Frustrating Experiences — Morning Devotions

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Transcript

Well, how many times a day do you get frustrated? Once, twice, dozens? Well, it happens so easily, doesn’t it? Driving along, you come across, uh, bumper to bumper, uh, peak hour traffic, or it can make you late for an appointment, or the pen doesn’t work at the wrong time, the ink runs out, or the battery in your car gets flat, all that sort of thing. Or you’re going shopping, supermarket closes just as you pull into the shopping center, those sorts of things.

I’m sure you can think of lots of experiences that make you really frustrated.

There’s really no escaping this because all of us one way or another must deal with the problem of frustration. So no matter what kind of life you lead, plans will go wrong, opportunities will be lost. It’s just the way life is. I like that story of Thomas Edison, who struggled to produce the incandescent light. You know the story in his laboratory, he had 523 light bulbs that didn’t work.

And someone said, well, look, just think of all the time that you’ve wasted, and Thomas Edison said, well, look, I’ve found 523 ways it couldn’t be done.

Interesting, isn’t it, he channeled his frustration in a very positive way.

Now maybe you’ve made promises to yourself or to God to not let this problem become a real problem.

I’m going to control my temper, I’m going to be nicer in traffic, or I’m going on a diet, or I’m going to be more needful of the mind of the of the needs of others, or to be less self-centered.

I’m really interested today in what happened to Jesus. There, there was a particular instance when Jesus handled frustration in a quite a remarkable way. When frustrating things happened to him as they did, he turned that situation into an advantage. And let me take you back in time to an incident in Matthew’s Gospel. Jesus had just received some devastating news about his cousin, John the Baptist. John the Baptist had just been put to death.

And Matthew records when Jesus heard it, he departed from there, the place he was at, by boat to a depart to a deserted place by Himself. And when the multitudes heard it, they followed him on foot from the cities. And when Jesus went out, he saw the great multitude. He was moved with compassion for them. He healed their sick.

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And when it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, this is a deserted place. The hour is already late. Why don’t you send the multitudes away? They can go to their own villages and buy themselves food. But Jesus said, they do not need to go away. You give them something to eat. And they said, Well, we’ve only got 5 loaves and 2 fish. And he said, Bring them here to me. And he told the multitude to sit down on the grass and he took the 5 loaves and the 2 fish, and he blessed and broke it, and he, he gave it to the disciples, and the disciples gave it to the multitudes, and they all ate and were filled, and they took up 12 basketfuls of the fragments that remained.

Now that’s a story you might have heard. Jesus, wanted, of course, on that occasion, I guess, to work through the pain and grief of the news of John, his cousin who had been so brutally killed. He wanted to be alone with grief, but what happened? The crowd saw where he was heading, and they followed him by land from many villages, so they’d interrupted his day and his plan.

So did Jesus get frustrated and angry? No, he used that interruption to heal those who were sick and to feed the multitude.

When his plans were hampered, he simply made bigger and better plans.

I think it’s a terrific way to handle frustration, you know. He was the master at adapting and learning to use situations which came upon him often unexpectedly.

So frustration, you know, does not mean defeat. I heard of a woman who was stricken with paralysis, and she had to learn how to live with it, and she had a tremendous fire in her spirit, so to speak. She had a wonderful attitude, and someone said, Oh dear, trying to sympathize with her. Affliction does color life so much, doesn’t it? And this lady, this strong lady said, Yes, and I propose to choose the color. Great way, isn’t it? Good attitude of not letting frustration have the last word.

Let’s Pray

Well, Lord, today we rejoice in your presence. Keep our mind steadfast and settled, Lord, and we want to trust you today. We want to know your perfect peace because you’re a rock that is unchangeable and steadfast, and we find joy in your presence as we acknowledge the great God. Help us, Lord, to learn to deal with frustration just as you did, because I pray this in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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