Have you ever seen the snicker candy bar commercials? Where they show a person getting angry and looking and acting like a completely different person because they were hungry? Then their friend offers them a snickers bar and poof! They turn back into themselves ? They were HANGRY but snickers filled them up to make them happy, satisfied, and no longer angry. Well I am sure the Mars company that makes the snicker bar would love for us to think that all we need to make us no longer angry and feel satisfied is one of their candy bars. Now don't get me wrong, I love a snickers bar now and then, but it could never pull off in my life what Jesus has .
In the past, I had not always been a patient person. I would get stressed out very easily. I would get annoyed with inanimate objects easily, a trait I acquired from my father who struggled with the same thing. I remember him getting mad at his flashlight for having dead batteries in it so he chucked it off the roof. He was up on the roof inspecting the chimney and when he went to turn it on and it on and found the batteries were dead, it irritated him so badly that he threw it. I'm not sure how that was meant to help him out in anyway, but when we are angry we are not always the most rational beings. I remember when I was a teenager. It was summer and I wanted to wear my sunglasses. I dug out a pair and put them on my face. They sat crooked. I tried to adjust them. They sat crooked. I adjusted them again. They sat crooked. After a few more times of adjusting them to no avail, i ripped them off my face, crumpled the wired frames into a ball and tossed them in the trash. I'm not sure how I thought that would help keep the sun out of my eyes, but apparently I felt scoring a win against an inanimate object was more important that keeping the sun out of my eyes? Like I said,Angry people are not the most rational people.
I was talking to my husband after dinner last night about how we need to make sure to make time for God and to study his word. He shared he had fell out of habit the past week or so when it came to doing his bible studies and as a result has felt more annoyed and irritated with people around him. He had noticed a shift and had not really made the connection between his bad attitude and him slacking off in bible studies until we discussed it further. I shared that I too have had to be intentional in putting God first in my day. It isn't something that will do it on its own. God has given us free will to choose him from the very beginning and making time for him is part of that too. We have no problem waking up and grabbing a bite to eat to keep us from being “hangry” in the morning, but we fail to see that depriving ourselves from the word of God each day indeed turns us into “hangry” people. Hungry for the word of God and angry because we are starving ourselves!
I have noticed a HUGE change in my patience levels since I have been reading the Bible each day. This doesn't mean I haven't been tested! I still have bad days but my ability to say NOT TODAY SATAN has increased exponentially. I can say this because I had a really trying day last week and I know that I would have handled it badly if I had been hangry for the work of God.
I was a beautiful day outside. Spring was in full effect. The sun was out and it was in the 70’s. My kids asked if we could go outside. I'm like sure! Why not! I can do my bible study outside in the sun. They can dig holes in my yard looking for bugs. Sounds perfect ! We head outside. It was just as I pictured it in my head. Then all of a sudden my 5yo son tells me he sees our dog across the street. I sprang to my feet and check the back yard fenced in dog area hoping to see our three dogs hanging out and I only saw one. Great. I have 2 dogs running around busy roads. I stop to say a prayer for their safety right away and then try to figure out how I am going to get them in. I bribe them with food with success. Once I got them in I see they are covered in dirt and debris and most likely ticks as they have already been out in full force here in the mitten. I toss them in the tub. We then decide to head outside again. Then my son tells me he sees our chickens have escaped! At that point the old me would have lost my ever loving mind. I most likely would have said a few expletives and promised myself a glass of wine later. But nope!
Not today Satan!
We head out and lure them in with food . It works. Crisis overcome and we head back to enjoying the beautiful day. Dinner time comes and we head in to wash up. What did I find out my floor? A puddle of pee from one of our dogs. You know, the ones that were just outside for 4 hours. They decided they wanted to pee on the dining room floor. I mop it up. Then I make dinner. I go to toss the garbage in the bin and its full. I tie it up and carry it outside. I turn around and see a dark brown nasty liquid had leaked out of the garbage bag and had followed me all the way to the door from the garbage bin. Lovely.
Not today satan! I mop it up. I feed and water my kiddos and decide to toss them in the bathtub. I get my son out of the tub and send him to his room to get dressed and hear him yell , “MOM! A Dog peed in my room!” I thought to myself ,” Now how did they do that? I had all of the bedroom doors shut when we went outside so they wouldn't mess around in our rooms….? Then I notice that the pee in question was in the corner of his closet. We have girl dogs. How many girl dogs , medium to large in size. How many girl dogs would back themselves into the corner of a closet to relieve themselves? Then I noticed the liquid was still sitting on top of the carpet fibers and it hit me. My son did this! I looked at him and asked him if he was the one who did it . His little jaw drops open and he says “HOW DID YOU KNOW!?” HA HA! What a day!
Now you see? Had I been HANGRY...Had my belly been running empty of the word of God I would have lost my ever loving mind 2 minutes into this particular day. The enemy wants us to remain hangry. He knows our hangry state not only affects us but everyone we are around, and in my case that would have been my kids. I would have taught my kids to lose their tempers just as I learned to from my dad. I would have taught my kids to cuss to make them feel better because I most likely would have said a few colorful words and I would have shown them to rely on alcohol to make them feel better as I would have rewarded myself with a glass of wine and complained about how bad my day was on social media...
BUT instead I tackled each event with the patience I never thought I would have had all because I had my belly full of the word of God. I was baptized in October of 2018 and I was reborn again in Jesus Christ. The old me died. The new me has two bellies now! I don't ever want to be hangry again. Let's be intentional and Make time each day for God and his word. You might not think you need too, but speaking from personal experience we all do. You might be hangry and not even know it but those around you do. Jesus informed the devil of our need for the word of God when he was being tempted by the devil in the wilderness. He replied to the enemies taunts in
Matthew 4:4 (NKJV) by saying,
“It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ”.
Stay full brothers and sisters. Stay full!