Justice calls for Forgiveness

Exodus 21:23-25 -  If any harm follows, then you shall give life for life, eye for eye, tooth for tooth, hand for hand, foot for foot,  burn for burn, wound for wound, stripe for stripe. 

Moses gave the people rules to deal with their slaves….males shall be free after 7 years…women will be free only if they were married when they became slaves… children became the property of the master…and all should be treated with dignity and taken in to the family as a full member.  Moses adds several rules for all of us….pay back the losses you cause in accidents…life for life...and stripe for stripe.

These few verses have caused controversy for years.  I struggled with just what God wanted me to learn from this chapter that considered slavery okay….for I consider the practice of slavery sinful in itself.  Human life was meant to stand up for each other in love…not own each other like property. Thank God this was one of the practices Jesus changed when he gave his life for us. But the Israelites had grown up with this practice…and had been slaves themselves.   For some reason….God did not stop this practice of slavery ‘cold turkey’…he gave them rules instead to start to understand the term justice.

Justice simple means that everything we do…every choice that we make on this Earth…has a consequence. Sometimes God protects us….and allows the natural consequences of our choices to play out…..and sometimes he intervenes….showing us mercy and grace for some reason…that covers the sin…and allows us to be blessed in spite of our bad choice. Justice simply calls for us to right the wrongs we caused….repay eye for eye…stripe for strip…the damage we have caused with our bad choice.

Jesus refers back to this rule in Matthew 5….where he speaks to the crowd so firmly about how love for our fellow man should drive us to give all that we have to insure their salvation. In verses 38-39 he said, “You have heard that it was said, 'An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.'  But I say to you, Do not resist one who is evil. But if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” He was telling them that justice….fairness was not always an action that repays the wrong…but sometimes called for us to forgive….and die on a cross …even if we did not do anything wrong.

I don’t believe that Jesus was the only one who has the power to forgive wrongs.  I know in my own life…when he has granted me the power to forgive someone that hurt me…it has drawn me closer to him…and the memory of that moment….when he emptied my heart of the hate and bitterness stored there…has become a cherished glimpse of just how loving my model Jesus must have been in his 33 years of life.

Oh how thankful I am that you followed your father’s rules Jesus. That you silently let them lead you away..and nail you to that cross….and hung there till you died for me.  Oh how the verses of Exodus become clear in my heart as I realize that you were following your father’s rules given to Moses on that holy mountain.  Thank you God for saving me…and allowing me to share in your great plan. Let me noe give my life for you…to let you use it the way you have planned …to help spread the great message of freedom for all. Give me strength to turn the other cheek…and learn to listen to your voice…for how to handle every situation.  Amen.

Fear = Reverence and Love

Exodus 20:18-22 -  Now when all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid and trembled; and they stood afar off, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will hear; but let not God speak to us, lest we die."  And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin."  And the people stood afar off, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.  And the LORD said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the people of Israel: 'You have seen for yourselves that I have talked with you from heaven. 

God called Moses up to the top of that holy mountain and he gave him 10 rules to guide our lives…a simple blueprint for us to live by. He gave us these rules to help us concentrate on him…to help us focus our attention on God and not ourselves.  The rules he gave Moses that day shape us into people who care about God more than any other…they call us to be respectful of the others that live around us…to give more than we take from the world. They call for us to be satisfied with what God had given us…to embrace our lives as they are.

The  people that stood at the base of that mountain…they heard God’s voice in the thunder…saw his great power in the lightning that flashed across the sky. They heard the loud…..constant  herald of his presence in a trumpet blast…that sounded every moment God lowered himself to Earth to speak his rules to Moses. What an ominous moment for the angel in Heaven picked to sound the trumpet….picked to announce God’s travel to earth. They were so scared…. that God had to tell Moses to speak words of comfort to them.  He told Moses to tell them not to be afraid…that he had come in such a memorable way to make sure the fear they felt in that moment kept them obedient to the rules he was giving them to follow….and keep them from disobedience…and sin.

I understand this fear…because of the great parents that taught me this kind of respect for life in general.  They gave me rules to follow…these same rules that God gave Moses! I loved my parents so much that my fear of hurting their feelings…of disappointing them….kept me from many sins.  My fear of them was not a physical fear of being hurt or abused…it was a mental reverence for who they were…and how the love I had for them drove me to do what was right…so they would be proud of me.

I admit…I have fallen so short of teaching this concept to my kids….and I myself drifted far from this concept as I have let the world sway me into the thinking that I was more important than the rules. As I reflect on these 10 rules …I have broken them all at some point in my life….and as I ponder even more…I am really convicted in this moment …of that rule about jealously. Oh how I struggle with pride…and wanting to be really good at something….and having PEOPLE pat me on the back….and tell me I am doing good things…and changing lives. It really shouldn’t matter what I receive….my motives are still wrong.  I might be trying to follow God’s rules…but I am doing it for the wrong reasons. Oh how easy it is for Satan to trick me!

And so God humbles me in this moment…and redirects me back to the real reason I must follow his rules. I must remember these rules…and follow them because he said to.  I must follow these rules…because God said that I must be fearful of his power and respect who he is. And just to be sure that I understood how much he loves me….he sent his son to earth for 33 years…to teach me…and model for me how the rules really work. Jesus loved me so much that he was obedient to his own father…and gave his life for me on that cross. He did not die for me because he knew he would become great….he died for me because he had a healthy fear and respect for his father….and he put himself aside…and made sure his dad was the most important thing in his life.

Father…no words will ever truly describe how powerful…how mighty….how loving your heart really is.  I sit here…truly awed by the things you have done to show me how much you love me.  I am so sorry that I have strayed…and even harbored one thought that I deserve any grace…or blessing you decide help me father to put away the need to be love by people…and cling to your love and power for all that I need. Help me learn to empty me of myself…and allow you to fill me with just what I need to do what you are calling me to do. Help me father to wait on you….to enjoy the blessing that you place at my feet today…and never question you again about my future. Amen.

When God Speaks

Exodus 19:1-5 -   On the third new moon after the people of Israel had gone forth out of the land of Egypt, on that day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.  And when they set out from Reph'idim and came into the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.  And Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him out of the mountain, saying, "Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the people of Israel:  You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings and brought you to myself.  Now therefore, if you will obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my own possession among all peoples; for all the earth is mine

They had been in the wilderness just three short months.  God had led them through a dry sea….fed them food that fell from the sky…and provided water for them to drink from even a solid rock.  They had watched God use Moses to bring calamity after calamity upon Pharaoh to prove how mighty and strong he was. Now God led them right to the spot where he first appeared to Moses….so he could offer himself to them too. God brought them to the holy mountain…the holy ground that Moses stood on just months before…so God could share his covenant with his chosen people.

I am sure that the short 3 month trip from Egypt seemed like much more to this band of travelers. And as they set up camp at the base of this holy mountain…Moses had to have felt a stronger presence of the Lord. He had been here before…and heard God’s voice for the first time…and he had learned how to hear it clearly…even if he wasn’t near the peak of mountain where he met with God.

God spoke in simple words to him.  He told him to tell the Israelites to prepare themselves…to wash…to dress in clean…sanctified clothes….to abstain from sharing any intimate time with their spouses….so that they would be clean when the Lord appeared to them. He told Moses to tell them all …that they would see his presence …and hear his voice…and they would need to listen and obey him….so they could receive the ‘potential’ blessing that obedience brings…not the ‘consequences’ of continued  disobedience.

It must have been awesome to see that dark cloud descend the mountain. It said they trembled with the sight of God’s great fire and smoke….the sound of a trumpet that kept getting louder...ushering in God’s voice…disguised as thunder. Lightning flashed across the sky as he spoke…and great quakes shook the ground…and yet they just stood there…drinking in every moment of his presence….while Moses went up to meet with him higher on the mountain.

Those moments when God reveals himself to you aren’t always so flashy…so flamboyant as this moment he shared with the Israelites….but he speaks to us none-the-less….and we have to learn to recognize his voice.  We have to learn to stand still in his presence while he speaks…even if his words are harsh as thunder…revealing to us the task he has given each of us to do. We have to look into the flashes of lightning that reveal our sins…the ones that tie us to this world…and keep us from understanding his full love for us…the ones that keep us from obeying him fully…so we can receive the blessings he promised.  We have to endure the quakes of the ground beneath us…so that God can use them to teach us how to be his vessels of strength on the Earth.

