What happens when you feel frustrated?

Thursday, June 16

What happens when you feel frustrated?

Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.. Matthew 14:14

How many times a day do you get frustrated? Too many to count? It happens so easily, doesn’t. Your alarm doesn’t go off? Someone jumps in front of you in a line for morning coffee?  Driving along, you come across bumper-to-bumper traffic, which makes you late for an appointment. Or your pen runs out at the wrong time, or the supermarket closes just as you pull into the shopping center or someone forgot to do something they promised they’d do. I’m sure you can think of lots of experiences like that.

There is no escaping it, but there is using it. Let me take you back to an incident in Matthew’s gospel when Jesus received devastating news about his cousin, John the Baptist—he had been put to death in Mathew 14:10-14 ‘So John was beheaded in the prison, 11 and his head was brought on a tray and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. Later, John’s disciples came for his body and buried it. Then they went and told Jesus what had happened. As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left in a boat to a remote area to be alone. But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed on foot from many towns. Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them and healed their sick.’

Jesus wanted to deal with the pain of the news that John was beheaded, and that was fair enough. He wanted to be alone to work through his grief. But what happened next? The crowds saw where he was heading and followed him by land from many villages. In other words, they had interrupted Jesus’s day and his grieving. So, how did Jesus respond to this? With frustration and anger? No, not at all. He used the interruption to heal those who were sick and miraculously feed a multitude (Matthew 14:13-21).

Jesus was the master at adapting and learning to use the situations which came upon him, sometimes unexpectedly. We too can learn from this example. Frustration does not mean defeat. So, don’t let frustration have the last word in your life. Today, don’t let frustration have the last word. Turn it around and see how you can use it for the glory and honor of God.