Devotional Portion: Psalm 4:4-5
Be angry, and do not sin.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.
Be angry, and do not sin.
The Scripture doesn’t only say, “Be angry, and do not sin,” it also says, “Be slow to anger, for the anger of man does not work the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20). To understand this verse better, we need to look into the life of Jesus who exemplified it. When we read Mark 3, we see an incident where Jesus heals a man with a withered hand. Jesus asked the crowd, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. This response of the crowd made Him angry. “And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts” (Vs. 5). And then He healed the man. The anger mentioned here never made Jesus do sin but He was grieved.
We are supposed to be angry at the sin, but not condemn the sinner and cause sin in our heart against the person who.
David calms himself not to sin by directing himself to meditate within his heart, and to be still.
Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still.
“For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” Matthew 12:34. David asks us to take away thoughts of anger and to meditate on the Word of GOD. When we allow anger to stay in our heart, we start dwelling on it and make ourselves vessels which make plans to confront people who go against the will of GOD/Word of GOD. And as a result, we may reach conclusions and decisions that we are not supposed to make. Also when we think in anger, we can never be still as many thoughts rush in, making our heart troubled too.
STOP for a moment! Remember, anger when not directed rightly will adversely affect your spiritual life. Give GOD the space. Meditate rather than getting agitated, be still rather than getting disturbed. Submit to GOD.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness,
And put your trust in the Lord.
Sacrifices and trusting in the LORD should go hand in hand. Many Christians fail in their life as they do the former and fail in the latter, the Israelites being the best example. Over the years of their relationship with GOD, they took the relationship for granted. As a result, they gave emphasis to sacrifices and failed to trust the LORD.
Sacrifices of righteousness come from a heart that is righteous, i.e. a heart that truly repents and has faith and humility. And this sacrifice should be accompanied by trust in the LORD as well.
Reflection: Fill your heart with the Word of GOD that the enemy should never find even a minute place to stack his thoughts of hatred and self-righteousness.
