God spoke to Moses and said to him, “I am the LORD. 3 I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. 4 I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. 5 Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.
Carey Nieuwhof recounts in an article on leadership how Abraham Lincoln would write angry letters to his enemies, put them in a drawer, and in most cases, never send them because he had cooled off and could revisit them wisely. The lesson is for leaders to use words wisely. Moses the leader had just gone on a rant in chapter 5 against God. The people were mad at Moses and he snapped at the Creator. Bad move. It is a good thing that God had a cool head, so to speak. His response was to repeat the promise from chapter 3, that he would deliver his people. He then restated the covenant promise to remind Moses that his questioning of the Lord was meaningless. Moses had momentarily ceased to believe it and his words showed it.
I have said before that most of my past regrets as husband and father were words said in anger. I wish I had written it out like Abraham Lincoln and cooled off. Thank God his anger has cooled and he remembered his promise. Because he remembered the promise to remember our sins no more, we can be sure of his mercy, even when we forget like Moses. He did not put his anger on paper but…
On the cross.
Pastor Brad Boyer
Cape Community Church