Theme for week: Faith and The Little Foxes
January 20, 2022 (Thursday)
(Every time I read Song of Solomon 2:15 (“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines”), I am reminded that small things can do big damage. The blogs this week are about how our faith can help us overcome sins that may seem small to us, but can cause us much heartache).
I think we all know what “hurt feelings” is (are), but let’s look at the dictionary’s defiition: “unhappiness or sadness caused by someone’s words or actions.
Are you unhappy or sad today because of what someone said or did to you? The old saying, “Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me” is not true. A better quote is from Shakespeare: “I will speak daggers to her, but use none.” Words can hurt. Deeply. I’ll ask again, ” Are you unhappy or sad today because of what someone said or did to you?
As I do a little research on hurt feelings, I am becoming aware that this is a far more difficult area of life than I thought it was. Perhaps the first consideration should be my own personality. What am I like? How would my personality be classified? Of course, there are many different categories, depending upon which school of thought defines them. In the old days, people were divided into 4 types of Temperament: Sanguine, Phlegmatic, Choleric, and Melancholic. I’ve found 4 modern psychological categories subdivided into 4 each, making 16 in all. When I was doing pre-marital counseling, I believe the tests I gave to couple revealed strengths and weaknesses in 9 categories. I could go on, I’m sure, but you get the idea. We are dealing with human beings here in this discussion, and that subject can become complex as well as difficult to categorize.
We might classify some people as easy targets for hurt feelings, but in all probability all of us are subject to hurt feelings, but in different ways because we have different temperaments and personalities. For the Christian who is seeking to grow in the Lord and become more mature spiritually, the problem of hurt feelings is not about personalities but about how willing we are to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
I may be wrong, but I can’t remember an incident in the gospels when Jesus’ feelings were hurt. I believe He knew Himself so well that nothing anyone said to Him or did to Him could cause him to doubt Himself.
Peter denied Christ three times as he was being tried by an unjust court, and afterwards Jesus did not condemn him; rather he asked him a question: “Do you love me?” He asked it three times, so that Peter had to repeat his answer, “I love you,” three times. Peter would always remember his love for the Lord. When the Holy Spirit took hold of him on the day of Pentecost, he preached so strongly that thousands of people received Christ as Savior. We know the Lord loves us; we need to be sure that we love Him so that nothing anyone may say or do can disturb the peace that Love placed there in our hearts.
MASTER, THE TEMPEST IS RAGING
Words, Mary A. Baker
Music, Horation R. Palmer
1874
Master, the tempest is raging!
The billows are tossing high!
The sky is o’ershadowed with blackness,
No shelter or help is nigh;
Carest Thou not that we perish?
How canst Thou lie asleep,
When each moment so madly is threat’ning
A grave in the angry deep?
Refrain:
The winds and the waves shall obey Thy will,
Peace, be still!
Whether the wrath of the storm-tossed sea,
Or demons or men, or whatever it be,
No waters can swallow the ship where lies
The Master of ocean, and earth, and skies;
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, be still! Peace, be still!
They all shall sweetly obey Thy will,
Peace, peace, be still!
Master, with anguish of spirit
I bow in my grief today;
The depths of my sad heart are troubled—
Oh, waken and save, I pray!
Torrents of sin and of anguish
Sweep o’er my sinking soul;
And I perish! I perish! dear Master—
Oh, hasten, and take control.
Refrain
Master, the terror is over,
The elements sweetly rest;
Earth’s sun in the calm lake is mirrored,
And heaven’s within my breast;
Linger, O blessed Redeemer!
Leave me alone no more;
And with joy I shall make the blest harbor,
And rest on the blissful shore.
Refrain