Oh father..once again this morning you speak to my heart…and tell me to listen…to learn to hear you speak.  Help me father to stand still…and drink in your love…and feel you enter my heart anew…and strengthen me to do everything I hear you tell me to do.  Let me hear your words of comfort…your words of strength and love…your words of direction and blessing.  Let me hear them above the sounds of man on the Earth….and not be tricked by Satan. Amen.

Witness

Exodus 18:8-12 - Then Moses told his father-in-law all that the LORD had done to Pharaoh and to the Egyptians for Israel's sake, all the hardship that had come upon them in the way, and how the LORD had delivered them. And Jethro rejoiced for all the good which the LORD had done to Israel, in that he had delivered them out of the hand of the Egyptians.  And Jethro said, "Blessed be the LORD, who has delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians and out of the hand of Pharaoh.  Now I know that the LORD is greater than all gods, because he delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians, when they dealt arrogantly with them."  And Jethro, Moses' father-in-law, offered a burnt offering and sacrifices to God; and Aaron came with all the elders of Israel to eat bread with Moses' father-in-law before God. 

Moses had a visitor from his past.  His father-in-law Jethro….a priest of the people of Midian…who came to visit…and brought Moses wife Zipporah and his two sons that he had sent back home at some point in his journey.  Moses filled him in on his last few months….told him about all that God had done in the lives of the people he had been called to lead. And Jethro rejoiced…and blessed the Lord…and made his own profession that the Lord was the one true God.  He even offered sacrifices to him…and shared the sacrificial meal with Moses that day.

What joy it must have brought Moses to watch Jethro as God revealed himself to this Midian priest…a simple Kenite shepherd…who most commentaries said was probably a prophet of Islam. We are not told much more about this man…but I believe he had an encounter with God in that tent with Moses that day.  I believe that this priest of Midian…became a believer in Yahweh in those moments he listened to Moses share all the miracles that God had done in the lives of the Israelites over the last few months. Maybe God had planted some seeds earlier…as Moses took care of his sheep…and became his son-in-law….but this day….Jethro’s faith was established…and became a true believer.

We never know how the sharing of our own story…the remembrance of the miracles God has done in our lives …will affect those God leads to sit in our presence…and listen to all that he has done for us.  We need to make a point to be bold with our witness….and talk  more about what God has done in our lives…to teach us….to strengthen us….to save us.   That person that God has allowed to cross your pathway might just have been through a similar storm…and the story of your deliverance…might just be what they need to believe that God is still with them too…and will move in their lives soon. You might just be the person God has placed in their pathway to plant a seed….but God may have given you the words that will show the full glory of God to that one in need of salvation.

Father…I thank you for the opportunity to sit in your presence each morning…and record the great miracles you have done for me. I thank you for the reminder that I need to share what you have done for me…and be bold in my witness to others.  Help me to remember that you can use my story of deliverance to lead others to believe in you. Help me to recognize each opportunity to witness on your behalf.  Give me the words you would have me speak to each person that crosses my path. Amen.

Standing in the Gap

Exodus 17:9-13 - And Moses said to Joshua, "Choose for us men, and go out, fight with Am'alek; tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand."  So Joshua did as Moses told him, and fought with Am'alek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.  Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he lowered his hand, Am'alek prevailed.  But Moses' hands grew weary; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat upon it, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.  And Joshua mowed down Am'alek and his people with the edge of the sword. 

The people had been allowed by God to move a bit closer to the promised land of Canaan. And as they settled in the new camp they have two serious problems they must face. Both problems are solved with the intervention of a mighty God.  The first is solved by a mighty miracle of God….water just flows out of a rock as Moses follows the orders of God to strike it with the same rod that has been God’s tool of justice. But Moses is given no direct instructions for solving the second problem …for the relatives of Esau…who have become the very large… mean…fierce … and scavenging nation of Amalek…are nearby…and must be defeated…least they destroy the people of God and take all their possessions.

 They must have been far enough away from Egypt that God knew they would not try to run back…and Moses seemed to just know what to do….so he took control quickly and sent Joshua to gather an army to fight...and as Joshua left the camp with his army…Moses went to the top of the hill with the ‘Rod of God.’ He allows his brother Aaron..and a man named Hur to go with him…and he just lifts that rod to the sky….and I believe prayed a silent…constant prayer for God’s deliverance and blessing for Joshua and the men he took to fight.

Moses held that rod up as long as he could…but as his arms grew tired…gravity called for him to rest them. And as Moses grew tired…and the humanness that made him weak took over…and the great vision he saw for victory in the battle seemed to be lost. So he quickly gained his composure and raised the rod once more to see God’s blessing poured out and the army Joshua picked seem to get the upper hand. But the humanness of Moses finally won…and he finally became so weak that he completely gave out…and it seemed all hope was lost.

What a model Moses must have been to his brother and friend….for their creative juices seemed to pick up where Moses’ strength failed. And they found a rock large enough for Moses to sit and rest on…and they helped him hold the rod…one on each side…until the sun set…until the battle was completely won. What a joy must have filled Moses heart as he watched the two friends use the minds God gave them to put into motion the backup plan that is a model of unity for all of us. What pleasure it must have given God to see these two… stand in the gap for the leader they knew just had no more human strength…and so God blessed the three of them…and allowed the Israelites to be victorious over the Amaleks that day.

Father…I thank you for my friends.  You have blessed me with more than two in my lifetime…that stand in the gap for me when my human strength has reached its limits. I could never repay all of the people who have lifted up prayers of strength….deliverance…and healing to you…and and helped me to find your presence when I though all hope was gone….for some of those prayers were lifted by people I don’t even know! You are so amazing! Teach me how to stand in the gap for my friends…to recognize when they just have no more strength to fight….to hold up their own prayers to you.  Show me how to help them….reveal to me the rock for them to sit on and rest…while I do the work of praying to you for guidance and strength and deliverance. Amen

DAILY Manna

Exodus 16:2-4 -  And the whole congregation of the people of Israel murmured against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness, and said to them, "Would that we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate bread to the full; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger." Then the LORD said to Moses, "Behold, I will rain bread from heaven for you; and the people shall go out and gather a day's portion every day, that I may prove them, whether they will walk in my law or not. 

As they traveled farther into the wilderness between the sea where God had shown his power to save…and the mountain where he would give them his rules for living…they ran out of the provisions they had hastily packed for the trip. Maybe some of them were knowledgeable enough to know that Moses could have led them straight to Canaan…..and thought they had taken enough food with them for what they thought would be a short ten day trip. But since God had chosen to take them a longer route…to try them…to test them….to teach them…they ran out of food….and they grumbled at Moses once again.

It’s amazing to me that Moses had such strength and faith this time that he simply waited for God. Moses wasn’t like me…asking why all the time.  Moses didn’t have to ask this time….God why did you give me this job? Moses didn’t cry out to God…how am I ever going to feed 2 million people in this desert? He just waited for God to speak…and show him what to do next. Moses trusted that God had a plan…and just obeyed the last thing God told him to do…till he got new directions from God…Amazing!

God has already told us that he took this longer route in Exodus 13 for a reason.  He knew the people were immature …and needed many lessons to build their faith. This lesson would teach them to depend on God daily for all that they needed. He had to let them wander a few days…he had to let them run out of what they had brought with them…so he could show them another miracle. He had to let them get good and hungry….so they would appreciate the miracle of the manna. He had to let them run out of all other options so they would learn to trust him. He had to teach them to obey him…so they would learn obedience.

Jesus even refers to this daily manna in one of his sermons…. by the sea of Tiberius. In John 6:47-51 he said, “ Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes has eternal life.  I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that a man may eat of it and not die.  I am the living bread which came down from heaven; if any one eats of this bread, he will live forever; and the bread which I shall give for the life of the world is my flesh." Wow!

Father…I thank you that you allowed your son to come to earth and die for my sins….and become the daily bread I need to live each day.  Teach me to be more like Moses….and trust that you will give me just what I need…just when I need it. Help me learn to wait on you and listen for what you want me to do. Rain down father your holy spirit to guide me and sustain me in your  will…and teach me to gather my supply of food from you daily. Amen.

Music

Exodus 15:1-2 -  Then Moses and the people of Israel sang this song to the LORD, saying, "I will sing to the LORD, for he has triumphed gloriously; the horse and his rider he has thrown into the sea.  The LORD is my strength and my song, and he has become my salvation; this is my God, and I will praise him, my father's God, and I will exalt him. 

