Proverbs 16:32

Ruling Our Spirits

He that ruleth his spirit [is better] than he that taketh a city. Proverbs 16:32.

We have all something in us that needs to be tamed. A well-known preacher used to say, “I am by nature a tiger, and had it not been for the grace of God to tame me, I fear that nobody could ever have lived with me.” He simply meant that by nature he had a very bad temper.

More than a hundred years ago a very clever woman called Hannah More wrote a book called Hints towards forming the Character of a Young Princess. I do not know that you would care to read right through the book, but one thing that Hannah More said is worth remembering. Here it is. “The first lesson to be taught to the royal pupil is: ‘Where others cannot restrain us, there especially we should restrain ourselves.'” She then goes on to tell that Gustavus Adolphus, the King of Sweden, said to a soldier who found him praying in his tent, “Persons of my rank are answerable to God alone, and the dangers of such a position are only to be resisted by prayer and reading the Scriptures.”

The boys and girls of the present day might well take a leaf out of Hannah More's book. It would be good even for much older people to ponder over what she says. Her words are on the line of our text. It does not say that we must not be angry, but that we ought to keep our anger in check.

For it is sad, but true

If you do not rule your temper,

Your temper will rule you.

Most of you have read Sinbad the Sailor. You remember how the Old Man of the Sea, when he got Sinbad to have pity upon him and lift him up, sat upon his shoulders, clinging closely to poor Sinbad wherever he went, and compelling him to do whatever he wanted until life became a burden to him. So it will be with us if we allow ourselves to be ruled by our temper.

But although our temper makes a bad master it may make a good servant. When some of you see the lightning flashing during a thunderstorm you feel very much afraid. But those of you who are at school know that man has at last made the lightning his servant. What wonderful things it does for us! It carries messages to our friends; it takes the burden of our hard work; it helps to rescue ships at sea; it lights our houses; it drives subways; and it helps doctors perform medical procedures.

But how is it possible to make a servant of our temper? Not by crushing it out, but by getting the upper hand of it. Christ was angry when He drove the money-changers out of the temple courts, and when He denounced those who oppressed the poor. Without a holy anger we should never have had reformers like Knox or Luther. The ruling of our temper means courage courage even greater than that of the soldier who takes part in the siege of a city. We know that the fighting soldier must lose all fear of being hurt when he is in battle. The fight with our temper means something else; it demands even greater courage than that of the soldier. Greater, I say, for the wearer of many medals may still have an unconquered temper. Our battle demands more than the courage of flesh and blood. It is carried on within. There may be no signs of it beyond a moment's silence, or the biting of the lip, but the victory means the making of character.

The hardest battles ever fought,

The greatest victories won,

Are fought with never a comrade near,

And never a shot or a gun.

It may be a battle with terrible pain,

Or a struggle with mind or soul,

But God, who is watching His soldiers, knows

The ones on His Honor Roll.

But we need help in order to rule our spirits. Sometimes boys and girls have the impression that it is quite right to ask God to help them to do great things, and to be kept from great temptations, but that it would be wrong to speak to God about their little worries and tempers, and ask Him to help them when they feel like getting angry. There is nothing too little to tell to God. So never hesitate, dear children, to ask Him to help you to rule your spirits.