Controlling our Actions When Angry

               Charlie Brown quote1             

Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod.  Numbers 20:11

RECOMMENDED READING: NUMBERS 20:1-13 “Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, came into the Wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; and Miriam died there and was buried there.2 Now there was no water for the congregation; so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. 3 And the people contended with Moses and spoke, saying: “If only we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought up the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we and our animals should die here? 5 And why have you made us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? It is not a place of grain or figs or vines or pomegranates; nor is there any water to drink.” 6 So Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tabernacle of meeting, and they fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them.7 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 “Take the rod; you and your brother Aaron gather the congregation together. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water; thus you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and give drink to the congregation and their animals.” 9 So Moses took the rod from before the Lord as He commanded him.10 And Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock; and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 Then Moses lifted his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their animals drank. 12 Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe Me, to which I have given them.”13 This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.”

COMMENTS:  Does God expect too much of us?  Does He ask too much of us to become and remain His people?  Do you, at times, think so?  I dare say you do, and at times so do I, even though we may never say that to Him or even to ourselves.   When life gets difficult, when we are uncertain or not confident in our choices, when those we love and depend on opposite us and want us to take different paths, when we simply are tired and discouraged, when ….  The list goes on.  Well, even Christ got discouraged at times too.  That is neither sin nor due lack of faith but begins as a temptation from satan with deliberate purpose of drawing us from God enough so he has more freedom to hit us with both barrels of His temptation gun.

But when we entertain that discouragement and respond with anger and frustration which begins to infiltrate our thoughts and actions, then it becomes sin for us.

When we accept Christ and allow His Holy Spirit to council and guide us, we have greater responsibility to use this all powerful resource.  If a teacher gives you a math test and allows you to use a calculator, it should take less time than to do multiplication and division long hand.  But sometimes she wants us to do it long hand to improve skills and abilities to do so.  That doesn’t mean we can’t nor shouldn’t use a calculator to do most of our math problems especially in our jobs and daily obligations. In school children wonder why they should learn how to do math long hand when a calculator does it so much easier.  But then they are helpless when a calculator isn’t available or working, so access to more traditional methods are valuable.  I have discovered that often over the years but still use a calculator to do those math problems most of the time.  It isn’t about ability to do math, but in solving problems that math holds the answers to do. 

 

God wants us to learn and use Him as our resource and discover how much different our answers are than answers He gives us.  At times the answers and choices seem obvious to us.  At times the answers are urgent, and we don’t feel we can take the time to seek His council first, so we wonder down a path of poor choice for awhile until we discover and see signed we took a wrong turn.   Sounds like taking a trip leaving our map or GPS in the glove box or turned off.    Pride and anger and overconfidence are a few of the human faults that continue to hinder our willingness to seek His council first instead of last.

 

In today’s scripture, the people complained to Moses that they had no water to drink and criticized him for taking them out of Egypt.  I can relate to and see the anger and frustration.  He was probably angry at them for blaming Him and for telling him that they were better off in Egypt.

He did, rightly, go to God seeking help.  HELP CAME QUICKLY WITH INSTRUCTION TO GO SPEAK TO A PARTICULAR ROCK.   Moses went to that rock but hit it with his rod instead of speaking to it.  He was still angry and, I imagine, felt like hitting something.   HAVE YOU EVER FELT LIKE THAT WHEN ANGRY?   HAVE YOU EVER SPOKE HARSHLY OR HIT SOMETHING OR EVEN SOMEONE WHEN ANGRY? 

Well, hitting a rock that doesn’t have life or feelings is DUMB but not like hitting someone.  If you hit a rock, it only hurts you, right?  BUT DEALING WITH ANGRY BY ACTIONS OF AGGRESSION DOES NOT SATISFY ANGER BUT SIMPLY FEED THAT ANGER.

 

That anger was what God wanted to deal with in Moses’ heart.  That anger was becoming a barrier between Moses and God and needed dealt with.   It may seem harmless or unimportant to us that Moses hit that rock instead of speaking to it as God instructed, but it was a big deal to God and became a big deal to Moses.  Moses thought he was obeying God and response of water coming out of the rock seemed to confirm that but not exactly.

