Foolish Anger

 

“Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.”

—Ecclesiastes 7:9

Have you ever yelled at the television set in your living room or family room? Are you sure? I’m quite confident that you have. Okay. Maybe you didn’t yell out loud. But, in your spirit, you yelled at the TV. I know that you did. Why do we do that? The people on the TV, who provoke us to anger, can’t hear us. Right? And, by yelling at the TV we are disturbing the other people in our home—not to mention that we may well appear very foolish.

Anger is a powerful emotion. It is one of the emotions that our enemy, Satan, uses to try to knock us off the pathway that God has opened up for our lives. And, right now in our nation, there seems to be plenty to be angry about, especially if you find yourself at one extreme or the other on the political spectrum.

It is very easy for us to forget that, as Christians, we are, first and foremost, citizens of God’s Kingdom. Yes, I know that God is a God of justice. He does want His children to stand up for righteousness. But, I am not at all certain that He condones the use of harsh words in our Facebook posts or Twitter tweets, or Instagram photos, or Pinterest Pins, or Snapchat conversations, or even on our TikTok rants. Even if you feel you are expressing “righteous indignation” on behalf of some person or some group you believe has become disenfranchised, you dare not “fight fire with fire” because that’s not God’s way of mercy, grace, and love. King Solomon, at the end of his life, penned these words of wisdom found in Ecclesiastes 7:9:

Do not be quickly provoked in your spirit, for anger resides in the lap of fools.

As we begin a new day, let’s determine to control our anger in a renewed way. Let’s not allow Satan to provoke us to anger about things over which we have no control. We can’t change the mind of some pundit on television. We can’t change the mind of most of the people who read our posts on social media, either.

But, we can exhibit God’s abundant love when we carefully and reasonably share the concerns we have with whatever we observe in our culture or society. We can do so without harming others. Even when we feel that we have been attacked by those who categorize all “Christ’s-ones” as bigots, racists, homophobes, sexists, fascists, magas, progressives, or whatever label is currently in use.

If we allow the Holy Spirit to guard our hearts and minds, we will be able to extend every grace to those who think differently than we do about politics, culture, even church and our fellow Christians. We do not need to be at war with anyone. In a gentle and tender way, we can stand for righteousness without needing to resort to behaviors that mimic the way of the secular world.

As citizens of God’s Kingdom, our residency has been bought with a terrible price—the very blood of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. That’s enough violence with which Christians should have to deal. Let’s become instruments of God’s peace, even in a world that is going off the rails. Let’s put aside anger and embrace holiness. That will make God, who loves us with His everlasting love, break out with a big smile.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Shield Around Us

 

“But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high.”

—Psalm 3:3

In the most recent years, every day I think to myself:

“Can this horrible division in our nation get any worse?”

And, every day I find more and more hostile, divisive, and nasty rhetoric spewing forth from both sides of the political spectrum. This rancor must stop!

As has often been the case in the last forty years, people continue to target Christians and blame them for everything that is happening in our social, political, economic, cultural, and systemic worlds. The criticisms are not fair. But, they are very real, nonetheless. And, sadly, some of the harshest criticisms are coming from the left extreme and right extreme of Christianity itself. Some of the most stinging and hurtful accusations, words that feed the hostility and division, are coming from Christians fighting with each other.

As we believers in Jesus, and His resurrection power, become more and more marginalized, we can rightly feel we have nowhere to turn. But, that is a lie of Satan. When King David found himself under attack from a particularly persistent enemy, David wrote these words of praise to God found in Psalm 3:2-6:

Many are saying of me, “God will not deliver him.”

But you, Lord, are a shield around me, my glory, the One who lifts my head high. I call out to the Lord, and he answers me from his holy mountain. I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the Lord sustains me. I will not fear though tens of thousands assail me on every side.

In the midst of one of the most hurtful times most of us have ever experienced in our lives, God is able to deliver us. We must remain faithful to the message of Christ, as the embodiment of God’s mercy, grace, and unfailing love. If we do, we will find that God is, indeed, our shield and our deliverer. May we determine, as we begin a new day, to refrain from speaking or writing evil words, and may we refrain from holding on to a condemning spirit. Instead, let’s make certain our words build others up, rather than tear others down.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Sure Response: God is for us!