The people had just watched the entire army of Pharaoh drowned before their eyes.  The fear they felt before God opened up a way through the huge sea that trapped them turned into pure joy as they processed what God had just done. They were so happy that they broke out in song….a song that declared their thankfulness to God for all that he had done. Their Song was a lengthy one…declaring praise…exalting the Lord…expressing their love ….in words and in dance.

Oh how I understand this way of worshiping the Lord….for I love to sing to the Lord. It melts my darkest mood….and dresses me with a new strength…it causes me to reflect on just how great my God is….and how he loves me so much. This expression of love and thanks ushers in the presence of God to every church service I attend….fills my home with his presence as I do my daily chores…even makes any commute in my car melt away any threats or unhappiness that Satan has tried to place in my brain. And as God comes into my heart to replace Satan’s ugliness with his love…I am renewed in his presence. Something precious invades my heart…and fills it with an insatiable need to have more of God than I am able to hold….until it bubbles over in pure joy and thanksgiving.

My mind is thinking of others in God’s great book that used music to help them worship. The young David learned to use his harp to sooth the rattled sheep in the pasture…and after he grew….he used his music to chase away the demons of King Saul (I Samuel 16:14-23). Paul and Silas found strength from singing hymns at midnight…as they sat in prison…chained for preaching the gospel (Acts 16:24-25). And Jesus himself sang hymns with the disciples …as he gathered the strength to complete the task his father had sent him to Earth for…as he left the Mount of Olives…where he had spent the better part of the night praying for direction(Matthew 26:30 and Mark 14:26).

I must add a paragraph of caution…for Satan knows music’s power as well.  Guard your ears and heart from listening to music that Satan has created to sway your heart to his side. So much of the music that is created today has become controlled by Satan…and he uses it to dump profanity…inappropriate sexual references…and unwholesome thoughts into our brains and hearts. Even some of the older music I love to listen to is borderline….so I mostly listen to K-love….or Air1…or CD’s of my favorite gospel or contemporary groups. For just as Satan can use music to twist our thinking…or plant evil in our hearts …God can use music to build me up…to strengthen me…or soothe me.

Oh father …how I thank you for music. I thank you that you created this amazing way to talk to you…and for you to talk to us. I praise you and exalt you above all things for all you have done for me….and I sing to you as I do some nights…as I lay my head down…. “ Bless the Lord ..oh my soul..and all that is within me…bless your holy name!” Amen…Let it be so!

Seeing is Believing!

Exodus 14: 19-21 -  Then the angel of God who went before the host of Israel moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them,  coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness; and the night passed without one coming near the other all night.  Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea; and the LORD drove the sea back by a strong east wind all night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided.  And the people of Israel went into the midst of the sea on dry ground, the waters being a wall to them on their right hand and on their left. 

It seems that the Israelites are trapped…and so they let their human weakness of fear overtake them….and they see the end coming.  They cried out to the Lord…and they attacked Moses…but God had something great to show them….something so unbelievable that they wouldn’t have believed it if they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes. What excitement they must have felt as they watched the sea part and show land. How it must have brought a reverent fear of God as they felt the strong winds dry the bottom of the sea for them to walk on. What a quiet awe they must have felt as they walked between the two walls of water to the other side.

We are no different…seemingly trapped…crying out to God to save us. Then God opens up a way totally unbelievable to our human minds. I think back to those first days of my divorce.  I had left my home…stayed with a friend the first weekend….wasted money on a hotel the next week…knowing Christmas break was soon and I could live with mom and dad the two weeks of break…but having no place to go after that. I had not lived on my own in 30 years…and could not conceive of paying bills…buying furniture…buying food…paying rent.  So I spent my time worrying…and calling numbers I had circled in the newspapers.

I did not scream and cry out to God..I did not feel worthy. My relationship with him the last few years before the divorce was very non-existent. I just laid down and gave up…thinking that the best I could do was a run down trailer….with no furniture…in a seemingly bad neighborhood. I couldn’t help but let my guilt trap me into thinking that God was going to let me live that way to teach me a lesson. I will never forget the sweet morning my colleague at school came over and said she knew one more place I should look at before making up my mind.

She took me to the home of her sweet parents…who had passed away just months apart 8 months before. They had not had the strength to go through their things….to decide what to do with the precious possessions of their parents they missed so much. She let me name my own rent price….and they left all the things I needed in the home. God opened up a way for me to live in a home that was greater than I would ever deserve….complete with   furniture …washer/dryer …dishes…sheets….towels….iron(the best iron I have ever used…lol)…even soap… shampoo….and a freezer stocked with veggies and meat ….AMAZING! I won’t ever forget how unbelievable it felt to have God love me so much…even though I had pretty much deserted him.

God…you are so amazing.  I thank you for the reminder this morning that you are always there…just waiting to show us your amazing love. Help me to always remember that you have a great plan to protect and guide us….that you can part the waters of any storm we find ourselves in…so we can walk through on dry…solid ground to the other side. Help me this day to always think bigger than my human brain conceives…and just wait…knowing that something amazing is going to happen. And God…thank you for loving me in spite of what I deserve…thank you for sending your son to pay the price of salvation for me…so I can enjoy your love with no strings attached. Amen.

The Longer Road

Exodus 13:17-18 -   When Pharaoh let the people go, God did not lead them by way of the land of the Philistines, although that was near; for God said, "Lest the people repent when they see war, and return to Egypt."  But God led the people round by the way of the wilderness toward the Red Sea. And the people of Israel went up out of the land of Egypt equipped for battle.

You would have thought that 400 years of slavery would have been enough of a wait.  The Hebrews spent their days ….working hard to build cities for Pharaoh….so I am thinking…. they had not spent much time building their relationship with God. God saw this weakness in their newly freed hearts…and decided he must spend a little time teaching them who he was…by taking them the long way to the promised land of Canaan.

The phrase ‘lest the people repent…and return to Egypt’ sat very heavy on my mind. My understanding of repentance involves telling God I am sorry and turning from my sins. The idea of them changing their mind about their freedom just did not make sense to me. So I used the Wikipedia…and found that in the biblical Hebrew the idea of repentance is represented by two verbs: שוב shuv (to return) and נחם nicham (to feel sorrow). So if I change my thinking on that word to the true Hebrew context…it makes perfect sense that God sensed their weakness and fear of more war…and he protected them from it.

And since I have read this story at least once before…I know that God is not through judging Pharaoh…or showing the descendants of Abraham his power over the things in this world. God knows that Pharaoh is going to change his mind again….and chase them….right into the Jordan river…where God can drown Pharaoh and stop his threats for good.  But God is not through judging the hearts of the Israelites either…for he knows how they are going to turn on Moses…when life gets the least bit uncomfortable…or unpredictable.  So God takes them the route of a vast wilderness…so he has plenty of opportunities to show his power…and humble the people…to prove to their hearts that they are much more powerful against the world’s evil than they ever dreamed.

God takes us the long way sometimes.  He knows that he could take us from Egypt to Canaan in 10 days…but he chooses to make that trip a 40 year journey…complete with all we need to build our faith…to understand the meaning of humbleness…to equip us with the bible knowledge we need to do the task he has assigned us when we get to Canaan. God builds our strength slowly…and devises trials that will build our confidence in him.  And as I sit here and reflect on this concept…my only problem is that God has not told me my destination yet. I know in my heart that the last three years of my life anyway…have definitely been to build my faith…but for what…to do what…to go where?

Since God knows my every thought…I guess God sees that if I knew my destination…that I might try to use the technology available these days to just hop on a plane and go there in my own power….and forget that I must wait on him….to drown all my foes…to teach me how to eat his manna daily…to learn to pray day and night for guidance…to see the giants of the land of Canaan as conquerable…because he can help me do anything.

Oh father…you are so great!  I sit in awe and tears as I realize in this moment that you love me more because you make me wait. Thank you…thank you…and thank you again for holding my hand like a father protecting his kid ….who is trying to run across the street without looking. Oh how much more thankful I would be if I could see all the calamities you have prevented by taking me the longer route…by not revealing you purpose to me until my heart is ready to hear and obey you fully. Help me in this moment to realize that you have a plan…and a purpose for me…one to prosper me…and give me hope for my future….one that will glorify you…and bring more people to your kingdom. Give me ears to ears your directions for each day…so I can learn everything you want me to learn. Amen.

