2/10/17 “Allowing Frustrations to Get the Best of Us” (Daily Bible Reading: Numbers 18-20)

“Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron, ‘Because you did not believe Me, to hallow Me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them’" (Numbers 20:12).

Dale Carnegie stated, “Our fatigue is often caused not by work, but by worry, frustration and resentment”. Do you find yourself getting frustrated with what is happening in your life or with other people in your life? Allowing ourselves to get weighed down by the temptation of frustration, can, not only rob us of the joy God wants us to have, but can even rob God of the glory we ought to give Him.

As the Israelites continued their 40 years journey in the wilderness, they began to complain again about not having enough water (Numbers 20:1-5). It is interesting that God calmly instructs Moses to speak to the rock and the rock will bring forth water for the people and their animals (Numbers 20:6-8). However, Moses is not calm. He is extremely frustrated with God’s people. He is getting sick and tired of their rebellion. In his frustration he does not speak to the rock; instead, he strikes the rock and says, “Hear now, you rebels! Must we bring water for you out of this rock?” (Numbers 20:10)

Water flows from the rock and the people’s thirst is satisfied (Numbers 20:11). However, as the opening verse above indicates, Moses failed to glorify God and “hallow God in the eyes of the children of Israel” (Number 20:12). Because Moses had allowed His frustration with God’s people to get the best of him, Moses would not be allowed to bring the Israelites into the Promised Land.

Although God viewed what Moses had done as a very grave matter, God did forgive Moses and let Moses continue to lead God’s people through the wilderness. In fact, in His mercy and grace, God would let Moses go up to the top of Mount Nebo and view the Promised Land before God took Moses to his heavenly reward (Deuteronomy 34:1-7).

As I read this I can appreciate how frustrated Moses must have been with this people who were always complaining about something. I can also appreciate the challenge that leaders in the church today face as they have to continue to strive to maintain a reverence for God and keep Him hallowed in the eyes of the people of God when many times Christians in the church complain about things which they ought not. Life is full of numerous things which we can let frustrate us if we choose to, but we don’t have to make this choice!

When the feelings of frustrations swell up in our hearts, we tend to try to solve them all by ourselves. During such times, we tend to think, “How am I going to solve this?” This usually leads to greater feelings of frustration because we find we are unable to solve the problems we face. Instead, we can choose to give these things over to God and not try to solve them all by ourselves.

As a Christian, I need to keep my eyes on God. I must be careful about trusting in myself when dealing with difficult situations or with difficult people. It is during such times that I can often fail to give God the glory which He deserves and end up trying to glorify myself to my own shame. Today, I refuse to allow the frustrations of life to get the best of me. I will give these over to God and try to keep my focus on hallowing Him and glorifying Him by my faith and trust in Him!

“I will praise You, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify Your name forevermore” (Psalm 86:12).