Finding God in the every day

Week 7 Day 7

Week 7 Day 7

Finding God in the every Day

Exodus 32:19 When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, his anger burned and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces at the foot of the mountain.

            Here at the end of this week I look back and assess and measure my own performance at “practicing what I preach” and find myself ashamed at my outbursts of anger against childish behavior, municipal authorities and what I consider to be moronic malcontents tearing apart our nation. I have managed to conjure up in my mind every sort of evil behavior and rightly or wrongly attributed those behaviors to be the source of my frustration.

            But frustration is the key word here. A long time ago some psychologist or other explained that anger is the voice of frustration, moreover anger is a parasite emotion feeding on our frustration. What they seemed to fail to get at is that our frustration and anger seem to arise out of our own ego-centric self-importance and the effrontery of any cause to stand in opposition to “my way” of doing things.
            Moses was a man who had to learn to sublimate his ego, to forego his righteous anger in favor of God’s wisdom. So transformed was he during the long process of life in the wilderness that he was even bold to call God to account and persuade Him to relent of his anger. (Read all of Exodus Chapter 32)

            As I sit here feeling a sense of deep shame at my behavior and over-reactions this week I can only seek God’s forgiveness first, the forgiveness of those whom I have offended, and pray for the further refining and tempering of my spirit, mind and body. Truly, loving others as we love ourselves may be the most telling command that Jesus ever expressed. Matthew 22 ³⁷ Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’³⁸ This is the first and greatest commandment. ³⁹ And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’⁴⁰ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”