 

“What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?”

—Romans 8:31

In most of our lives, there is enough chaos that it is very easy to become distracted from the things that really matter. All it takes is for some unanticipated problem to arise in our house, apartment, or vehicle—or some peril in the lives of one of our family members—and we lose track of the things on which we should focus our attention.

Maybe one of our children or grandchildren has an accident or illness. Perhaps we receive a bill that is for an amount far greater than we had hoped. Or, we discover that our husband or wife has spent money—even on necessities—but those expenditures have pushed us into a debt far too deep to climb out of easily, especially when we haven’t received a raise in the last five years, or, even worse, we have lost our job many months ago and have no prospect for a new place of employment.

In the midst of the distress that can so very easily plague us, we need to remember that we have a sure response to whatever happens in our lives. The Apostle Paul states this certain response, when he writes to the Christians gathered at Rome, as recorded in Romans 8:31:

What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us?

No matter how difficult our circumstances may seem in the moment: God is for us! Let me insist: God is for us! Even if we have fallen into a deep hole and have languished there for many years: God is for us! When trials and difficulties come, when disappointment and discouragement grips our lives, when things don’t seem to be going our way: God is for us!

As we begin another new day, let’s cling to that truth. And, let’s allow the Holy Spirit to lift us upward in response to the sure knowledge that God has our back. He will provide what we need. He will see us through our darkest hour. He will bring us out of darkness and into the light of His great day. Yes! God is for us!

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Has Become My Salvation

 

“The Lord is my strength and my defense; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

—Exodus 15:2

In the happiest times in our lives, we often express our joy by singing. Even if we don’t think we sing very well, in the privacy of our own home, or our car, or our truck, we burst into song when something brings us overwhelming joy. This is certainly not a new phenomenon.

The Patriarch Moses had just experienced one of the most mind blowing occurrences in his life. In obedience to God’s direction, Moses had marched the children of Israel to the edge of the Red Sea. The Egyptians were in hot pursuit. The only way of escape was to step off into the storm-tossed waters.

God gave Moses specific instructions. As soon as Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, God sent a mighty wind that opened up a pathway on dry land, while the waters stood high above on each side of the pathway. The children of Israel crossed over the Red Sea. As soon as the Egyptians pursued them, God instructed Moses to stretch out his hand over the sea once again. As soon as Moses did this, in obedience to God, the water closed over the pursuing Egyptians and they drowned.

In response to this marvelous act of God’s mercy and grace, Moses sang a song of joy and worship to the Lord. This song included the following, found in Exodus 15:2:

“The Lord is my strength and my defense ; he has become my salvation. He is my God, and I will praise him, my father’s God, and I will exalt him.”

Moses didn’t need any other defender—just the all-powerful hand of God—and neither do we need any other defender in the times of distress in our own lives. As we begin a new day, let’s learn to rely on the “Defender of our Souls.” God stands ready to protect us and to save us, from all who would harm us. He is the one who has become our salvation and our defense. Like Moses, the only logical thing for us to do is the praise Him and exalt His holy name. Yes! We can lift our voices in songs of praise to our God.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Message to a Governor

 

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

—Zechariah 4:6

As I write this blog post, I am utterly and absolutely amazed at the turmoil that our last three Presidential elections have caused. Never in my life have I heard such strident and profane exclamations hurled at elected Presidents. As a follower of Jesus, and someone who is a political, social, intellectual, and spiritual Conservative, I am flabbergasted at the rhetoric I am hearing on a daily basis from both sides of the political spectrum.

This is not the first time in history that someone has ascended to a position of power and brought controversy with him to the seat of authority. In ancient Judah, a leader named Zerubbabel was appointed governor of a group of Israelites, who returned to their own land from captivity in Babylon. Zerubbabel had the support of certain factions within the returning peoples. But, he also had an equal and more vocal opposition to the legitimacy of his authority.

The Prophet Zechariah found himself in the most uncomfortable position of having several messages directly from God that he was expected to deliver publicly to Zerubbabel. These messages were not going to make the new leader happy.

