“Fear thou not; for I am with thee: be not dismayed; for I am thy God: I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.” Isaiah 41:10 KJV
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The above verse came from my Promise Box. I drew it this morning. I’ve read/heard this verse many times, but as I read it this morning, the word dismayed caught my attention. I decided to look it up…to find all the facets of the meaning.
It means:
cause (someone) to feel consternation and distress:
synonyms:appall · horrify · shock · shake (up) · disconcert · take aback · alarm · surprise. concern. perturb
WOW! How many times during the day do unexpected things occur-things that we have absolutely no control over? Only speaking for myself here…but most days, these things happen more times than I can count!
So, when these unforeseen things…these “series of unfortunate events” happen…how do we handle it? I know for myself, that the way I ‘handle’ it is not a very pretty picture most times! I fly off the handle, say things I shouldn’t, hurt people around me with my words, offend God with what I say…and also with what I don’t say but am thinking. I’m mad at the situation, mad at myself for my reaction to the situation, and…well…just MAD in general; so my day is ruined!
My dad used to have an illustration he used in regards to being dismayed and flying off the handle.
He told a story of three flies that landed in a skillet full of bologna. These flies went unnoticed by the cook and ate their fill of the delicious bologna that was in the skillet. The first one thought he’d had enough, so taxied himself onto the handle, flew off…and fell over dead. The other two were still eating, and didn’t realize the first fly was gone. When the second fly was done, he made his way to the handle, got airborne for a short time, then he fell over dead. The third fly, finally full, made his way onto the handle, raised his wings, and momentarily buzzed off. He had only been in the air for seconds-and he fell over dead!
The moral of the story? …
DON”T FLY OFF THE HANDLE WHEN YOUR FULL OF BOLOGNA!
When we are dismayed at our situation…instead of flying off the handle…we need to drop to our knees and ask Almighty God to sustain us with His right hand of righteousness.
There’s an old hymn that comes to mind:
Be not dismayed what’ere be tide…
God will take care of you!
Under His wings of love abide-
God will take care of you!
Remember, today when things go wrong, and get out of your control, for they will at some point…ask Almighty God to take control of the situation…Don’t fly off the handle!