“But I think it is necessary to send back to you Epaphroditus, my brother, fellow worker and fellow soldier … For he longs for all of you and is distressed because you heard he was ill. Indeed he was ill, and almost died. But God had mercy on him … ” (Philippians 2:25-27).
“Dear Mr. Sala, I need help! I am 34 years old, and I have not accomplished or feel that I am accomplishing any of my goals. I attend college evenings. I have done very well in bringing up my grade standards, but I seem to come in contact with situations that I cannot control or have the faith to overcome. That is why I am writing. I am faithless. I thought I really believed in God, but I do not. I don’t even believe in myself. I have listened to your Guidelines. Can you please send me help or suggest help that is real?” Signed, “With great frustration …” Can you relate to that letter?
Frustration is something that almost everybody has to cope with these days. You want certain vacation dates, but your wife can’t get off. You miss your bus, which means you try to find a taxi, which means … yes, you are going to be late for work and they will dock your salary for tardiness. You think that next month you’ll get caught up financially, but you had not planned on that car repair and the trip to the doctor with your youngster who had a sore throat.
We can all relate to the story about the little dog that was in a cage in the airfreight department of an airline. He was howling for all he was worth, and a dog-lover, hearing the plaintive howling of the little dog, demanded to know what was wrong. The clerk in charge said, “I don’t know where the dog is going … he doesn’t know where he is going, and the dog just chewed up the tag which told where we were supposed to ship him.” Our greatest frustrations in life, however, are not usually mechanical. They are people-related. They involve your family and the people you work with, neighbors and friends. They relate to the goals that you set for yourself, goals that are elusive and then leave you hurting. They are often caused by situations you have no control over, things that you wish had not happened but did happen.
Let’s focus on goals. Your goals should rest upon the will of God for your life. They should be an outgrowth of a purpose driven life, something you feel God wants you to do or accomplish. Don’t think that if you are spiritual enough, or have enough faith, or pray enough, you will never be frustrated. The Bible tells us spiritual giants also faced great frustration.
Think with me, in closing, of the frustrations some of them faced. Here’s Moses, the greatest Old Testament figure. The 40 years during which Moses led the children of Israel were a study of frustration. Read Numbers 20 when Moses got so frustrated with the complaining and whining of the people that he cried, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock …?” He’s angry, ready to explode. Moses lifts the rod with both hands and strikes the rock at Meribah, and by so doing was reprimanded by the Lord, which resulted in his not making the final trip into the Promised Land. You cannot have what you want, so you get mad. It costs you as well.
There’s a better way to handle your frustration. It includes the realization that God’s will extends to the troublesome frustrations of your life. When you understand that the Hand of God hovers over your life in times of frustration as well as in times of blessing, you can then say, “God has not forsaken me; therefore, I will trust Him to show me the way out of this frustration.” You then say, “O.K. God, here’s where I am, this is no surprise to you. Now, show me what I need to do to work through this frustration and accomplish your purpose for my life.” Your attitude makes all the difference.
Resource reading: Philippians 2:19-30.
