Dreams
We all have dreams, hopes and destinies we feel we are designed to meet. Keeping dreams alive is hard work. Once we are sold on the dream, we lay the groundwork of preparing ourselves. This may mean more education, networking, physical training, prayer, and whatever else we think it will take to help us move forward.
We put in our hearts and souls, blood and sweat to bring our dreams to fruition.
We meet people along the way who are very helpful to us, but we will also meet a few who will stand in the way, if not actually try to hold us back or block our path.
But we cannot let them…
Moses
Our Biblical focus for today’s post is a tiny, but significant moment in the life of that spiritual superhero, Moses.
He was a male Israelite baby who escaped death by floating, literally, into the Egyptian royal first family. Trying to speed up God’s plan on his own, he kills and Egyptian in a fit of anger and must flee the city. He spends time learning to be a shepherd.
Ultimately, God calls him to return to Egypt to collect God’s people and move them forward from slavery and bondage to the Promised Land. During the move, these people spend a lot of time grumbling and complaining.
They have no food, so God supplies manna from heaven on a daily basis. They grow tired and bored of the manna, so God rains down quail on their heads.
Here we see two separate instances where they are complaining about lack of water.
Moses goes to God and gets instruction. But, each set is a little bit different, so read it carefully. It is such a small incident that is often overlooked, but it cost him the one thing he had been working toward.
The second trip, we can imagine that he is getting tired of this. They are talking so much that they cannot hear him, and he can barely think. They are mumbling about wanting to go back to slavery, where life was better. Really?
He wades through the crowd to get their attention. They are chanting. “Go back, go back!” “Water, water, water!”
God’s specific instruction slips away from him. He is pissed off! He takes his rod in hand and strikes the rock…hard. Then he turns and yells at the people, “What more do you want?”
In that moment, Moses gives away his blessing and his potentially greater future. His anger has overrun everything else and it all fades in a heartbeat. In a stroke, he loses his blessing and his calling. He will not be able to lead the people into the Promised Land.
80 years of preaparation, lost. He has let his anger, which had been a problem in the past, get the best of him and the situation. He has placed himself in authority over the people alongside God.
Destiny and greatness fade away…
Life Application…So what?
There are precious few things in this life that we can actually control.
We cannot change other people or their behavior. Ultimately, the decision to change is a choice that they must make.
The only thing we have full control over is how we respond to the things going on around us.
Have you, or are you letting other people stand between you and your best self?
Does someone else hold the key to your emotions?
Are you in control of you?
What do you do when you feel an emotional outburst coming?
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/25619792@N07/4351897480/
2 comments:
Just what I needed & I have been praying for my attitude & my response to others when they do something that I disagree with. I have to remember that I am just a soldier in his army, he has the master plan. I need to just be obedient, so hard to do sometimes. Thank You.
We all need reminders. We are not the center of the story. God's people, just like everyone else, can be very irritating. But we cannot get so focused on them, their behaviors or attitudes that we lose sight of what we are meant to accomplish.
Glad to se of service.
Martina
@martinamcgowan
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