Maybe I'm the only one who has a breaking point. But I doubt it. In fact, I have a pretty high patience barrier. The problem with that is once I get to the edge of the barrier, well, let's just say - it's not pretty.
I've tried over the years to work on it - to do a better job of speaking my mind and letting people know waaaaaay before I get to the edge. In reading Exodus 32 I suddenly became aware of what may be missing from my equation. I need someone else who can see the wrath forming and talk me down off the ledge.
Even God, who desires to be merciful, has a breaking point and people - for whatever reason - keep taking him right to the point where he is ready to destroy everything and everyone. We get the earliest Biblical glimpse of this in Genesis 6:6-7:
"And the Lord was sorry that He had made man on the earth, and He was grieved in His heart. So the Lord said, I will destroy man whom I have created from the face of the earth, both man and beast, creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them." (NKJV)
After that statement, He prepared Noah and his family to survive the wrath and then He brought the great flood and wiped the earth clean. God promised in Gen 8:21, " I will never again curse the ground for man's sake, although the imagination of man's heart is evil from his youth; nor will I again destroy every living thing as I have done."
Now - God promised not to destroy every living thing, but says nothing of some living things.
Another PTTE (Pushed to the Edge) moment comes in Gen 18 when God decides to destroy Sodom & Gomorrah. This time, though, God allows Abraham to filter the wrath.
Paraphrasing in TJae speak: But God, what if You can find 50 good folks? Will you let the city survive? How, bout 40, 30, 10? How bout JUST ONE really good person?
God, being God, took a few deep breaths and let Abraham go through this little negotiation ritual. Ultimately, God granted Abraham permission to save Lot and his family before wiping Sodom and Gomorrah from the face of the planet.
Between that point in Genesis and Exodus 32 there are some other places where God gets fed up and let's folk have it, but it was Exodus 32: 9-10 that really spoke to me that even God has His days and even God can want to renege on a promise when pushed too far and even God, sometimes, can use someone else to talk Him off the ledge.
"And the Lord said to Moses, "I have seen this people, and indeed it is a stiff-necked people! Now therefore, let Me alone, that My wrath may burn hot against them and I may consume them. And I will make of you a great nation." In verses 11-13, Moses (taking his own life in his hands) begins to plead with God to not go back on His word . . . to please spare the people. In verse 12 - he even tried to use 'you don't want folks to talk bad about you' as a reason for God to hold off His wrath.
Side note: Desperate times call for desperate measures - what made Moses think God cares what folks will say about Him?
Whatever the case - God, again, chose mercy over destruction and allowed Moses' wrath to replace the wrath of God.
Another side note: Sometimes we have to endure the laws/punishment of man to avoid the wrath of God.
I said aaaaaallllll that say this. The edge is real. Hopefully you have someone in your life who will intercede and talk you down off the ledge before you rain down destruction on everything and everyone around you. And hopefully, others will heed the warning. Soooo much better to go head to head with TJae than to upset God and have to deal with that.
I'm just sayin . . .
