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I think God is angry with the part of Moses that has doubt, and is wanting to avoid the path God has set for him. I certainly have in me, and that is a struggle. My tasks seem easy compared to what Moses would have to accomplish. Moses had to have an unrestrained path to God. We are created in God's image. I don't think He is angry with our true selves. He is angry with what gets in the way of our true selves.

I think that any human would have been overwhelmed by the idea of going up against the power of the Egyptian pharaoh. We look at these events through 21st century eyes. Through our faith, and the many great acts that God has performed individually, communally and worldwide Moses has such an intimate relationship, that God was willing to reassure and comfort him, so that he would proceed. I wish that I had the faith Moses had. He gave himself over completely to God, and had conversation with the Almighty for decades. Once he took on the task, he saw it through. He did have a mentor in Jethro, his father in law. Jethro later advises Moses on how to administer justice during the exodus. They undoubtedly had many great conversations of faith in the forty years in Midian.

How can an intense desire for righteousness put you at odds with the world? What sort of righteousness is Jesus talking about, do you think? What promise are we given in this Beatitude? The righteousness Jesus is talking about is a deep, connected and personal relationship with God. I think of the times Jesus went off before the sun came up and prayed. The Apostles didn't know where He was, but He needed that time with God. That is what I desire. The would infringes on that time, and does not make it easy, because it does not see the importance That spiritual state of being prepares to do battle in the world. Sure there is evil and corruption, but that did not stop Jesus. Satan is doing everything he can to pull the human race to the dark side. It is our job - protected by the armour of righeeousness - to do battle in the world. God loves this world and everybody in it. When we are filled, we will humbly go into the world and do our part to bring God's Kingdom to the Earth.

How does this sort of gentleness contrast with the world's ideal? How is humility important to Christlikeness? What is the world's ideal? Who determines that ideal? Is it the advertising agencies, television, movies? I think if everyone got to vote there would be elements of gentleness in the world's ideal. We let the nongentle people lead us, and we fulfill the meek role (the bad definition of meek). Jesus did not do that. He let everyone know that there was a new standard. Humility is freeing. If I am working to puff myself up, that takes a lot of effort, and it is a never ending battle. I'm always going to have to surpass my earlier feat. If I am doing My Lord's will, I will want to do more for Him, and that is stimulating.

Q2. (Matthew 5:3-4) Why is it necessary to be aware of your spiritual poverty before you can become a Christian? What kind of mourning is necessary for a person to become a Christian? What kind of mourning is a common experience of Christians? (See Isaiah 61:2-3; Ezekiel 9:4.) When I first read this question I was troubled because it is difficult for me to give over completely. But the word "aware" struck me. I am certainly aware that I have spiritual poverty, but I struggle with thinking that I can do it myself. I am on this journey, and I can only be who I am right now. I so believe, for me, awarenes is the key. I guess we can never really get it all together. If we did feel we have it all together we would be denying our spiritual poverty. So I guess we have to live with it. That allows us to consantly work on the log in our eyes, and not focus on the speck on our neighbors'. I think we need to mourn our separation from God, but the positive side is it gives us insight into what others are going through.

I think this is a lesson for us. We may think that we know it all, but we need time to mature emotionally, spiritually and even physically. We know from studies of the teenage brain that certain judgment functions are not fully developed. Jesus being 100% human would be subject to those laws of nature.