Sometimes We Get Upset

Eph 4:26-27  "In your anger do not sin": Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry,  and do not give the devil a foothold. (NIV)

Yesterday my wife and I were somewhat upset with one another. After we were in bed and the lights were out we continued to discuss the matter that was upsetting us. We talked and talked some more. We finally agreed that we couldn't add anything more to the conversation without looking for more information, which have to wait until the next day when we would be able to go online and try to look things up.

There have been times when we stayed awake much longer trying to resolve an issue. But sometimes a resolution seems impossible without additional information that might not be available in the middle of the night. My wife and I are disabled so we can't get up and use our computes at midnight. Or, if an issue needs one or more phone calls to help resolve, most people don't appreciate getting calls in the middle of the night.

So when there are issues that cannot be fully resolved by the end of the day, we still need seek God's help to lay down anger and acknowledge that we still love one another even if our feeling about each other are not all that great at the moment. That's what my wife and I had to do last night so that we could get some sleep.

Today things were somewhat better at times, and other times were even worse. I am, after all, a man and do not always express myself in the best of ways, so I can unintentionally make matters more difficult. But knew we needed more information to help us understand one another. So...we looked.

Of course in due course it was my wife who found the information that helped resolve one issue. And when I followed up on a suggestion of hers to make a phone call to somebody in church, I learned some things that are very hopeful and helpful.

I have a great wife. I don't always understand her or her point of view, which can result in disagreements and varying degrees of being upset, but if we seek to cling to God and pray for His intervention in us to make of this marriage what will glorify Him, then we can get through difficult moments, hours, or even days.

I do have a great wife who help me be a more godly man. But even better than that, we both have a great Lord who can see to it that we can become the married couple and members of His Body, the Church, that He wants us to be.

Because we're imperfect we'll most likely be upset with one another again from time to time. But God can use those times to humble us and teach us things He wants to learn.

So we must not give up. And we must not let our anger or being upset with one another provide a foothold for the devil to harm what God wants to do in our marriage or friendships or in our church.

Deb and I have a wonderful marriage that feels wonderful 99% of the time. We need God to maintain and sustain and build our marriage according to His plans during the 99% of the time it seems wonderful to us, and perhaps even more so during the 1% of the time it doesn't feel so wonderful to us.

Do pray for us, that God be glorified in our lives and in our marriage. We'll pray for you that God be gloried in your marriages and in your lives.