Day 47

Losing Your Temper

Read: Numbers 19-21

What a great man Moses was! How much he had to put up with in leading Israel through the wilderness. How often he interceded for the people when God was ready to destroy them. Once he lost his temper, with tragic results. The people needed water and God told Moses to speak to the rock. Instead, in anger, he struck it with his rod. The result was that in losing his temper, he lost the opportunity of entering the Promised Land.

That doesn’t seem fair, does it? But the fact is that a person may live as he should, yet one burst of temper can have irreparable results. What permanent damage can be done if we lose our temper just once with a spouse or a child or an employee. Let us ask for God’s grace always to be in control of ourselves. Self-control is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit.

After his mistake, it was necessary for Moses to go on dealing with the problems of life. The damage was done, but he still had responsibilities. When we fail, we ask for God’s forgiveness and go on.

Moses had to lead the people as they fought the enemies around them. He had to deal with the fiery serpents and make a bronze serpent to which the people needed to look in order to be healed, even as we need to look to Christ in faith in order to be saved.

PRAYER
Father, fill us with the fruit of the Spirit, self-control, and where we fail, forgive us and help us to continue serving you. For Christ’s sake. Amen.