Anger Makes More Work

"So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." -Exodus 34.28

Moses had already spent forty days on the mountain with God. The first time God cut two tablets out of stone and wrote on them. Moses then carried them down the mountain and was ready to share the words of God with the people, but instead of waiting expectantly he found them worshiping an idol. He was furious, and in his anger he smashed the two tablets that God had given him.

Think about that for a moment. Moses was holding in his hands something that God had touched. The tablets not only were cut by God, but they had His hand writing on them. Take that in for a moment. Moses was holding something that God had personally written on. And then he gets angry and smashes them. How angry would you have to be to destroy something that God touched, wrote on, and handed to you? I've had my share of angry moments. I've put a hole in a wall before (I was in fifth grade), I've thrown my phone, I've taken my machete and chopped up some fallen trees (that one was at least productive), and I've run three miles in a category 2 snow storm (to avoid putting my fist through my desk). In all of that, I've never been angry enough to rip my Bible apart, or even throw it. I can't imagine the rage that Moses must have been feeling in that moment.

There are times anger can be productive, as in when I chopped wood and went running. There are times when anger is even a good reaction to have, when it is righteous and moves us to action against sin and injustice. But it is important to realize that anger will result in more work.

When our anger is righteous it moves us to action. It pushes us to do something about a wrong in the world. We see something that isn't right, and we want to do what we can to make it right. This is what God does after all. Think back to Genesis 2, God saw that something wasn't good, and so He made it good. That is the image we are created in, we see wrong and we work to make it right. This is a good thing, this is part of what we were made for. But we live in a fallen world, and our anger isn't always righteous.

Sometimes we get angry for the wrong reasons. We're tired, we're irritable, or sometimes we just feel like being angry. We break things, either physically or emotionally, and once we calm down and realize it, we have to go to work trying to repair it. Some things are easier to fix than others. A hole in a wall is a lot easier to fix than your wife's broken heart, or your children's shattered trust.

Men, your anger will result in more work. Some of it is good. Those things you see that are wrong and you want to do something about it, let it drive you, and let the righteousness of God guide your actions as you join Him in bringing restoration. But those other times, the times that are probably far more common, that only lead to destruction, let us work to control those. The time we have to spend fixing the damage we do is time we can't spend fixing the injustices around us.

Moses was angry because the people had turned away from God in just over a month, and as a result he smashed the tablets God had made. His anger resulted in him having to cut out two more tablets, hike back up the mountain carrying them, and go another forty days without food and water.

Anger always makes more work, the question is what kind of work is it making? What kind of damage does it repair, that of a fallen world, or that of a man who lost control?

"Iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another."

To God alone be the Glory!

Strength and Honor