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Corrosive to the Soul!


It’s such a little word, just four letters, almost innocuous at first.  But check out how the dictionary defines it:  annoyance, discontent, irritated, vexation, worry, to wear away, to gnaw into, to cause corrosion.  Wow, and all that in just four letters…
           
So what is this big four letter word?  Fret! 

The King James Bible uses the word fret (and fretting) in Leviticus 13. When a certain type of plague spread, it became a “fretting leprosy” (v. 52).  It fact, it could even “fret inward” into garments and could only be eradicated by burning the garments completely.

Fretting is also a central theme to Psalm 37:

We are to not fret:

            Because of evildoers (v. 1)
            Over the one who prospers in his way (v. 7)
            Over the man who carries out evil devices (v. 7)
            Because it tends only to evil (v. 8)

We are to eradicate fretting with right perspective…

            The evildoers will fade and wither (v. 2)
            The evildoers will ultimately be cut off (v. 9)
            The wicked will ultimately be no more (v. 10)
            The little the righteous has is better than the abundance of the wicked (v. 16)

We are to burn fretting completely by…

            Trusting in the Lord (v. 3)
            Delighting ourselves in the Lord (v. 4)
            Committing our way to the Lord (v. 5)
            Being still before the Lord (v. 7)
            Waiting patiently for the Lord (v. 7)

As a fretting leprosy frets inward and corrodes the garment and can only be eradicated by fire, our fretting goes inward and corrodes our souls and can only be eradicated by the fire of the Word of God and the Holy Spirit burning within us.  Both the Word of God and the Holy Spirit help us to gain perspective and help us to grow in a trusting relationship with the Lord!   

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