 

Moses’ response would prevent him from entering the Promised Land.  He would be left behind like all when listened to the 10 spies instead of to Caleb and Joshua who reported the land inhabited by giants but giants not too big and strong for God to handle. 

 

Take note that Moses hit the rock not just once but twice.  I’m not sure of the significance of that but have to believe it shows just how angry Moses was and probably not just angry at the people but with God.

How many times have our children obeyed us grudgingly? They didn’t want to but had to?   How many times have we done so with God, doing the minimum He asks but complaining all the way?   Considering the cost of disobedience, but also considering the cost of partial obedience too. 

 

Is full obedience asking too much of us?  Should God be satisfied with partial obedience from us at times, especially when it’s hard or painful?  What if Christ had let Himself get nailed to the cross but got down off the cross before He died?  Guess what, Christ would only be our Judge and not our Savior because He would have not followed through far enough to meet the Father’s requirement as payment in full for our sins.   

BUT CHRIST DIDN’T CUT CORNERS AND DID PAY THAT FULL PRICE.  Do we trust and believe Him enough to decide to do exactly what He asks of us without cutting corners by partial obedience?  Do we trust Him enough to believe what He asks is best even or especially when we don’t want to do so? 

 

God is so compassionate and merciful with us.  We can’t change the past but the future is open and available to us.  Let’s decide to follow Him 100% and not partially.  But let’s also set some check points to spend time with Him to make sure we stay on that course and covenant with Him.  HE IS HERE READY AND WILLING AND EAGER TO TAKE OUR HAND AND LEAD US INTO THAT DEEPER PATH OF OBEDIENCE WITH HIM.    AMEN?  AMEN!

“Anger is a highly physiological emotion. There are so many changes going on when we are angry that we literally become a different person—if only temporarily—if we are angry enough. Adrenaline rushes through our body causing us to feel strong and ready to act. We very much go from ‘normal’ to an ‘Incredible Hulk’ state.”  Psychologist Dr. Joshua Klapow

“Anger is the wind that blows out the lamp of the mind. Don’t let the winds of March madness blow across your mind this month.”  Robert Ingersoll

“Anger is one letter short of danger.”  Anonymous

If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 422 blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present.

You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily.  My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to   explore and use my devotional blog materials.

My hope and prayer are, my blog and devotional materials will become a source of encouragement and tools in ministry for you.

