Who’d have thought that in late January 2021, we’d still be amid the COVID-19 pandemic. I know I certainly didn’t. In fact, I honestly thought that by now I might have been back out on the road. That hasn’t happened however and for the most part, the situation here in the UK remains unchanged. Whether you are a pandemic partisan or a coronavirus caviller, it’s genuinely hard to see how as a nation, things will be back to normal any time soon.

Today I don’t much wish to share my opinions on the pandemic. In fact, if we were all a little less quick to spout forth our opinions, I feel there would be less fractured relationships and no where near as many angry encounters. Instead however, I want to share something with you that I hope will challenge you in your life and assist you as you engage with others throughout this strange time.

Realising my annoyance.

When I first met my wife, a major difference between us became clear almost instantly. She was so much more laid back than I. Not once did she ever say anything to me about this fact, but it really did shine a light onto my own life and showed me some obvious character flaws that I had been reticent to acknowledge up to that point. Put simply I just got annoyed at people far more than I should. Don’t get me wrong I love people, and I say this with jest, but people can also be the worst, can’t they? 

Unfortunately, this character flaw has reared its head once again at times throughout the last year or so as we have gone through the COVD-19 pandemic. Perhaps you’ve been similar at times. Have certain people done things that have really frustrated you? Maybe it’s the way the government have governed. Maybe it’s the way your church leaders have decided to do things. Maybe you’ve been on furlough for what seems like a lifetime and you’re just sick to death of it.

Coronavirus complaints.

Throughout the last year, the single biggest thing which has caused frustration and shamefully at times rage within me, is people’s self-legislation. Folk’s who know the rules and the guidelines, and yet choose to do the opposite. We’re all as a nation going through this together and yet there seems to be massive amounts of people who think that their needs are somehow greater than the rest of us and that they can do what they want. Even the little things. If it’s not in the rules it’s not in the rules, right?

I realise that this may not actually be how people have thought about things as they have done them, but unfortunately for me, that’s how I’ve often viewed it and it’s been so hard not to get annoyed at people. As I say this has literally nothing to do with what I think about coronavirus, or whether I think masks work, or whether I think we should be in lockdown. It all just boils down to people disobeying the rules and then me getting annoyed at those people.

The challenge I want to share with you today, because maybe you’ve experienced something similar, I don’t know, is from the book of Proverbs.

Frustration is foolishness.

Proverbs contains a lot about wisdom and foolishness. The most common Hebrew word for fool used in the book, translates directly as the word “obstinate”. The mark of a fool is most commonly their forthright opinions and their self-declared wisdom. Tie that in with obstinance and you have an opinionated fool with no desire to change. As I look back on the last year then, these are traits which I have been showing at times. That is not good.

Proverbs 22:15 says that “Foolishness is bound up in the heart of a child; The rod of correction will drive it far from him.” Children need discipline, because left to their own natural instincts they would become unwise and incredibly foolish. They need education and correction. That need for correction doesn’t ever disappear.

You see even as an adult, I need to constantly be disciplining myself and educating myself using the word of God, the Bible, as my textbook. Proverbs 12:16 teaches that “fools show their annoyance at once but the prudent overlook an insult”.

It’s quite simple; we ought not to be getting annoyed. If you are getting annoyed at people, then choose to do something about it. Don’t be so obstinate as to stay in your frustration and let it drive you deeper in to it. Coronavirus looks like it’s going to be raging on for a little longer. Don’t join in raging through 2021. Take some time to delve into the word of God and learn what the life of a wise man or woman looks like.