The Cause Of Trouble

When a man’s ways please the LORD, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

Proverbs 16:7

Dale Carnegie once told of a young man whose mind was riddled with anxiety like a honeycomb. On the verge of a nervous breakdown, he moved to Florida, but his dad, in a letter, told him bluntly, “Son, you are 1,500 miles from home, and you don’t feel any different, do you? I knew you wouldn’t because you took with you the one thing that is the cause of all your trouble, that is, yourself.”

The enraged young man stalked down the street like a pouting lion. Passing a church at service time, he went in. The pastor was speaking from Proverbs 16:32: “He who . . . rules his spirit [is better] than he who takes a city.”

It was the turning point, for the man suddenly realized he could change. He could control his own thoughts and emotions with the help of Scripture. He could let the Lord rule over his spirit. He could manage his emotions instead of letting them manage him. When he returned home, his life took on new meaning.^a

Are you ruling your emotions, or are they ruling you? Claim Proverbs 16:32 as God’s Word for you today.

The greatest part of our happiness depends on our dispositions, not our circumstances.

MARTHA WASHINGTON