The KJV reads “Be angry and sin not, let not the sun go down on your wrath neither give place to the devil.”
Sulky is a great word. Not a great condition, but a great word. It is vivid with description. It means morose, bad-tempered, and resentful; refusing to be cooperative or cheerful. Somehow it does a good job expressing a slippery slope to sin.
I’ve enjoyed Dr. Caroline Leaf’s books on the science of the brain in it’s relationship to the processing of thought through the lens of God’s Word. The science reveals that it is the processing of thoughts that ultimately frame all aspects of our lives. It does matter what I choose to believe. Science shows that every thought enters through our physical senses. We don’t even form emotions until we have embraced the thought. It is the embraced thought which releases chemicals which in turn produce emotions, positive or negative. A sulky frame of mind would be a negative state. I don’t always arrest the initial thought but when the emotion manifests, I’ve found I can trace it back to the thought that created it. We can all recognize sulky.
We live with two contrasting dynamics daily working in and around us. We have the Spirit of Truth, who dwells in us continually directing us into the truth. We have this external force working as well. Diligently using every opportunity, Satan goes about seeking whom he may devour. As a liar and the Father of all lies, there is no truth in him, John 8:44. Yet somehow through all of his craftiness and subtlety he manages to seduce us into dismissing the promises of God and picking up his lie. He continually works to blind minds to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel, 2 Corinthians 4:4.
Kenneth E. Hagin always said, you can’t stop a bird from flying over your head but you can stop it from building a nest. We are instructed to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ fromIn other words, what does God say about my thought?
We are told from 2 Timothy 1:7 God has not given us a Spirit of Fear, but power, love and as the amplified bible reads, a calm, well balanced mind. Philippians 4 rehearses exactly what we are to think on in order to have God’s peace rule us. Colossians 3:1 tells us to set our mind on things above. Isaiah reminds us His (God’s) thoughts are higher. There is always a better, higher, loftier thought to embrace about every situationwhich fully expresses the Father’s heart and mind. Holding His thought frees us from these places of fear, anxiety, and personal pouting, i.e. frees us from a sulky frame of mind.
It’s a choice. Its a matter of the will. It’s my brain. I am in control. I can choose what I let take place in there. No bird houses allowed!