Your Emotions' Reactions - Help or Hurt You?

How do you react when you are under pressure? Are you cool, calm and collected or do you get angry, flustered and tend to do or say things that you later regret? Do you ever wonder where that reaction which came from?

It is very difficult to keep a clear mind and react properly in pressure situations. Moses experienced situations where he was under pressure and did not do well. Once when he was a younger man, he observed a fellow Israelite being beaten by an Egyptian (Exodus 2:11-14). Anger had to swell up in him because he looked around to see if anyone was watching and proceeded to kill the Egyptian. Others saw it and word got out. Pharaoh found out and Moses fled to the wilderness for safety (for forty years).

One other experience where Moses was in a pressure situation, the Israelites were grumbling again about not having water while in the desert. This situation in Numbers 20:1-14 was not the first time the Israelites grumbled about water. A previous time was Exodus 17:1-7 where God had Moses strike a rock and water came out. This time God commanded Moses to speak to the rock.

We can sympathize with Moses as the Israelites quite often grumbled about something over the forty years in the desert but God said to speak to the rock. Moses was angry with them and in that anger, struck the rock twice instead of speaking to it. Water gushed out. The Israelites were happy for the moment, but God was not pleased. Due to his disobedie ...