A speedometer measures the speed of your vehicle. An odometer measures the distance a vehicle travels. A thermometer measures temperature. A revoltometer: a tool God has installed inside of us to measure our level of anger and revolt against injustice.
What’s the use of the revoltometer?
Let’s look at how a certain man in the Bible called Phinehas used his.
Chapter 25 in the book of Numbers describes how the children of Israel fell into a trap set up by their enemies. God had forbidden mixed marriages between Israelites and people from other nations, so that they would not be enticed by their partners to follow other gods and abandon the Lord. But their enemy, King Balak of Moab, astutely sent the most beautiful Moabite women among the men of Israel to seduce them and turn them from the Lord.
Balak’s plan was to get Israel to disobey and sin against the Lord, so they would be weak and unable to count on His help when going to war against Moab.
The plan worked. The men of Israel began to indulge in sexual immorality with the Moabite women, who invited them to sacrifice to other gods. So Israel joined in worshiping Baal with the Moabites.
Immediately a plague broke out in Israel and people began to die. God summoned Moses and told him to gather the leaders of Israel and tell them to put to death the men who had done this thing. Moses called an assembly and explained the problem to the leaders. As Moses was still speaking and the leaders of Israel were weeping in shame and repentance for their people’s evil deeds, an Israelite man brought into the camp a Midianite woman right before the eyes of Moses.
Phinehas, Aaron’s grandson, was also there in the assembly. When he saw the shameless attitude of those two, his revoltometer went into the red. He burst into anger, got up, picked up a spear and followed the Israelite into the tent. Then he drove the spear through both of them – through the Israelite and into the woman’s body. And at that moment the plague stopped.
I hope you will read the rest of the chapter in your Bible to see what God thought of Phinehas’ attitude. And while you’re at it, read also Psalm 106:29-31, about the same thing.
What we learn is that when a person truly revolts against evil, this anger cannot just sit quietly inside of him. True revolt cannot be contained. It drives the revoltometer into the red and the result is quick and decisive action to destroy the problem. People who say they are sick and tired of their problems but do nothing about it are only kidding themselves.
When the Angel came to Gideon as he threshed the bits of grain leftover from the Midianite’s raids, Gideon’s revoltometer was ready to explode. His sense of revolt was what caused the angel to come to him.
Do you know what sets off your revoltometer? It’s when you LOOK at your life and SEE how far it is from the life God promised. We could show it like this:
See Your Life’s Situation + Revolt = Courageous Action of Faith
So if you have been wondering why your faith has been so weak, fruitless or inactive, check your revoltometer. It may be in need of maintenance. We were born and bred for war, not for complacency.
Bishop Renato Cardoso
http://www.renatocardoso.com
