How do you respond when someone speaks unkindly or is irritable toward you? Doesn’t it tend to just put a damper on the day and cause you yourself to become irritable? Granville Walker said, “Love is the only cure for irritability; for irritability is only another manifestation of self-centeredness. And love that takes a man outside himself and centers the focus of his attention on the well-being of others is its only cure.” God continual brings irritable people my way in order for me to see myself. Not until I become a shield of love and forgiveness, will I ever be able to quench the fiery darts of the wicked one. Picture if you will, an OT shield that was made of leather, soaked in oil. When an arrow with a burning tip entered that shield, it was immediately quenched. We too, need to be soaked in God’s Word, God’s love and His forgiveness, so that fiery darts are extinguished as soon as they hit–and you can be sure they will!
