Numbers 20:10
“And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?”
There are times in life when controlling your temper will take all of your strength to accomplish. Let's face it; sometimes it isn’t easy to control your temper. Every person must realize that an uncontrolled temper will get you in trouble every time. This is why we must learn to control our temper.
Moses and Aaron faced one of those situations in the verse above. You must put yourself in Moses' shoes to understand his situation. With the help of God, Moses had led the children of Israel out of bondage. Time and time again these people murmured and complained about the provisions of God and what they thought were the lack of God's provisions. Moses and Aaron had face numerous situations with these people complaining. Now they hear the children of Israel complain again about not having any water. God told Moses to speak to the rock and water would come out. You can understand Moses' frustration with the people, but instead of speaking to the rock, he lost his temper and smote the rock. This momentary loss of temper caused Moses to not be able to enter into the Promised Land. One instance of Moses losing his temper cost him dearly.
Losing one's temper almost always brings severe consequences. When someone loses their temper they almost always hurt a relationship or lose their testimony over that lost temper. Even in the hardest times we must learn to control our temper. Here are a few things you can do to guard and control your temper when you are tempted to lose it.
First, don't take things personally. One of the causes of losing one's temper is we take the situation personally. We cannot take everything so personal. When something happens, whether it is driving on the highways, shopping in the stores, working on the job or dealing with a heated situation in the home, we must learn not to take the situation as a personal attack.
Secondly, don't act immediately. One of the biggest reasons we lose our temper is we react immediately to the situation. This was the mistake Moses made in the story above. I have learned, when I am faced with situations like this, to shut my mouth and not react immediately. When you are faced with a situation that is testing your temper, YOU CANNOT REACT IMMEDIATELY! Learn to stop and think before you decide to act. In other words, don't react to the situation! Reacting will get you in trouble most of the time.
Thirdly, realize there are consequences to every action. Before you decide to react or act upon a heated situation, realize there will be consequences to your actions. Many people sit in prison because they reacted without thinking of the consequences. Marriages have been destroyed because someone did not think of the consequences to their actions. Relationships have been severed because someone did not think of the consequences to their actions. If you want to control your temper, then you must think about the consequences of your actions before you act.
Lastly, walk away! There are times when you just have to walk away so you won't do something stupid. It is better to walk away than to react and end up regretting what you have done. If you will learn to walk away from a situation, you will learn to handle situations much better.
Everyone has a temper. Some control their temper and some don't. Those who control their temper are the one's who most likely follow the advice above. Be careful to guard and control your temper. Take the advice above and follow it every time you are faced with situations that could cause you to lose control of your temper. Controlling your temper may take every bit of strength you have, but the rewards of controlling your temper are great.
No comments:
Post a Comment