Is it okay to be annoyed?

by Doug Merchant  
​​Recently my family was hit with a HUGE emotional hurt. We got a call at 2:30, letting us know that the 2 babies that we have been fostering since before Halloween, were being given back to their bio-mother, and we had to meet her at 5 to give the babies back to her.
 
Long story short, we knew that there was a hearing that day, but did not expect that the judge would award custody to the mother in this case, and especially not in such an abrupt manner. This is NOT how foster care is supposed to go.
 
As you can imagine, this has devastated our family emotionally, as we were not ready to let go of these beautiful little girls that God had allowed us to care for, at least for a season. There have been many tears shed since then and emotional roller coasters.... with only 1 hour or so to pack what the girls needed to take, you can imagine how much of their things are still at the house. So when I opened the fridge, and broke into tears over a cookie, that was a sign of the wounding that came from this.
 
I thought that this morning, it was interesting to see how God spoke to both Judy and I through our devotions. We are reading completely different devotional plans, that don't tie together as a whole, yet we both ended up reading Acts 16 this morning-
 
16 As we were going to the place of prayer, we were met by a slave girl who had a spirit of divination and brought her owners much gain by fortune-telling. 17 She followed Paul and us, crying out, “These men are servants of the Most-High God, who proclaim to you the way of salvation.” 18 And this she kept doing for many days. Paul, having become greatly annoyed, turned and said to the spirit, “I command you in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her.” And it came out that very hour.
19 But when her owners saw that their hope of gain was gone, they seized Paul and Silas and dragged them into the marketplace before the rulers. 20 And when they had brought them to the magistrates, they said, “These men are Jews, and they are disturbing our city. 21 They advocate customs that are not lawful for us as Romans to accept or practice.” 22 The crowd joined in attacking them, and the magistrates tore the garments off them and gave orders to beat them with rods. 23 And when they had inflicted many blows upon them, they threw them into prison, ordering the jailer to keep them safely. 24 Having received this order, he put them into the inner prison and fastened their feet in the stocks.
25 About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the prisoners were listening to them, 26 and suddenly there was a great earthquake, so that the foundations of the prison were shaken. And immediately all the doors were opened, and everyone's bonds were unfastened. 27 When the jailer woke and saw that the prison doors were open, he drew his sword and was about to kill himself, supposing that the prisoners had escaped. 28 But Paul cried with a loud voice, “Do not harm yourself, for we are all here.” 29 And the jailer called for lights and rushed in, and trembling with fear he fell down before Paul and Silas . 30 Then he brought them out and said, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” 31 And they said, “Believe I the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved, you and your household.” 32 And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him and to all who were in his house. 33 And he took them the same hour of the night and washed their wounds; and he was baptized at once, he and all his family. 34 The he brought them up into his house and set food before them. And he rejoiced along with his entire household that he had believed in God.
 
For me, there were 3 points that I felt like God was reminding me of while reading this:
 
1. God can use us, when we are annoyed, and being annoyed is OK.
 
The fact that the Bible lets us know that Paul cast the spirit out of the girl because he was annoyed is not stated as a negative. It was OK that he was annoyed at her then. It is OK for us to be annoyed at the court system making what we feel is a bad choice, and two of the people that were at court that we had very little, or no contact with making decisions on what was best for the girls.
 
 
2. We can still praise God, even when circumstances are NOT what we want.
 
Paul and Silas managed to sing, and praise God even in prison. If they could praise God then, it gives perspective that we can praise God now. Praising God is not easy, when you don't see how he can use a negative experience like this for his glory, but we are trying to do so.
 
 
3. God is STILL in control, even when Paul was in prison, and even when we are fighting to see his plan right now.
 
Seeing that God used the praise of Paul and Silas to save the jailer, shows that God may have some way to use this time in our life to help someone else, and to grow our faith.
 
There is a song that I heard again recently, that keeps coming back to me as an encouragement. I will close out with the lyrics of that song.
 
 
 
Life is easy, when you're up on the mountain
And you've got peace of mind, like you've never known
But things change, when you're down in the valley
Don't lose faith, for you're never alone
For the God on the mountain, is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He'll make them right
And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times
The God of the day is still God in the night
You talk of faith, when you're up on the mountain
But talk comes so easy, when life's at it's best
Now it's down in the valleys, of trials and temptations
That's where your faith, is really put to the test
For the God on the mountain is still God in the valley
When things go wrong, He'll make them right
And the God of the good times, is still God in the bad times
The God of the day, is still God in the night