Outburst...

…. an unrestrained expression of emotion

I had one yesterday. Unrestrained. THAT is the problem. It’s not the emotion. It’s not the expression OF the emotion. It’s the unrestrained part that causes the problem.

I was reminded this morning that even Moses had one. I daresay I’d have had one waaaay before he did. Forty years is a long time to keep a restraint on emotions. He’d been dealing with this mass of people for a long time, the griping, the quarreling, the blatant disobedience…..the doubting God, the fear of their unknown future.

Moses had been obedient to God. He had followed His instructions, seen God’s miraculous Hand at work in delivering this people…a people designated to be free…a people designated to be the bloodline that would bring freedom to me.

And you if you choose….

I feel for Moses. In a moment of frustration and probably pride, he had an outburst of unrestrained emotion.

　

"Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff….. (Numbers 20:10-11)

Not such a bad thing really. Except it was NOT what God had instructed him to do. And….it might have been a bit of grandstanding on Moses’ part.

I regret my outburst. But I won’t wallow in the guilt. I’ve spoken to God about it, and He says ‘…learn from it and let’s move on…’

At least He didn’t invite me up on a mountain to never come down !!

(…which, by the way, I think was more kindness on God’s part than punishment…..Moses didn’t have to continue to deal with those people anymore. He got to retire ! )

Choosing...

Choosing…

There is an Indiana Jones movie line that is repeated often around our house. “He chose poorly…” The greedy villain was choosing which vessel might be the 'holy grail' and looked over the wooden cup, choosing instead a very ornate gold one.

He chose poorly.

I thought about that while studying the characters of the “Hall of Faith” of Hebrews 11. Moses chose well.


“ By faith, Moses, when grown, refused the privileges of the Egyptian royal house. He chose a hard life with God's people rather than an opportunistic soft life of sin…”(Hebrews 11:24-25 The Message)

It sure didn’t look like a good choice. I’m quite sure it made absolutely no sense to the woman who had taken him from the river to the king’s palace and raised him as a prince of Egypt. I bet she had a fit…and I bet the royal family was quite insulted.

But Moses chose to seek God.

Lord, help me not to choose poorly. Help me to see the opportunities to sin for what they are, help me to see past the pleasure of that moment, and choose to seek You with an undivided heart.

I’m sure Moses has no regrets about his choices. I want to have no regrets about mine….