My Conclusion

Did you know that Moses did not enter the Promised Land because of his impetuous behavior? Did you know that in his anger against the Hebrew people for all of their grumbling, complaining and disobedience that he committed the very same sin by blatantly disobeying God? Moses' anger was certainly justified. I would use the term "righteous" anger. In fact, I have used this term, more than once, referring to something that someone else is doing that I disagree with. However righteous it was, the fact remains that in his anger Moses took his focus off of God and became just like those he was angry at. I love to use the term "righteous anger" and I always like to use the example of Jesus in the temple. The problem is that Jesus was perfect, and I am not. He knew how to be angry and yet not sin. I don't think I quite have that down yet. I recently became very convicted on this when I read my devotion for May 11th in the book Experiencing God Day By Day by Henry and Richard Blackaby. I have been struggling for a while with some issues that I feel warrant righteous anger. I still feel this way about the issues, however, I am completely convicted today that I have been allowing my eyes to drift away from God and focus instead on the circumstances and the people. I don't know what God is trying to teach these individuals in their circumstances and frankly, it is not necessarily any of my business. My job is to seek God's face and try to discern what God is wanting to do in their lives and how I fit into that. The more I focus on Him, the more like Him I will become. He was long suffering and gracious, I am often frustrated and offended. I have decided that beginning today, I will take all of my frustrations to the Lord and ask Him for discernment and what part He wishes me to play in the situation. I know He has a plan. I do feel that it is noteworthy to say that the May 12th devotional focused on how Jesus handled sin in the lives of His friends. He never condoned sinful behavior and He loved His friends too much to comfort them in their sin. I do not think it was a coincidence at all that Mr. Blackaby put these two devotions side by side, and I know beyond any doubt that God knew that I needed to hear both of them today! Somewhere there is middle ground and that is what I am seeking to find right now. I need to focus on my God and seek His face in order to be more like Him and be there for people who may come to me for advice. While at the same time, I must never appease sin and apathy in the lives of fellow believers. I must be bold in sharing my convictions, as long as I am sure that these are Biblical convictions and not legalistic rules that I have added to the Word of God. I do not believe that it is legalism to obey God's Word, and I do not believe that there are near as many gray areas as people want to believe there are, however, I do think that there are things that God speaks to us individually about that are personal and not necessarily the way everyone has to do things. I am sincerely praying that God will give me the wisdom to know the difference.