Published by donsdevotions

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Don McDaniel - Who am I? Hello everyone and welcome to my devotional journal blog. In order to get acquainted and help you get to know me a bit better before considering following my blog, let me give you some background. I am a 74-year-old male and a retired engineer. I worked for a major supplier of underground mining equipment for nearly 40 years before retiring in 2012. Arlene and I have been happily married since April 1978 and have two grown – married children, one granddaughter and 2 step grandsons. I joined the local United Methodist church at age 12 after accepting Christ as my Savior at age 10 during revival services in that same church in 1961, so I have been a “Born Again” Christian all my teen years and adult life. Christ has helped and guided me all that time. He guided me in choosing my wife and life’s career. My life journey has included regrets and failures, but God has picked me up and protected and spared me from life threatening consequences and dangers more times than I can recall or count. But many I do recall and encourage and motivate me to trust and follow Christ with more passion than ever. Christmas 2011 our daughter gave Arlene and I each a devotional journal. Journals were books with devotion for each day and space to give personal impressions and thoughts related to each devotion. Her desire was to have a lasting legacy she could refer back to and share with her children and grandchildren especially after we are gone. I was touched by that gesture. My parents and Arlene’s were devout Christians, so we would have greatly treasured having that from them, so we felt a sense of urgency to honor her request. I finished my journal first and returned it to our daughter the following Christmas. I’m glad I did it then because Parkinson’s has caused my hand writing to deteriorate since then. The exercise was such a blessing for me. Discipline of keeping journal helped me gain a deeper walk with Christ and greater discipline in honoring my time of prayer and devotion with Him each day. So, I decided to continue the practice but since I could not find a paper journal I liked, I decided to create my own. I had already been receiving electronic devotions by email every day from several sources, my favorite being “Turning Point” from Dr. David Jeremiah. What I decided to do was to include devotional scripture but add my own thoughts and comments only so there would be no issue of copyright infringement. Creating and maintaining journal by computer also addressed my deteriorating handwriting ability. I started an electronic devotion journal January 1, 2013 and have been faithful to that practice every day since. I prayed about method and level of distribution. My initial intent was to only share it with my two children by email, but quickly discovered others in my family, my church, and friends from work (both retired and still working) who knew me and wanted to be included in distribution when they learned what I was doing. I now distribute by email my daily journal at the beginning of each month to over 150 friends and relatives. God has richly blessed and encouraged me. I am concerned with the state of our church and nation, and world for that matter, believing we are living in the end times the prophets of old and Christ have talked about in scripture, so time is short. I desire to be true to my Savior and a witness to help others come to a saving knowledge of Him and equipped to share His Good News too. If my journal can encourage and help others, I believe God wants me to share it. I struggled, for a time at first, because I know many others keep similar journals but only for their own edification and do not want to share them because they are private. However, Christ has stirred my heart to share it as a witness tool. Our son and daughter have a long-time friend who grew up with them who we also befriended nearly 25 years ago. He had a lot of family problems, so would gravitate to our family as a refuge and eventually thought of us as his adopted parents and he as our adopted son. We lost contact with him for some time when he grew up and left home. He traveled around the U.S. and eventually ended up in Ukraine where he resided for next 10 years. He had to return to the US to renew his visa and took opportunity to recommend I begin a blog of my devotions and helped me set it up. He is also an active blogger and has been an email subscriber to my journal for several months, so he has been suggesting I expand my distribution by starting a blog to get broader exposure. After reflection and prayer, I concluded God was in this, so he is helping me set up my blog site. This brief autobiography is my first entry. He returned to Ukraine, then resided there until circumstanced made him decide to move back to US with his young son. This biography was my first post February 29, 2016 . I have published 600 posts from 2016-2023 automatically sent to all my Facebook friends, published on WordPress to be accessible to anyone curious or seeking a deeper walk with God. I decided to take a sebatical to prepare for a new chapter. In 2014 I was diagnosed with Parkinson's Disease which affects patient ability to walk, drive, do physical work, and eventually talk. By mid 2023 it became evident our home for last 42 years (previously owned by my parents for previous 44 years and by my mother's grandparents for 39 years before that) would eventually not meet my needs so we decided to sell it and move into 1st floor of a duplex we also owned that was the town school from 1855-1913. Likewise, the property was requiring more maintenance that I was no longer able to keep up with. 2023 involved selling our home and moving into apartment next door and then in early 2025 an opportunity to move closer to our daughter and granddaughter in Kentucky which was completed in May 2025. For a number of months I have been seeking direction seeking God's direction and timing to return to blogging as my journey with Parkinson's continues to unfold with God's guiding hand in mine. I hope and pray my devotions will continue to be a blessing for you. God certainly has become closer and more real to me since started this blog in 2016. I have spent time with Him studying scripture and praying and listening and writing this journal. I will continue seeking God’s help and will welcome your input to make this site as meaningful as I can and true to God, who is motivating me to create and maintain it. I will also welcome input in order to make format more meaningful going forward. Don & Arlene McDaniel In His Service, Email: mcdanieldonald769@gmail.com Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Don1951 If you wish, you can access my blog at “https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com“. There you will find 600+ blog posts I have made plus a link to my devotional journal material archives from 2013 to present (https://donsdevotions.wordpress.com/2016/03/02/link-to-dons-devotional-journal-entries-2013/ ) You may also access my Facebook page and request to be my friend and automatically receive my daily journal publications daily. My Facebook page is: https://www.facebook.com/Dondevotionals/ Many thanks to a pastor and dear brother in Christ in Nepal who set up the above Facebook page to help and encourage and give opportunity for more to explore and use my devotional blog materials.

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