Title: Misdirected Anger
Author: Christopher Harbin
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
We are creatures governed by emotion much more readily than we tend to believe. Fear, doubt, anger, jealousy, pain, discomfort, depression, and simply being tired can change how we respond to life around us. The worse we are feeling, the easier it is for someone to sell us a bill of goods we don't even want. It's kind of like how under torture people will end up saying whatever they are told to say. When we are feeling bad, anxious, or fearful, it is really hard to make good decisions or respond well to others. Our fear often becomes confused with anger. When we are not in a good place, lashing out becomes all the easier. We are especially good at lashing out in the wrong direction. How often can we even put a finger on what we really fear?
Friedrich Hegel said, "The only thing we have learned from history is that we have learned nothing from history." Many have made similar observations. It does not take a long look into Scripture to find example after example backing up that interpretation of events. Rather than learning from the our history, we tend to rehash the same experiences, the same mistakes, over and over. Perhaps if we were to actually address them, we might move forward. The tendency, however, is just to follow established patterns. In the previous chapter, the people complained about food. In today's, it is water. Deep down, they were simply out of sorts in this new experience of life for which they felt completely unprepared. They felt unhinged, unmoored, and vulnerable in brand new ways.
Killing Moses and Aaron would not have resolved anything. Their anger, however, was close to bringing them to that action just to vent the angst from their fears, doubts, and uncertainties. Deeper down, the question was whether or not they could trust this deity who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, reportedly to take them back to their ancestral la ...
Author: Christopher Harbin
Text: Exodus 17:1-7
We are creatures governed by emotion much more readily than we tend to believe. Fear, doubt, anger, jealousy, pain, discomfort, depression, and simply being tired can change how we respond to life around us. The worse we are feeling, the easier it is for someone to sell us a bill of goods we don't even want. It's kind of like how under torture people will end up saying whatever they are told to say. When we are feeling bad, anxious, or fearful, it is really hard to make good decisions or respond well to others. Our fear often becomes confused with anger. When we are not in a good place, lashing out becomes all the easier. We are especially good at lashing out in the wrong direction. How often can we even put a finger on what we really fear?
Friedrich Hegel said, "The only thing we have learned from history is that we have learned nothing from history." Many have made similar observations. It does not take a long look into Scripture to find example after example backing up that interpretation of events. Rather than learning from the our history, we tend to rehash the same experiences, the same mistakes, over and over. Perhaps if we were to actually address them, we might move forward. The tendency, however, is just to follow established patterns. In the previous chapter, the people complained about food. In today's, it is water. Deep down, they were simply out of sorts in this new experience of life for which they felt completely unprepared. They felt unhinged, unmoored, and vulnerable in brand new ways.
Killing Moses and Aaron would not have resolved anything. Their anger, however, was close to bringing them to that action just to vent the angst from their fears, doubts, and uncertainties. Deeper down, the question was whether or not they could trust this deity who seemed to have appeared out of nowhere, reportedly to take them back to their ancestral la ...
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