Only to Him

January 27

"He who angers you conquers you." Elizabeth Kenny

This quote parallels that of the Bible which states the idea in even stronger terms. It says, "The man who controls his spirit is stronger than the warrior who conquerors a city,” Proverbs 16:32. The reality is, controlling the inner man is the most profound challenge any of us face.

Perhaps this is because our foe, God's arch enemy, attacks us most relentlessly there. If he can challenge our faith, challenge our attitudes, challenge our emotions, challenge our resolve to be a person after the Lord's own heart, he has not only gained a victory over us but also a victory over Jesus who wants us to be “…more than conquerors,” Romans 8:37, over all adversity, over every scheme of the enemy, and over ourselves.

So, may we lay our anger, our frustration, our depression, our depletion, our despair, our sadness, our sense of futility--every negative thing that we have harbored within ourselves--at the feet of Jesus and say to Him, ‘According to Your Word, that cannot fail and cannot lie, I place my burden before You and ask You to carry it for me as You have promised to do’ (I Peter 5:7).

We must always remember that the only Man worthy of being trusted with our emotions is the Man who gave Himself on a cross for us; the Man who rose to glory for us, the Man who lives in our hearts and will “never fail or forsake us,” Hebrews 13:5. Jesus will not provoke us to anger, for His Word admonishes that we not inflame anger in one another (Colossians 3:21).

Jesus conquered death, hell, and the grave for us (Revelation 1:18 and Hosea 13:14) so we should willingly surrender the entirety of our self-hood, our emotions—including anger—only to Him.