Zerubbabel considered himself a savior of the people. But, God had to remind Zerubbabel that, as a human being given a huge task to accomplish—the restoration of the Jews to their rightful land—Zerubbabel would be quite incapable of doing this in his own strength and power. Here is part of the Prophet Zechariah’s words from God, as recorded in Zechariah 4:6:

So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

In other words:

“Zerubbabel, it doesn’t really matter that you consider yourself the savior of your people. The fact that you want to make Judah great again may be an honorable goal. But, you do not have the strength nor the power to do this by yourself. You are a mere, puny human being. And, you are a sinful one at that, since all humankind is stained by the sin of Adam and by the sins they commit on their own. Your only hope is to depend fully and completely on God. If you do that, God will be your strength and your power. With God’s divine help, you will than, and only then, be able to accomplish what you desire.”

I wish that more people, even those who claim membership in the Kingdom of God, would understand that without God we can accomplish nothing of eternal value. Let’s not be numbered among the ignorant when it comes to understanding that:

“‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty.”

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Resurrection Power

 

“I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.”

—Philippians 3:10-11

Observing our current political scene, or the activities in most places of work, or, sadly, sometimes even in our homes, it doesn’t take long before we can spot those individuals who have become addicted to power. Power has the ability to enslave someone in the same way that narcotics, or pornography, or a host of dozens of other elements of substance abuse can overtake and control a person’s life.

In fact, John Emerich Edward Dalberg Acton, first Baron Acton (1834–1902), an historian and moralist, known more commonly and more simply as “Lord Acton,” expressed the following oft-quoted opinion in a letter to Bishop Mandell Creighton in 1887:

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always bad men.

But, of course, not all power is bad. As followers of Jesus, we desperately need the empowering of the Holy Spirit in order to live our lives in a manner that moves us ever-forward toward Christian spiritual maturity and greater holiness. We rightfully strive to become more and more like our Savior. That takes a unique brand of God-given power. The Apostle Paul expresses his desire for a continual influx of godly power in these words from Philippians 3:10-11:

I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.

The greatest expression of power on this earth became visible to all humankind when Jesus overcame death and Satan and rose from the grave. In an act impossible for a mere mortal man, the God-man Jesus overcame it all and, though once dead and in the grave from Friday afternoon until early Sunday morning, our blessed Savior is now fully and completely alive.

Each new day, we need to ask God for that very same resurrection power in our own lives. We need to implore Him to grant us ever more of the Holy Spirit’s divine assistance in helping us become the true disciples we want to—and need to—become. So, let’s not hesitate to ask this day for a great outpouring of resurrection power in our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Pep Talk Time

 

Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”

—Joshua 10:25

I’m no athlete. In fact, I’m the poster boy for non-athleticism. But, I know barely enough about sports to know that a key moment occurs just before the game begins, when the coach offers the team words of encouragement. The coach will give specific instructions to the team. The coach hopes that these words of challenge and enthusiasm will ring in the ears of the athletes, as they go out to “battle.”

This is what Joshua does when he prepares to lead the soldiers of Israel into battle for the Promised Land. Joshua knows that God has called His chosen ones to take the land as their own. So, Joshua shares these words of encouragement and instruction, as found in Joshua 10:25:

Joshua said to them, “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged. Be strong and courageous. This is what the Lord will do to all the enemies you are going to fight.”

Essentially: “No matter what happens in the days ahead,” Joshua intones, “do not let fear bind you, nor fear assail you. Instead, grab ahold of strength and courage. God will defeat our enemies and hand this land He has promised us into our control.”

Each new day presents those of us who follow Christ with a new challenge. Satan desires to fill us with fear and discouragement. Satan wants us to keep silent about what God means to us. But, God wants us to sense His support. He gives us His strength. He dispels our fear. He imbues us with courage. He will defeat our enemy and protect us, as we follow the path He has laid out for us.

God gives the very best pep talk. It’s just what we need to hear. It contains the words that need to ring in our spiritual ears, as we begin yet one more day of serving Him.

 

_{Copyright © 2025 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}