Promises Kept

Exodus 12:36-39 -  and the LORD had given the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, so that they let them have what they asked. Thus they despoiled the Egyptians. And the people of Israel journeyed from Ram'eses to Succoth, about six hundred thousand men on foot, besides women and children.  A mixed multitude also went up with them, and very many cattle, both flocks and herds.  And they baked unleavened cakes of the dough which they had brought out of Egypt, for it was not leavened, because they were thrust out of Egypt and could not tarry, neither had they prepared for themselves any provisions. 

What a mix of emotions the people of Israel must have felt as they hastily grabbed what they could carry….and took those first steps out of the captivity of Pharaoh. They had to have felt excitement…at the realization that they really were free.  But I imagine that a bit of fear ….of the unknown future ahead of them….may have tempered the exuberance.  I don’t think there was much ‘whooping and hollerin’ as they left. I am sensing that an attitude of worship dominated the first few steps…as they reflected on the way God had passed over them in the night…the sound of wailing over the dead first born of Egypt ringing in their ears…and the small amount of sleep they must have gotten…kept them from throwing down any bragging rights.

The Egyptians did not just tell them to leave….they piled in their arms anything they asked for. 600.000 men…their families…their cattle…their sheep and goats…left and encamped at what was called Succoth…a place of tents and temporary booths to coral the many animals they brought. From the 70 people who arrived in Egypt with Joseph’s brothers and father…some scholars estimate by adding the women and children in each family….that maybe 2 million Hebrews declared their freedom that day!

Here’s one more tidbit that I love. Embedded in these verses is a short declaration that a mixed multitude of people followed them out that morning.  Some of the Egyptians….maybe some of their slaves….perhaps a few high officials….they followed them out that morning. They saw the power of the Hebrew’s God Yahweh….and they followed the Israelites out of Egypt.  Maybe they were just scared to stay in this place destroyed by God as he judged these people…so they packed up what they could and left everything they knew to follow another unseen God. But maybe they wanted to claim the same protection he had extended to the Hebrews during the night….and by following them they would learn of the one true God..and their lives would be changed forever because of the example they see in Moses leading this huge nation to a promised land.

Father… I thank you for reminding me that no matter how bad things seem…you will keep your promise to lead me to your promised land.  Thank you for that moment so long ago that brought me to salvation. And thank you God for the continued reminders that I have strayed away from your plan for me….for loving me so much that you chase after me… for doing what it took to draw me back to you.  Help me to live my remaining days in an attitude of gratitude…and hold an air of worship and reverence for all that you have done for me. Help me be an example to any who are watching me…help me show them how to find you. Amen.

God's Move of Power

Exodus 11:1-3 -  The LORD said to Moses, "Yet one plague more I will bring upon Pharaoh and upon Egypt; afterwards he will let you go hence; when he lets you go, he will drive you away completely. Speak now in the hearing of the people,  that they ask, every man of his neighbor and every woman of her neighbor, jewelry of silver and of gold."  And the LORD gave the people favor in the sight of the Egyptians. Moreover, the man Moses was very great in the land of Egypt, in the sight of Pharaoh's servants and in the sight of the people.

The last plague….so bad that even Pharaoh’s heart will soften long enough to beg the Israelites to leave. God knows that the Egyptians will be so devastated that they will try to send the Hebrew slaves away with nothing…so he opens the hearts of the Egyptians to favor the Hebrews…and they give them all the gold and silver jewelry they ask for! Amazing!

Amazing to me because the Egyptians had lost pretty much all their cattle….and crops for that year…they had to dig deep wells for any drinkable water.  Maybe they were scared not to give them anything they ask for…they had seen 9 demonstrations of God’s power…they had suffered terribly.  Maybe Pharaoh had not been fully convinced…but the people of Egypt may have been….enough to hand over the best jewelry they owned to try and prevent the next plague.

Moses was so filled with anger that he stormed out of Pharaoh’s presence. Maybe because he was full of resentment for the way the Israelites had been treated all those years….maybe he was enraged that Pharaoh was so stubborn he would risk the lives of so many Egyptians…maybe he just reached his own breaking point…and the human emotion of holy indignation took over…and he had to vent.

God used all these emotions to prepare the people for their future.  The people collected much of the gold and silver they would later use to build the temporary temple of the wilderness…and Moses gathered strength in his anger to finish the first part of this hard job he had been given to do.  It couldn’t have been easy to pronounce the death sentence God gave him to deliver. At midnight…God is going to move….and the people of Israel are going to be free for the first time in 400 years!

Oh father…I thank you for moving in my life the way you moved in the Hebrews lives so long ago. You know my breaking point…and you always move just before I reach it.  No matter what I do to sidetrack myself…you are there ready to have me collect the things I need for the journey ahead…you are there to show me what to do to free myself from the chains of the world…the trappings that bind me to Satan’s tricks.  Thank you….thank you…and thank you a million times…for your goodness that chases after me…and uses every bad and good thing that happens to teach me how to love you more fully. Amen.

Testimony

Exodus 10:1-3 -  Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go in to Pharaoh; for I have hardened his heart and the heart of his servants, that I may show these signs of mine among them,  and that you may tell in the hearing of your son and of your son's son how I have made sport of the Egyptians and what signs I have done among them; that you may know that I am the LORD."  So Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, that they may serve me. 

Moses had to be very tired by now….and the Lord must have seen his frustration. This was the eighth time he had to go tell Pharaoh of yet another plague God was sending to show his power. Pharaoh was a stubborn man… a greedy liar…not wanting to lose his slaves. So God gives Moses a little pep talk…and includes one reason he has made the Israelites wait.  He tells Moses to make sure that he remembers well these days of power….and tells the sons and son’s sons of all to come…all about the supernatural signs he is doing in Egypt...to prove that he is the most powerful God that exists.

So great the stories of these days must have been that they are mentioned other places in the bible.  King David mentions the plagues of Egypt in his 78^th Psalm.  He begins that section of the psalm with these powerful words in verse 42-43, “  They did not keep in mind his power, or the day when he redeemed them from the foe;  when he wrought his signs in Egypt, and his miracles in the fields of Zo'an.” Joshua tells the story in Joshua 24… the writer of 1 Samuel 4 mentions it….and Moses recants it to the people as he gives them the Lords commandments concerning feasts in Leviticus 23:42-43.

And just as God did great things for the people of Israel….he does great things for us too. It would take days…months….even years for me to list all the great things he has done for me. So good and kind and loving and merciful is God. So like his father is Jesus to give his life to save me. So comforting and empowering is the spirit he sent to help me until his return someday to call me home to heaven.  He proves his love to me every moment of every day with gifts of love that I truly do not deserve. The words of Chris Tomlin’s great song ring in my head…How can I ever stop singing his praise….how can I ever say enough….how amazing is the love that God gives us every day.  How can we ever think that silence is appropriate for this great God…why am I not singing his praise every moment of every day? Oh how I need to share his story with others more! Oh how I need to share the great testimony of grace and love he put in my heart the many days that he lifted me up and carried me through my own darkness...even though I was stubborn like Pharaoh.

Father….I thank you that you have given me a testimony.  Let me never forget what you have done for me and share it with my children and grandchildren. Let me share it with my friends….let me share it with all those who I meet each day. Give me a boldness to speak for you….give me the discernment to know just which testimony will help them….empower me to do the work you have placed me here to do….sharing your gospel to all that I know and meet…so that more people will be added to your kingdom…and heaven will be more crowded! Amen.

*Link to the Chris Tomlin song on Youtube if you don’t know it! http://youtu.be/WEzEbtA9ba8

True Repentance

Exodus 9:27-34 -  Then Pharaoh sent, and called Moses and Aaron, and said to them, "I have sinned this time; the LORD is in the right, and I and my people are in the wrong.  Entreat the LORD; for there has been enough of this thunder and hail; I will let you go, and you shall stay no longer." Moses said to him, "As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will stretch out my hands to the LORD; the thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, that you may know that the earth is the LORD's.  But as for you and your servants, I know that you do not yet fear the LORD God." (The flax and the barley were ruined, for the barley was in the ear and the flax was in bud.  But the wheat and the spelt were not ruined, for they are late in coming up.)  So Moses went out of the city from Pharaoh, and stretched out his hands to the LORD; and the thunder and the hail ceased, and the rain no longer poured upon the earth.  But when Pharaoh saw that the rain and the hail and the thunder had ceased, he sinned yet again, and hardened his heart, he and his servants. 

