Moses and a Big Stick

I wonder about Moses’ temperament. Let’s focus on the first part of the word in temperament, that being the root word temper. Out of righteous anger, Moses stuck and killed a man that was abusing a Hebrew slave. Unbenounced to Moses at the time, the slave was one of his brethren. When Moses was confronted with his crime, he ran away, in either fear or shame…perhaps a combination of these or something else~my musings are purely conjecture. Fast forward and an older Moses reluctantly takes the role of leader, freeing Gods people from slavery in Eygpt, leading them to the promised land. God works through Moses and God considers him to be a trusted friend. Moses speaks to God and than shepards the people. Many a time, he asked God to refrain from destroying the rebellious Isrealites, the salvaged Hebrews. This speaks to some character and patience development in Moses temperament. Moses does, in the story, get agitated with the grumbling and rumbling of the ingrates who dared to complain and suggest that they faired better in slavery than they were fairing in the dessert with Gods presence and direct provision for all their needs. Moses, despite attacks on his character and the physical threats of angry mobs, continues to endure the abuse and asks God to spare and forgive the people time and again. I grin, because God is God and man is man and our temperaments need taming all the days of our lives. Moses had a temper and it displayed fully when he chose to ignore Gods directive and instead, show his irritation. I can relate to this~I am no Moses AND, I am forever working on my temper and irritation…ok back to Moses now…so the people came to an arid place in the dessert and they began to complain bitterly about the lack of water. Moses went to God to tell him about the people’s complaint and to be given instructions. God told Moses to get Aaron’s staff and the two of them were told go to the rock, speak to it and water enough would flow from it for the people and their livestock. Moses and his brother went to the rock and with Aaron’s staff, he hit the rock twice, rather than speaking to it. Water flowed from the rock, it was Gods gift to the people. Moses, however, got whacked hard with that stick (metaphorically speaking of course). Moses did not follow Gods instructions, he took power that was not his and he abused it, displaying his irritation and anger and perhaps even his authority, a little vain power, with the people. His punishment? He was to die in the dessert with the other transgressors, never to see the promised land. It’s a fascinating personality study and I am only telling you about the parts that spoke to where I am weak in character and need some development! God is fair and equitable, he pours out grace on everyone. He also abides by the laws he put into place, the laws of sowing and reaping, consequences for actions, and thank GOD, he is far more patient, slower to anger than mere humans. God is faithful and gives us lots of chances, he is such a great Dad! So, I’m working on speaking about Gods Living Water with patience and understanding and putting my big stick down…what are YOU working on?