So, I've been studying through some stuff about anger with a friend. As I was reading through the scriptures I came across this:
Like a city that is broken into and without walls is a man who has no control over his spirit.
Proverbs 25.28
Now, in our day and age that really doesn't mean to much. I don't know any cities around that have walls and that seems perfectly normal. But then the Lord brought something to mind that really made this stand out.
The words of Nehemiah the son of Hacaliah. Now it happened in the month Chislev, in the twentieth year, while I was in Susa, the capitol, that Hanani, on of my brothers, and some men from Judah came; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped and had survived the captivity, and about Jerusalem. They said to me, "The remnant there in the province who survived the captivity are in great distress and reproach, and the wall of Jerusalem is broken down and its gates are burned with fire." When I heard these words, I sat down and wept and mourned for days; and I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
Nehemiah 1. 1-4
That made it mean A LOT more. First of all, the disgrace that came to the Name of the Lord because the city of His people was without walls. (Later we see Nehemiah in Jerusalem and working to rebuild the walls. Meanwhile, those who surround them are mocking them.) Then, Nehemiah was so upset about the situation in Jerusalem that he fasted and prayed for days before going to the King to get permission to leave and help repair the walls.
All that to say, wow, I never realized what kind of impact it has when I don't control my spirit.