Pharaoh had to admit it…the God of Moses had clearly shown that he was the most powerful. He made the ‘Egyptian’ cattle sick…covered the ‘Egyptian’ people with horrid boils…..and sent hail so big it would kill anything it hit within the cities of ‘Egypt’, while lightning and flashed across the sky, and thunder roared in every ear. As he watched Moses stretch out his hands and follow Yahweh’s instructions to bring these calamities…. His heart was melted just enough to believe in the existence of a very powerful God. He knew the only way to stop the plague of hail was to ask Moses to entreat the Lord to vanish it from the land.

His repentance was short lived…for as soon as he saw that all hope was not gone…and the Lord had not destroyed everything…he recanted once again. His ‘repentance’ was meaningless…it lasted just long enough to get what he wanted from Moses…respite from the last of the seven plagues God had sent to show his power in Egypt. Maybe Hapi… the God of the river Nile was just sleeping.  Maybe Hathor…the goddess of the cow was punishing him for not being a harsh enough ruler.  Maybe he just needed to work harder to gain the favor of Ra...the sun god and chief of all the ‘Egyptian’ gods he worshiped.

We’ve all been there…so beat down by life…so desperate for some move of God that we start making those empty promises.  We see the worst scenario…and we get on our knees and admit to God we were so wrong…and we make the promise to go back to church….to clean up the sin we know is in our life…if he will just fix this one thing in our life.  We thank him with sincere tears of faith…and make that vow to get it right this time. It lasts a good month or two…before life starts to be manageable again…and we think we can make it on our own again. And we slowly start to stop the daily prayers…and we skip a few days of reading the bible...and pretty soon we have justified not going to church to worship and praise God for that big favor we ask for.  The trek back to our old life happened so gradually that we don’t even notice that we have slipped…Satan…  tricking us into letting go of God’s hand….Satan smiling and bragging to God that he has us back in his control once more.

There are 3 more plagues coming in the next chapters….life is going to get hard again for Pharaoh…even end in death! God promised to lead his people out of Egypt…and he will do what it takes to prove to Pharaoh that he is in control.  And God will keep chasing us until he melts our hearts in true repentance that brings about salvation…as spoken of in 2 Corinthians 7:10, “ Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.” ….and in 2 Peter 2:20-21, “ If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.  It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them.”

Father…what a clear message you bring to my heart this morning. Help me to be truly repentant of all my sins and never slide backwards into them again. Give me the strength and knowledge to fight off Satan’s tricks once and for all…so they cannot interfere with the task you have planned for me to do. Help me to stay obedient to your word and place more of it inside my heart…to recall when life gets hard again.  Help me to recall your words of strength and wisdom to carry me through the valleys of life. Amen.

No Compromise in God's Will

Exodus 8:25-28 -  Then Pharaoh called Moses and Aaron, and said, "Go, sacrifice to your God within the land."  But Moses said, "It would not be right to do so; for we shall sacrifice to the LORD our God offerings abominable to the Egyptians. If we sacrifice offerings abominable to the Egyptians before their eyes, will they not stone us?  We must go three days' journey into the wilderness and sacrifice to the LORD our God as he will command us."  So Pharaoh said, "I will let you go, to sacrifice to the LORD your God in the wilderness; only you shall not go very far away. Make entreaty for me." 

Three more plagues…one the magicians could match….and two they could not. The Israelite camps in Goshen were not affected…and so God begins to set his people apart from the Egyptians.  Pharaoh is such a stubborn man….lying to Moses just to get the misery of the frogs….flies…and lice removed from his land.  He even decides that sacrificing to their God might not be a bad idea…offering to let them sacrifice right there in Egypt.  Moses quickly told him the dangers in that plan…and insisted that they follow the complete will of God...so Pharaoh said okay…go just a short distance away….for just a short time…but even this permission was taken right back as he felt relief from the lice.

Pharaoh was beginning to believe in the power of God…but he clung to his old Gods too! Pharaoh called for a compromise…but God called for a complete and total break from this pagan culture.  God would settle for nothing less than total commitment to him and him alone…and so he begins to make a distinction between the Egyptian land and the Israelite camps in Goshen.  None of the flies or lice could be found in the Israelite camps…which makes me believe that the people of Israel were starting to claim God’s promise in their own hearts too. The conversations around the dinner table must have been packed with stories about how God was surely showing his power to the Pharaoh.

The distinction between them…and the favor god showed to them…it must have given them a great strength. And as God showed his signs and great power to Pharaoh…God’s own people began to gain courage as they pondered and processed the effect the plagues had on the land of Egypt. I am sure they must have thanked him for his favor…and began to believe that their deliverance was indeed close at hand.  God was teaching two lessons at one time in this story…to pharaoh he said…I am the only God.  To the Israelites he said…let Moses teach you how to be obedient and be committed to only me.

Our commitment and obedience to God cannot be compromised. A half-way relationship with him will never satisfy your soul like total commitment to his will.  We can walk around in this world compromising everything we do…one foot in the world…and the other occasionally in a church pew. We can whisper a short nightly prayer…then go out when day dawns and do whatever we want. We can give a gift to the church…but support a larger worldly fund because we see its power to make us more important. We can cling to the world and Satan’s lies of success and worth….or we can commit our lives whole hog to God…and endure the next 6 plagues while he teaches all those around us that he is in total control. A life lived one foot in heaven…and one foot in hell is no life at all.

Father…help me to see that I need to be more committed to you…to throw away everything in my life that is not of you.  Help me to sell out to you completely…and stop living with one foot ready to set off the next trap in Satan’s forest of sin.  Give me eyes to see Satan’s traps clearly…and wait on you to teach me what you need to do your work. Walk with me today and give me the courage and clear vision of Moses….as he stood before Pharaoh and quickly told him that God requires what God requires…no compromise will do. Amen.

God's Power Trumps Satan's Tricks

Exodus 7:1-6 -  And the LORD said to Moses, "See, I make you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet.  You shall speak all that I command you; and Aaron your brother shall tell Pharaoh to let the people of Israel go out of his land.  But I will harden Pharaoh's heart, and though I multiply my signs and wonders in the land of Egypt,  Pharaoh will not listen to you; then I will lay my hand upon Egypt and bring forth my hosts, my people the sons of Israel, out of the land of Egypt by great acts of judgment.  And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I stretch forth my hand upon Egypt and bring out the people of Israel from among them."  And Moses and Aaron did so; they did as the LORD commanded them. 

Moses wasn’t scared anymore…God provided him the courage to complete his task.  And so Moses stopped whining….Aaron stood ready….God declared the moment had come for him to show his glory and power…and the three of them became a team that would rock the world Pharaoh thought he controlled. God starts off with simple signs…ones he knows the magicians of Pharaoh can imitate. Snakes and bloody water were no threat to his power…so as God had planned…Pharaoh did not believe in this God of Moses…and he ignored his orders.  God even allowed the Egyptians to dig deep into the earth for fresh water from the deep wells below. Pharaoh thought he was in control…but God was just welding a bigger plan. God had 9 more plagues set to teach Pharaoh a lesson none of the Egyptians or Israelites would forget.

We are so like Pharaoh…thinking that we have control over our lives.  God even allows us to do what we want for a time..whether it hurts us …whether it damages our witness…even if it destroys something precious in our life.  God gave us free choice…and he allows us to use it…to listen to him…or listen to the world…listen to the Gods we built for ourselves. This lesson is not just about the courage of Moses and his obedience… this lesson is about how stubborn and rotted we are from the influences of the world. God will not leave us alone….he will keep sending his plagues to help us see that we need an attitude adjustment.

And Satan will keep imitating God’s signs to us…to trick us…and keep our hearts hard.  Satan will fight just as hard to keep us bound and captive….as God does to free us from the world and its sin. Satan will make you think that God doesn’t love you…because he allowed some horrible thing in your life.  But God will keep revealing his love in small doses until you understand…and you call him back to you…and ask him to free you from whatever has you bound.

Father…thank you for chasing after me and sending me signs that teach me who you are. Help me to recognize you and discern the tricks of Satan’s imitations of your power. Help me to pick up that wiggly snake that has swallowed Satan…and turn it back into the powerful rod of God. Speak to me as you spoke to Moses…give me an interpreter if I need it…and help me hear all your instructions to live a life that glorifies you. Amen

Don't Give Up!

