He operates out of the love He has for us.

 

                                                                                    Dr. Mike Rouse

What to do:  

✞ Keep on…this, too, shall pass.