That comment is not a statement of fact, but a confession!
How is it a confession? No one can force you to get mad. When we say someone is making us mad what we are really doing is confessing that we have given emotional control to them. The difference between a "hothead" and a person who is calm under stress is a personal choice. So how does a person stay calm and not give emotional control to another person? Isaiah clearly reveals the path.
"You (God) keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You (God) because he trusts in you (God)." Isaiah 26:3
It is a matter of faith and focus. When a person trusts God and is focused on Him, the result is peace; no person or circumstance can take control of the person's emotions. The perfect peace cannot be broken. Perfect peace? How can anything about us be perfect? Aren't we all sinners? Isn't it impossible for us to do anything perfectly? It is possible because the Hebrew term translated "perfect" here doesn't mean "without a flaw." Literally it translates "peace, peace" (shalom, shalom, שָׁל֣וֹם ,שָׁל֣וֹם ) which means continual, ongoing, uninterrupted peace.
Perhaps an illustration will help. In chapel one day I addressed the topic of people "making us mad" based on Isaiah 26:3. As previously stated, when we say another person is making us mad it is a confession that we have given control of our emotions to another person. That night I coached a high school girls basketball game against a team that was extremely rough. The game was so out of control that in the third quarter I told the referees that if they didn't gain control of the game, we would be leaving. They promised to improve if we would stay. Anyway, a short time later our point guard lost it. Her defender had been pushing her, elbowing her and fouling her. So she shoved the girl to the floor and yelled at her. I immediately pulled her from the game and asked her, "What in the world has come over you?" Her response was, "That number 37 was making me so..." and she stopped mid-sentence. She suddenly remembered that no one can make you mad. She smiled at me and I smiled at her and told her to go sit on the bench until she gained control of her emotions and I would put her back in the game.
The truth of this verse isn't limited to anger! The loss of peace will occur any time our focus shifts from trusting God to a trouble we are facing. "You hurt my feelings." SHIFT! "It was so depressing!" SHIFT! Jesus reiterated the truth of Isaiah. "I have said these things to you that in Me you will have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world." John 16:33 Jesus has secured our peace through His death and resurrection and as we trust Him, keep our focus on Him and His Word, complete peace will be ours.
Why not memorize Isaiah 26:3 and John 16:33 and when you feel the peace diminishing, bring them to mind? The Holy Spirit will use them to sharpen your focus and maintain the peace He bestows through the Word He inspired.?
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