Exodus 6:6-9 -  Say therefore to the people of Israel, 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment,  and I will take you for my people, and I will be your God; and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.  And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.'"  Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel; but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel bondage.

Moses so wanted to give up…he just did not see how anyone could get the broken hearted people of Israel to listen to what God was telling them.  God gave Moses words of hope…told him to remind them of the mighty promises of God…but Satan had them tight in his hold.  They had allowed their minds to believe there was no hope. They had given up….and Moses wanted to give up too. He reverted back to his excuses…and asked God how he would ever get them to listen to anything he said from his uncircumcised lips.

We have all been there…in that bottomless pit….full of despair and wallowing it. In our broken state we are ready to give up….feeling in our pain that it is easier to give up…than search for a way out of our despair. And so Moses questions God’s choice of leadership once more…referring to his ‘mixed’ childhood of Hebrew blood and Egyptian luxury. Moses allowed the people’s despair to interrupt his passion to complete the task God gave him to do.  Moses allowed Satan to replant the old doubts of self worth….the same ones that God had already promised Moses would not interfere with the task he had given him.

You have to peek at the next chapter to see that God is going to give Moses the tools to succeed. He will have to do this task…the way God planned it all along…so that he can show his glory through the many signs to come…so that he can melt Pharaohs’ heart…so that he can prove to all that he is the one and only true God…all powerful…all knowing. Moses will have to hold on just a bit longer…and wait on God.  The people will have to endure just a bit more suffering….and wait for God….simply wait and trust that he is going to do what he said he would do.

I have been exactly where Moses is in the story so many times! I have let go of God’s hand and wallowed neck deep in pity.  Maybe it’s time that I stop asking God to fix all my physical flaws…the personality quirks that I think make me unusable to him….to stop making excuses for the imperfections I see in the mirror…or hear reflected back to me when I sing or talk….and accept that there is a reason for the way I am…and that he is going to use every characteristic of my being to build his kingdom somehow. I am not saying that everything about me is somehow good in itself…but that God can use everything in spite of what I think is good or bad. I am not saying that I need to stop trying to improve the bad habits I know hurt my witness…just that I need to let God mold me the way he wants to…in his way…for his purpose. Just as God used Moses…he can use me!

Father…I thank you that I do not have to be perfect….that you have a plan for me.  I am amazed that you can take this imperfect woman…and use her despite her feelings of doubt and unworthiness. Forgive me for letting go of your hand so many times…wrap your loving fingers around mine this morning and hold tight to me as you teach me what you need to teach me today.  Help me to rest in your perfection…and stop limiting myself with my human flaws. Amen.

Pain in Waiting

Exodus 5:20-23   -  They met Moses and Aaron, who were waiting for them, as they came forth from Pharaoh;  and they said to them, "The LORD look upon you and judge, because you have made us offensive in the sight of Pharaoh and his servants, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us." Then Moses turned again to the LORD and said, "O LORD, why hast thou done evil to this people? Why didst thou ever send me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in thy name, he has done evil to this people, and thou hast not delivered thy people at all."

Moses had been told in Exodus 3:19-20 that Pharaoh would be reluctant to let them leave…he told Moses that Pharaoh would need some pretty hefty signs of God’s power to be convinced to let the Israelites go.  But God did not warn him that the abuse and terror of slavery would increase so much when he asked.  It must have been so hard for Moses to wait on God…it must have been hard to see the pain of the Hebrews….be accused of coming back just to bring them more harm. So Moses turned to the Lord and prayed this prayer of deep frustration.

The freedom of these people was so close….yet so far away! Moses was doing exactly what God told him to do…and yet the pain of the people he was sent to free was increased. Obedience is like that sometimes.  Maybe it is a test of our endurance….maybe it is to see if we really trust God like we say…but God makes us wait sometimes.  And in those moments…or days…or months…or years…that he makes us wait…we have to cling to our faith…believe that God is working a bigger plan than we can see at the moment.  And the pain we feel is magnified as we wait on his answers.

Moses prayer mirrors my own when life gets tough….seems to be out of my control…causes me to suffer physically or mentally.  I cry out to God and ask him why…why …why? I call out to him to give me quicker answers…instead of the strength and wisdom to see the purpose in my wait. I may be just moments from receiving  the piece of the puzzle that finishes the task…..but at that moment….Satan still has me locked up in my frustration….has me blinded to the faith I must cling to as I wait. Oh how I need to trust God more as I wait on his promise to prosper me and give me hope for my future!

Oh father…how clear the message is to me this morning.  I must cling to you when things in my life are hard and cause me pain. Teach me to call out to you for strength…and wisdom…and patience.  Teach me to cling to you as I embrace the task you gave me to do…and do not see the results I was promised. Help me to trust you more fully…and learn how to wait on you…trust your timing that is perfect. Give me courage to face the pain that waiting might bring…and faith to know that you will never leave me to suffer alone. Amen.

Self Doubt

Exodus 4:1-5 -  Then Moses answered, "But behold, they will not believe me or listen to my voice, for they will say, 'The LORD did not appear to you.'"  The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."  And he said, "Cast it on the ground." So he cast it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.  But the LORD said to Moses, "Put out your hand, and take it by the tail" --so he put out his hand and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand--  "that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you." 

Moses was suffering from self doubt…over anticipation of the difficulty of the task God had called him to do. Moses saw the mistakes of his past and how they had damaged him….but God saw what he had in his hand at the moment and challenged him to be something new. Moses saw his flaws and the inadequacies that Satan used to bind him in the past…..God saw the ordinary thing in Moses hand that he could transform into something miraculous. Moses was trapped in the past…..but God wanted to release him to become a vessel for the future.

Moses was so trapped by Satan’s lies that he begged God to send someone else, but God’s irritation finally convinced him as God spoke these words of comfort….even through his anger in verse 14, “Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, "Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well; and behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart.”

I am so like Moses.  I can make a huge list of reasons why I am not qualified to teach. I can list 20 things I did wrong as I sang with the choir this week.  I am sure that sweet English professor from Carson-Newman College who gave me a F+ on my first essay in college…would still find enough mistakes in my writing to keep me from getting an A+. If I sit long enough…I can talk myself out of doing any task …because I don’t feel like I am capable…competent….even worthy of the task.

But that is the beauty of God. Faith calls me to believe that God will use every mistake to his benefit. That classroom becomes a holy ground where God can work his supernatural power through me and touch lives…my meager voice can be anointed at just the right moment to touch a heart in the congregation with God’s great command….each word that I write can convict me of my need to be more confident in who he is making me to be…so that Satan’s power over my mind is destroyed…and God’s supernatural power is released in my life through the ordinary things I touch every day. Amazing!

Oh father…how I need your anger to kindle a passion in my own heart to stay focused on you.  Show me how to release your power in the ordinary things around me this day…and defeat Satan. Make me strong…and help me see a glimpse of the good that I can accomplish through your supernatural work in my life. Open my eyes to see what I hold in my hand…and show me how to use it to speak the truth of your word…and help others see your love. Amen.

God Is With Us

Exodus 3:11-15 - But Moses said to God, "Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?"  He said, "But I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God upon this mountain." Then Moses said to God, "If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you,' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' what shall I say to them?" God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM." And he said, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'I AM has sent me to you.'"  God also said to Moses, "Say this to the people of Israel, 'The LORD, the  God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you': this is my name for ever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations. 

Forty years a prince in the palace of Pharaoh….forty years a shepherd in Midian…eighty years of experiences…some good…some bad.  Moses walks out with the sheep to the mountain of Horeb….and met God face to face. I can just see his curious face as he approaches this bush that seems to be consumed with fire…yet never burns up. I can see him cringe with fear and reverence….overcome with the presence of God as he hears the voice of God tell him to take off his shoes. And then he shrinks completely in himself and asks the question….Who am I? Who am I that you would choose me to be your vessel?

God never denies that Moses is correct in his assumption that he is not worthy of the job…God just tells him he will be with him.  God tells this man of 80 years…with all his mistakes of the past…with 40 years of hiding from his problems as a shepherd…to go back to Egypt and lead the promised people out of captivity and meet him again on this mountain. God tells Moses that the great I am is going to use him to complete the promise he gave to Abraham over 400 years earlier.

I have always loved this touching story…how God appeared to Moses in such an unlikely way…how he called this man for no apparent reason…and said….go do this great thing for me…and I will be with you. God calls all of us…just as he did Moses….and if you think about it for a moment…I am sure you will find more than one reason for God to have chosen you to do whatever job he has placed you in too.

