Daily Devotions from Lutheran Hour Ministries: 24 September 2024
"Hissy Fit"
Numbers 11:4b-5a, 6, 10b, 16, 25a - And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing ... But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." ... And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. ... Then the LORD said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, ... and bring them to the tent of meeting." ... Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders.
The beginning of this story cracks me up-"The anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased." Displeased? God is angry, and Moses is just displeased?
And then he gets whiny. "Why have you done this terrible thing to me?" he asks God. "Did I give birth to these people? Why do I have to babysit them, all the way to the Promised Land? Why not kill me at once, and put me out of my misery?"
I wonder if listening to Moses' hissy-fit made God laugh. Certainly the first thing God did afterward wasn't to act on His own anger-no, He took steps to help Moses with his heavy burden. God provided seventy elders of the people who would help to govern them. And He put His Holy Spirit on those men, so that their decisions would be the right ones, and Moses could have a break.
This tells me that, even when God has every reason to be angry, He still pays attention to the needs of His servants. He cares for Moses, even though his prayer, if you can call it that, is about as whiny as they come. And He doesn't hold it against Moses later.
I'm glad, because sometimes when I'm tired and stressed, I too can pitch a hissy-fit-even at God. And how terrible it would be if God took my angry words at face value! But He is patient with me, loving, forgiving, helping, providing relief. And after I've calmed down, I can admit to God that yes, He was right (of course He was!), and go on-strengthened by His mercy, comforted by His patient love.
We see this same patient love in God when He came to live among us as Man, in Jesus. Oh, there are moments when He sounds frustrated (see Mark 9:19). But He always provides the help we need, even if we have little faith, even if we have to wake Him up to do it! (See Matthew 8:25-26.) And in the end, as John says, "when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1b). He lay down His life for us freely, at the cross-and then He rose again from the dead, never to die again. Because this is what we needed most-for Him to break the powers of sin and death over us, so that we could be His forever.
WE PRAY: Lord, when I'm over-tired and whiny, forgive me, and give me what You see I need. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.
Numbers 11:4b-5a, 6, 10b, 16, 25a - And the people of Israel also wept again and said, "Oh that we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing ... But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at." ... And the anger of the LORD blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. ... Then the LORD said to Moses, "Gather for Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, ... and bring them to the tent of meeting." ... Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders.
The beginning of this story cracks me up-"The anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased." Displeased? God is angry, and Moses is just displeased?
And then he gets whiny. "Why have you done this terrible thing to me?" he asks God. "Did I give birth to these people? Why do I have to babysit them, all the way to the Promised Land? Why not kill me at once, and put me out of my misery?"
I wonder if listening to Moses' hissy-fit made God laugh. Certainly the first thing God did afterward wasn't to act on His own anger-no, He took steps to help Moses with his heavy burden. God provided seventy elders of the people who would help to govern them. And He put His Holy Spirit on those men, so that their decisions would be the right ones, and Moses could have a break.
This tells me that, even when God has every reason to be angry, He still pays attention to the needs of His servants. He cares for Moses, even though his prayer, if you can call it that, is about as whiny as they come. And He doesn't hold it against Moses later.
I'm glad, because sometimes when I'm tired and stressed, I too can pitch a hissy-fit-even at God. And how terrible it would be if God took my angry words at face value! But He is patient with me, loving, forgiving, helping, providing relief. And after I've calmed down, I can admit to God that yes, He was right (of course He was!), and go on-strengthened by His mercy, comforted by His patient love.
We see this same patient love in God when He came to live among us as Man, in Jesus. Oh, there are moments when He sounds frustrated (see Mark 9:19). But He always provides the help we need, even if we have little faith, even if we have to wake Him up to do it! (See Matthew 8:25-26.) And in the end, as John says, "when Jesus knew that His hour had come to depart out of this world to the Father, having loved His own who were in the world, He loved them to the end" (John 13:1b). He lay down His life for us freely, at the cross-and then He rose again from the dead, never to die again. Because this is what we needed most-for Him to break the powers of sin and death over us, so that we could be His forever.
WE PRAY: Lord, when I'm over-tired and whiny, forgive me, and give me what You see I need. Amen.
This Daily Devotion was written by Dr. Kari Vo.