God appears to be slightly upset (He was pissed)

My Dearest Brothers and Sisters in Christ: When you pray at night, do you pray for your brothers and sisters? Do you ask God to have mercy on their souls and to forgive them of their sins. In today’s reading, God appears to be slightly upset with the people of Israel . Some people might go as far as to say that he was really pissed. The Israelites cried out to God to be freed from the bondage of slavery and God answered their prayer. How did the Israelites repay God but by worshiping “a molten calf.” God told Moses he was going to strike them down because of their sinfulness. Moses interceded and asked God to be forgiving and loving. While Moses interceded with prayers to repent for our sins, Jesus offered us much, much more, he offered his very life to save us from our sins. The people of Israel fell short in their beliefs, they began to worship idols. Moses could have easily said to God, “Go ahead and kill them – let’s start over.” But instead, he humbled himself and said to God we are all sinners – have pity on us for you are a merciful God. When we condemn others through judgment and gossip, we are actually trying to make ourselves look more righteous. To make ourselves like idols to others. When we judge ourselves as righteousness and elevate ourselves above our brothers and sisters, “You do not have the love of God in you.” You must humble yourself because you are no better then your fellow sinners. When we condemn others, we are saying to God, Look at how righteous I am, I am not a sinner, but they are.” When we humble ourselves to the Lord, we are raising up our brothers and sisters and moving ourselves closer to God. Gossip and condemnation is a form of killing. Not only do we kill the fire of the Lord in our own soul, we kill the soul of the person we are condemning or gossiping about. When we humble ourselves and place ourselves on the same level as our fellow sinners, we become a loving individual imitating the love that Jesus poured out for us on the cross. This Lenten season, our focus should be on the cross and the sacrifice that God made through his only begotten son. The cross is our strength and salvation. As “cross-members” are used to strengthen buildings and bridges, so should the cross strengthen us. We should speak words of praise and forgiveness for our brothers and sisters. We should avoid improper conversations and idol talk, because in essence we are asking God to condemn our brothers and sisters. Instead, we should intercede on their behalf. We need to defend them to the Lord. He is merciful and we must be relentless in our mercy. A Simple Prayer “Jesus, Word of God, I come to you in the company of my brothers and sisters, who are simultaneously sinners and saints. Like them, I need you. I treasure your word more than life itself.” Yours in Christ Michael Marcon