 God has given me more than one job that I thought was unworthy.  The task of teaching seemed very unlikely for a child who struggled greatly in school…and made an embarrassing 15 on the ACT. But God was with me…and has kept his promise through the 10 years of schooling in took to be a teacher with a master’s degree…even the extra credits to hold the highest certificate available…and somehow have a 4.0 in those 6 years of college work.  Amazing!

And God goes before me each day now….as I wake each morning to speak with him…he empowers me with whatever I need.  It probably doesn’t matter….but I just realized that my shoes are never on as I write each morning…just a silly thought….for I know that my house is not holy ground. But God has kept his promise to be with me…and so I meet him each night to visit and read his word…and I rise each morning to hear his soft voice explain something new about what I read. I could never make it without him…oh how my life has changed for the better because I listened to his call…and continue to seek his will for me each day! 

Father…I thank you for your love.  You are holy and I just melt in your presence. I thank you for being with me…no matter what.  I thank you for choosing me to be your vessel….even if I am unworthy.  I thank you for washing away all the sin in my life with the blood of your precious son. I thank you for the moments that you meet me….and speak with me….and show me what you would have me do for you each day. Amen.

God uses People

Exodus 2:3-6 -  And when she could hide him no longer she took for him a basket made of bulrushes, and daubed it with bitumen and pitch; and she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds at the river's brink.  And his sister stood at a distance, to know what would be done to him.  Now the daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, and her maidens walked beside the river; she saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to fetch it.  When she opened it she saw the child; and lo, the babe was crying. She took pity on him and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children." 

Sometimes God uses people to work his purpose on the Earth.  He used a mother’s love… …the courage and quick thinking of a sister…and the barren heart of Pharaoh’s daughter…to weld a great plan of deliverance for his people. He gave this mother the rich knowledge to outwit the Pharaoh’s plan by placing her baby in a floating basket…before she threw him in the river.  He gave a curious sister….just enough courage to approach the princess and the quick thinking to go get his own mother to nurse him.  And God used the most unlikely character in this story….simply because she had compassion…and just happen to bathe where the boat had been hidden.

And just as God used this trio of women to save his chosen servant Moses…he uses the people around us to save us too.  I remember a day when my heart was broken….when I realized my first marriage of 30 years was over…and I had nowhere to go….and a sweet friend took me and my granddaughter in for a weekend.  Then he used another sweet co-worker to bless me with a permanent place to live…..complete with dishes…..furniture….linens…the home of her mom and dad….who had passed away not 8 months before. Then God used my own son and the sweet relationship he had with a most precious girl…to have me visit the church I attend now.   A plan my distress at the time surely blinded me from seeing…but I see clearly now as the way God provided for me in my pain.

I did not deserve any of those gifts from God. I had been steeped in bitterness and hypocrisy for several years…because I had lost a job…and felt it was unfair. I was angry at God….and had stopped going to church….stopped reading my bible….and only talked to him to ask why he had let such an unfair thing happen. But now I see some of the pieces of the puzzle he was putting together to train me…to teach me to depend on him…to learn to forgive….to seek him once more…and learn to love him more than anything else.

It may be a few more years before he reveals the rest of the puzzle to me….but just as Moses mother placed him in a basket…I have placed my life in God’s control.  And like this sister….he has given me new courage and strength…to discern his wisdom from the great Bible each evening and morning when I sit to speak with him. He is my prince….who rescued me from a certain death…and gave me salvation.  And some day I will reside with him forever in a great palace called Heaven.  Oh the joy of knowing that my life is in his hands….and he will always be working a great plan to prosper and save me from myself!

Father…no human words exist that adequately  tell you how thankful I am that you saved me. I sit in your presence and  marvel each evening and morning that you could even love a sinner like me. But you always go beyond mere love…and chase after me…and provide for me…and carry me through storm after storm. Thank you for teaching me that you are working on a greater plan than I can see from my desk….than I can see from my humble classroom. And thank you Lord for the glimpses of the future…just enough to give me hope and know that you are holding my hand and training me to do a great work for you. Amen. 

Grow Strong in your Burdens

Exodus 1:7-12  -  But the descendants of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong; so that the land was filled with them.  Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, "Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war befall us, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land."  Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens; and they built for Pharaoh store-cities, Pithom and Ra-am'ses.  But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.

Joseph and all his brothers had passed from this life….but their descendants were blessed just as God had promised. The exact numbers are not important…but they were enough Israelites that this new Pharaoh was intimidated by the mere thought of them joining any enemy in battle. They must not have been diligent in worshiping Yahweh because it says they were weak enough in spirit to be oppressed….and were forced to labor long hard hours to build up store cities for this new ruler who did not fear Joseph’s God. But here is the part of this story I like the best…it says the more they were oppressed….the more God blessed them with more children and heirs.

I am cautioned by this story to keep my faith as strong as I can…so I do not become weak enough to allow Satan to oppress me the way Pharaoh did these children of God. It is much too easy for Satan to pull us away from God’s power and love with the beautiful trappings of materialism….or convince us to replace the love of god altogether with some idol…or drug that deadens our spirit completely. Once he has weakened us…he can trap us in our sins…much like Pharaoh trapped these Israelites into believing they had no power to break free from this oppression. And after you have been bound by sin for a long period of time…it is hard to break free from it.! 

But thank God that the other thing I claim about this story is that even though we are sometimes bound to the world in sin….God continues to bless us and prosper us. How amazing that God continued to multiply the numbers of these people…the more they were oppressed…the more he blessed them. They grew to such great numbers that Pharaoh ordered all the male babies be murdered….making it even harder for the Israelites to believe that God was among them at all.  How hard it must have been for the mothers of those babies …how brave and courageous were the mid-wives that flat out lied to Pharaoh because they feared God more than the feared Pharaoh.

Unless you have read a few chapters ahead…you don’t see God at work in this horrible time at all. You don’t see him welding the great plan to deliver them as the baby Moses is born. You don’t see the purpose in the pain of these people…or the lessons he is trying to teach them in these hardships.  You don’t see the physical strength they are gaining as they work such hard physical labor.  You don’t see the mental intelligence they are developing as they devise plan after plan to foil and deceive the Pharaoh.  You don’t see the spiritual power they are gaining as they learn to trust God and wait for his deliverance from their burden.

Father…help me to always remember that you are in control…and you have a plan that I cannot see. Forgive me for allowing Satan to trick me ….and control me…and keep me from realizing the great power I have in the name of Jesus. Go with me today and strengthen my body…to do the labor and bring in a harvest you will be proud of.  Sharpen the brain cells I have not killed completely…and multiply them into a powerful tool that can discern the devils’ tricks and schemes.  And father…give me the patience and trust to wait on you…and know that you are welding a great plan to prosper me beyond my wildest dreams.  Use the time you ask me to wait to build my faith…and give power to this weary soul. Amen.

Exercise Your Faith

Genesis 50:1-6 -  Then Joseph fell on his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him.  And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel; forty days were required for it, for so many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.  And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,  My father made me swear, saying, 'I am about to die: in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.' Now therefore let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father; then I will return."  And Pharaoh answered, "Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear." 

Tears of sorrow are so deep felt. The pain Joseph felt was very physical….and he fell upon him and wept…and kissed him. He had his Egyptian servants and the physicians of the day preserve the body as if Jacob was Egyptian too. He followed the beliefs of that culture…maybe out of respect for Pharaoh…maybe out of pure need… for he knew it would be some time before he could follow through with his promise to his father. He followed the rituals of the culture God had placed him in..then he approached Pharaoh and  told him of his promise….of the need to return for a short while to bury his father Jacob among this descendants...in the tomb that was purchased in the promised land of Canaan.  And the trust he had built over the years…allowed Pharaoh to quickly grant his request….so Joseph could honor his father…and say goodbye in the traditional Jewish way of burial.

 I understand Joseph’s pain all too well. The moment that I knew Mitchell was really gone sent stabs of pain through every part of my body.  It was hard to even draw a breath as I tried to process that God had truly taken him away from me. The deep sorrow parked in my heart for days as I tried to regroup and figure out what God needed from me that would necessitate removing one of the best Earthly gifts he ever gave me. Tears flowed like a faucet…with no warning for months. The incredulous reality that God would bless our marriage…then call Mitchell home after a month sent more than my head spinning in disbelief. It felt as if a huge weight…a 1000 pound anvil…had been placed on my shoulders…and I woke each day hoping it was just a dream.

