Have you ever been drinking your water, minding your business, focusing on growing, healing and nearing closer to the Lord, then all of a sudden something threatens to disrupt your peace and interrupt your flow? It may come in the form of a person, or a situation you thought you had conquered but either way, it has arrived. Recently, this was my predicament and although I exercised much more restraint and growth than I have in the past, there were still lessons to be learned. How should we respond when these roadworks appear? To answer this question, I went to the ultimate source of wisdom, “The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom; all those who practice it have a good understanding.” Psalm 111:10.
Firstly, what is our initial response to the disruption? Typically, these instances trigger an initial emotional response. Contrary to popular belief, triggers are not all bad but we will revisit that concept later. Neither are emotions, in fact they can be a great source of strength if we are able to harness and pace them correctly. “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” James 1:19-20 ESV. Before we are triggered out of our skin and leap straight to wrath, it is imperative to listen and evaluate a situation before we react hastily. Quick anger often precipitates inflammatory reactions, instead of placid and peaceful responses. Listening allows us to process a situation and place things into perspective.
“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools.” Ecclesiastes 7:9.
Sometimes, it can feel as though these situations are sent to get in the way of your progress and they might be. “For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against cosmic powers over this present darkness, against spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly place.” Ephesians 6:12. These annoying occurrences can deviate your attention, but only if you allow them to. If we shift our perspective, we may realise that instead of dismissing the trigger, we can learn from it. A trigger is an opportunity to grow because it underlines that there may be some residual upset that is lurking under the surface. All a trigger does is expose it, so it can be healed.
Once brokenness is revealed, we have two choices. Either we ignore it, bury it and blame the catalyst of the disruption or we can lean into the Lord and ask him for healing. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” Psalm 34:18. God can heal even our inner most parts that no one else sees, not even us, but it helps if we are willing. Bumps in the road, as irritating as they can be, are opportunities for us to slow down and course correct. They allow us to grow in wisdom and we should improve as a result of the upset, so that if a similar scenario arises at a later date, we are well-equipped to manage without stumbling.
“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16.
Life will have its various challenges, that is a fact that we cannot escape. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we were all still in the garden of Eden and sin had never entered the world? Unfortunately, we have to deal with reality so to quote my aunty Patrice, “you can either allow a situation to make you bitter or better.” I don’t know about you, but I would rather opt for the latter.
Oh yeah....triggers can definitely get the best of us if we let them. And it's faaaaaaar from easy when certain things (or people) get under our skin. It's something many of us struggle with, But your aunt gave you great advice--allow it to make you bitter or better. This is why we need the Lord Jesus to give us strength and wisdom to get through it.
Thanks for this reminder!