And as soon as he came near to the camp he saw the calf and the dancing. And Moses’ anger blazed hot and he cast the tables out of his hands and broke them at the foot of the mountain.
We have mentioned elsewhere that anger can be defeated and we showed how. Today, I want to share with you a very important reason you should never let anger rule you. Moses, by all standards, was a fine leader who was firmly connected and committed to the course of achieving total liberation for the Israelite nation. He had the divine mandate to lead the nation to the land of Canaan, the promised land.
However, while he succeeded in leading the Israelites out of Egypt, he failed to enter the land of Canaan. He didn‘t obey God completely in one instance, you might say. But this is not really the case. Moses had a serious problem with anger and God must have seen far ahead of time that this was going to be a problem in the long run. In our text, Moses‘ anger grew hot when he saw the calf that the Israelites had turned into a god. Notice at once that the very first action taken by Moses was cast[ing] the tables out of his hands. What did the tables contain? THE WORD OF GOD!
This is what anger does to people. It strips one of the Word of God in one‘s hearts. That is why it is extremely difficult and impracticable to fellowship with God the blight of anger in our hearts. Do you notice that most angry people lose their humanity in their moment of anger? They tend to forget God‘s Word at that time and are filled with nothing but negative and corrosive thoughts of their offenders. Anger exposes us, making us vulnerable to satanic attack. Angry people are so exposed because they throw away their only cover - the Word of God. I do not in any way say that to be angry is to sin. Rather, to be angry is to expose one‘s self to sin. Thus Paul is quick to advise us not to 'let the sun go down upon your wrath‘ (Ephesians 4:26)
Regardless of the good intentions of Moses, we can see that there were still better ways to deal with the whoredom of Israel. How do you explain a man who eight verses earlier, had entreated the Lord for mercy in behalf of the people but on getting away, threw away God‘s law (breaking them in the process) and ordered the mass slaughter of Israel? Only anger can place a man in such state. You must beware of anger.
In the early days of my childhood, anything and everything could spark off my anger. I literally fought with every young boy that dared to cross my path. My brothers were not spared either. When God stepped into my life and I began to sense His presence twelve years ago, all of that changed. God has literally locked up anger in my life up to a point where some close friends and observers believe that I have never been angry before.
Do you have problems with anger? You too can deal with it. I strongly urge you to embrace the Spirit of God today. He alone can help you.
Receive grace to defeat anger in your life right now in the Name of Jesus.
Lord, if you don’t save me from my anger, I will grow worse. Help me to overcome anger. Engrace me to bring my anger under subjection to Your Word.
