Determine the Trigger
One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to where his own people were and watched them at their hard labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his own people. (Exodus 2:11)
I can only imagine what life must have been like for Moses growing up living in the house of the man, Pharaoh, who was oppressing his people. I imagine he heard many horror stories of how the Hebrews were mistreated by his adopted grandfather, and therefore developed a hatred for the Egyptians. I also suspect that he had emotional scars from being separated from his biological parents. When we combine all of this context together, we can assume that Moses’ circumstances produced a great deal of anger and resentment within his heart.
Even though he is an adult when we read about him in Exodus chapter 2, Moses had been carrying a lot of emotional baggage from his upbringing, and all of that pent-up emotion was triggered on the day when he saw the Egyptian beating one of his people.
When he witnessed this mistreatment, he just snapped. He killed that man not only because he was impacted by the injustice the Egyptian was committing, but also because it triggered something that was deeply painful in his past.
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. You’ve allowed your emotions to get so high that it’s caused you to kill; perhaps not kill someone literally, but it’s caused you to assassinate someone’s character, to kill someone’s spirit, or to murder someone’s will. Furthermore, this unleashed anger has little to do with the issue in front of you and more to do with something that has happened in your past.
With this in mind, we all ought to take the time to unearth the triggers in our lives so that we can subject them to critical examination. What past hurts are we still holding onto that are causing us to still act and react out of anger today? Who do we need to forgive? What bitterness do we need to let go of? When we answer these questions, we will move forward towards receiving and living in the peace and freedom offered to us in Christ, and we don’t have to live in bondage to our past and our triggers any longer.
I can only imagine what life must have been like for Moses growing up living in the house of the man, Pharaoh, who was oppressing his people. I imagine he heard many horror stories of how the Hebrews were mistreated by his adopted grandfather, and therefore developed a hatred for the Egyptians. I also suspect that he had emotional scars from being separated from his biological parents. When we combine all of this context together, we can assume that Moses’ circumstances produced a great deal of anger and resentment within his heart.
Even though he is an adult when we read about him in Exodus chapter 2, Moses had been carrying a lot of emotional baggage from his upbringing, and all of that pent-up emotion was triggered on the day when he saw the Egyptian beating one of his people.
When he witnessed this mistreatment, he just snapped. He killed that man not only because he was impacted by the injustice the Egyptian was committing, but also because it triggered something that was deeply painful in his past.
Maybe you’ve experienced something similar. You’ve allowed your emotions to get so high that it’s caused you to kill; perhaps not kill someone literally, but it’s caused you to assassinate someone’s character, to kill someone’s spirit, or to murder someone’s will. Furthermore, this unleashed anger has little to do with the issue in front of you and more to do with something that has happened in your past.
With this in mind, we all ought to take the time to unearth the triggers in our lives so that we can subject them to critical examination. What past hurts are we still holding onto that are causing us to still act and react out of anger today? Who do we need to forgive? What bitterness do we need to let go of? When we answer these questions, we will move forward towards receiving and living in the peace and freedom offered to us in Christ, and we don’t have to live in bondage to our past and our triggers any longer.
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