Frustration. We've all had those moments. You go searching everywhere for a pencil, you finally find one, you haven't even finished the first letter and SNAP, the pencil breaks. Frustrating. Canada is up 3-0, and in the third period Russia comes and scores 5 goals to take the win in the Junior Hockey World Championship. Frustrating. Someone cuts in front of you in line. We get frustrated. But does that make it right? No. As much as this hurts, we're still sinning when we choose to get frustrated. Yes, we're the ones who choose to get frustrated. But what does God say about frustration? Well, when I typed "frustration" in the BibleGateway keyword search, one result came up.
The LORD will send on you curses, confusion, and frustration in all that you undertake to do, until you are destroyed and perish quickly on account of the evil of your deeds, because you have forsaken me. - Deuteronomy 28:20In this passage, God is talking to the Israelites. In chapter 28 of this book of Deuteronomy, we learn of the overall theme of the book: obedience to the Lord = blessing but disobedience to the Lord = curse. So what does this tell us about frustration?
The first thing I noticed was what frustration was lumped in with: curses and confusion. In other words, we know that frustration is a punishment here, along with our other two elements. Thus, we know that if it's a punishment, God does not like it.
So what difference should this make???
This passage shows us that God does not like frustration. He lumps it with curses and confusion. It's clearly a sin. So, when we get frustrated, here's a couple of things we should try:
- Pray. Nothing eases frustration more than prayer. Speaking to the Lord and laying all your burdens at His feet. It's very calming.
- Think about what you're frustrated about. Is it something silly or of no importance? I know those are the things that I often get most frustrated about. Think, is this going to matter in a week or a month or a year or ten years?
- Try to specifically do something kind. Making someone else's life a little easier always helps me feel better. It also helps me to put my frustration into perspective and combat my choice to sin with something that honours the Lord.
- Recognize when you're frustrated. If you can see your frustration, it may not be the best time to reply to an e-mail, write a blog, invite somebody over for dinner, or go to the mall. The best thing for you (and everybody around you) may just be to curl in with a book and cup of tea and enjoy some alone time.