Thursday, February 26, 2015
In a Pickle: Don’t Get Angry and Don’t Run from God
Still
think the Bible is just a bunch of old stories that no longer apply to modern
humans? Despite human advances in science and technology, arts, communication
and most other areas, our base behavior has not changed over the centuries. No
one knows this better than our Creator. That is why the example of Moses that
we read about in Exodus 2:11-15 can still teach us lessons in the 21st Century.
11
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and
watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of
his own people. 12 Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the
Egyptian and hid him in the sand. 13 The next day he went out and saw two
Hebrews fighting. He asked the one in the wrong, “Why are you hitting your
fellow Hebrew?” 14 The man said, “Who made you ruler and judge over us? Are you
thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and
thought, “What I did must have become known.” 15 When Pharaoh heard of this, he
tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian,
where he sat down by a well.
Obviously,
there is a great lesson here about anger and controlling your anger. The Bible
has a lot to say about anger and this may be the best advice: "Everyone
should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, for man’s
anger does not bring about the righteous life that God desires." (James
1:19-20 NIV) God wants you to control your temper and seek His way to solve
your problem.
Acting
in anger will not solve a problem; it will only make it worse. Getting revenge
is not your job. God will take care of the wrongdoing Himself (Romans 12:19).
God is always fair and right. He is perfect, so He is the only One who can
perfectly judge someone else. He might not do it the way you think He should,
or even when you think He should, but He wants you to control your temper and
let Him work things out in His time and in His way. Moses needed to let God
take care of this situation in His own way and time, but instead Moses lashed
out in anger, killing the Egyptian.
This
example also gives us another reminder, sometimes we mistakenly think we can
get away with doing wrong if no one sees or catches us. Sooner or later,
however, doing wrong will catch up with us as it did with Moses. Even if we are
not caught in this life, we will still have to face God and His judgment in the
life to come.
Do
you have a secret sin you think is hidden from friends or from God? It can't
stay hidden forever but you can be forgiven if you repent! Do you think you can
sin without God seeing it? Trust me, God knows. We fragile humans fool
ourselves in to thinking we can hide from God (ie Adam and Eve). Is your secret sin negatively impacting your
witness or your relationship with God?
If you know the rest of the story regarding Moses, you also know this is
a story of redemption and God using an imperfect man as part of Gods perfect
plan. There is still hope!
Moses
reacted in a very human way to the cruelty and injustice he saw. But his way
did not accomplish anything. It even made him a murderer in the eyes of the
people he was trying to protect. God's ways are not like ours, but they work.
We must submit to his ways of doing things.Moses looked like someone in the
perfect position to help the Israelites. But he threw it away by taking revenge
himself. God was still able to use him, but had to give Moses time to grow out
of his anger, pride, and lack of dependence on God.
If
you find yourself in a pickle, don’t take matters in to your own hands or even
try to run away from the problem. Instead, turn to God for answers.
Got
questions about your relationship with God? Send me and email and I’d be glad
to discuss: dburton541@yahoo.com.