But like Joseph…today…almost two full years since his passing…I am finding peace as I hold God’s hand through this deep pain. He has drawn me closer to him as I search for new purpose.  He has redefined my faith in ways I never dreamed were possible. He has strengthened me through the pain of loss. Oh how inconceivable are the ways of God. Just as it states in Romans 11:33-36 -  “O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways! "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"  "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.”

Joseph knew God in a way that most of us never grasp. We plod through life expecting God to bless us and give us everything we ask for….we never truly understand the depth of his love for us…and how it can empower us to do his work. I battle every day the forces of evil that try to trick me into holding onto the past and not moving forward into the richness of God’s plan for me. Joseph trusted God’s unseen promise…to give his father’s people….the descendants of Abram…a land rich with honey and good things.  Joseph trusted his father’s God…who said he would make a great nation of the children who grew from Abram’s seed. Joseph had a deep faith that came from years of loving and trusting God. The commentary in the Life application bible I am using to read and study right now put it this way…… “Our faith is like a muscle…it grows with exercise, gaining strength over time.

Father…I thank you for the last two years of growth.  I thank you for the reminder to leave the deep pain of loss in the past… and allow you to use it to teach me how to depend more on you. I thank you for the short time you granted me such amazing love. Make me strong like Joseph…increase my faith in you….even if it means I must feel the earthly pains of loss and sadness as you teach me how to cling to you. Give me strength and wisdom for the days ahead….help me to grow even more in your love…and become a strong tree….fruitful…beside your fountain of living water…as long as you grant me breath on this Earth. Amen.

The Words of the Father

Genesis 49:28-33 - All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. Then he charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,  in the cave that is in the field at Mach-pe'lah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah--  the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites."  When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

The end of a loved one’s journey on this Earth is so bittersweet to those of us that are left behind. Israel donned the last of his Earthly energy to speak prophecies to his 12 sons…to let them know the future that awaited them. Each son was given an individual word from their father…parting words meant to finalize his love and responsibility for their care. To some he spoke harshly…demoting them…and rebuking their sins. To some he spoke words of strength and visions of success for their future. And to some he spoke words of respect…for their walk with God and how they had embraced God’s will in their lives.

I saw myself …just a bit ….as he spoke to all 12 of his son’s. Demoted for my past sins….struggling to put them behind me and embrace God’s forgiveness and forgive myself. Rebuked for all the petty quarrels and inconsequential arguments I have started with people. Thankful that God never left me and is changing me into a stronger person that wants to serve him more. Trying to accept that I must be more of a laborer…and embrace and have a passion for the work he has for me to do. Needing to trust God more with every part of my life…and stop trying to do things on my own. Feeling the sweet arms of God heal me from all my hurts. Farming the Earth for the rich blessing it offers. Producing new believers of God as I complete the tasks he gives me to do. Devouring my enemy Satan more than I let him defeat me. Becoming a fruitful tree…beside God’s never ending fountain of life giving water.

Oh how we need to gather around our father and hear his words of rebuke…challenge…healing and grace that will help us accept the things we cannot change….and pray for the wisdom to change the things we can. Just as Israel spoke these last words to his sons….and he accepted the serenity to pass from this earthly life into the glory of his heavenly father….we must embrace his words from the father to all of his sons and daughters….and claim the peace that passes all understanding…so that we too may become what God has planned for us to be.  So that we too may leave behind the mistakes of the past…and use them to proclaim God’s message to the world around us that has no clue how wonderful God’s love is….who have no clue how empowering the grace of God can be in their lives….that have never experienced the healing power of his great love.

Father…I thank you for the greatness of your love that washes me clean each day and lets me try once  more to be a child you would be proud to call your daughter. Forgive me once again for not embracing your peace in my life…and resting in you…and letting you control every aspect of my life. Teach me how to discern your will for me as it presents itself to me daily…and accept the past as training for the tasks you will give me tomorrow. Help me to be a strong warrior for your kingdom…to run toward you every morning and hold your hand all day long. To accept every task you give me and complete it with all my heart and all my soul and all my strength. Am

God's Blessings

Genesis 48:1-4 - After this Joseph was told, "Behold, your father is ill"; so he took with him his two sons, Manas'seh and E'phraim. And it was told to Jacob, "Your son Joseph has come to you"; then Israel summoned his strength, and sat up in bed.  And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,  and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.' 

It was customary in those days for the dying father to bestow a blessing on the oldest son. But in this passage…Jacob blesses Joseph and his two sons. I can just imagine that Jacob…knowing his time was near….called for all his sons….and Joseph just happened to be the first one to arrive. Joseph brings his two sons with him…maybe just to make sure they all had a chance to say goodbye. Joseph might have even been surprised by the words of his father….we are never told that Jacob shared this visit with God with anyone.

I wonder if Jacob remembered the time he deceived his father into a blessing. Cause the rest of the story…where he adopts Joseph’s two sons as his own…and lays hands on them…and blesses the younger one…on purpose….it is so reminiscent of Genesis 27-28…where Jacob tricked his dad.  But this time…God had spoken to Jacob…and told him who to bless…and what exact words to say to them.  God is beginning to change the way people think about rules and traditions…and helping us to understand that we must listen to him for our directions in life.  His plan is not always what the world has preconceived as proper.

Maybe the important thing in this story isn’t who Jacob blesses…but that he had completed his own journey with God…and wanted to leave his sons with more than just land and money as an inheritance.  As Jacob speaks with his son and grandsons…as he shares with them God’s plans for their future….he shows how he has changed….turned from a man of deceit and material need…to a man that is a humble sheep…shepherded by God himself. He shares with Joseph and his grandsons how important it is to remember the promises of God…and that the good things he has planned for us are worth the wait…even if our descendents are the ones to claim the inheritance.

Father…my heart is so full of thankfulness and praises for all the good things you have shown me. Help me to be more like Jacob….and search for you …and listen for your words…and be confident of the future you have planned for me.   Help me learn to be your sheep…and stay in the pasture close to you…and quit running away after he things of this world that distract me. Show me what is  right…and give me the confidence to know that it is what you have called me to do…even if it seems contrary to what the world has set as proper.  Help me to not limit my growth to my human knowledge of the world….but to open my eyes to your supernatural powers to change my life from the inside out. Amen. 

Peacemakers

Genesis 47:5-11 -  Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best of the land; let them dwell in the land of Goshen; and if you know any able men among them, put them in charge of my cattle."  Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.  And Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?"  And Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning."  And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.  Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Ram'eses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

What a beautiful picture of hospitality between the two very different cultures. Jacob blessed Pharaoh as he came in to his presence and as he left.  He showed this powerful leader respect...maybe he was thankful because Pharaoh had seen the leadership qualities in his son and raised his son Joseph to such a high office…maybe he was a bit fearful because he remembered how his Grandfather was thrown out years before for lying about Sarai…or maybe he had just learned to respect others and their beliefs with the many years God had blessed him with life.

Pharaoh…in turn…treated Joseph’s entire family with honor and respect. Maybe Pharaoh was just being nice because he loved Joseph so much…maybe he saw the political value of such an alliance…maybe he feared the God they worshiped because he saw the power and blessings that he allowed Joseph throughout the last 9 years. Pharaoh showed Jacob respect….and allowed his entire family to take up residence in the best land available.  A land near water…lush with grass and places to graze and fatten livestock….the perfect place for God to begin to multiply them and bless them.

It was a very unpredictable moment…for in actuality…Egyptians hated shepherds….and the bible does not record why. Maybe it was because of a cleanliness issue.  Egyptians kept themselves very clean…bathed and used wonderful smelling lotions….painted their faces and wore wigs to improve their looks.  A shepherd went weeks without a bath…probably smelled just like his sheep.  Maybe it was a political issue…so many invasions back and forth that they were afraid of them. And maybe it was totally a God thing…God controlling every word from Jacob’s and Pharaoh’s mouth as they spoke.

We should all be so kind to the people we dislike….especially the ones we hate the most. We should allow God to place us in places where we can be his models of peace and hospitality to others. We should love others as God loves us…unconditionally…with his mercy and grace. We should love others like God did when he sent his son to Earth as a baby.  We should love others like Jesus did on the cross…when he died for every man’s sin.  We should love like God calls us all to love him….with all our heart…and all our soul…and all our mind.

Father…help me this morning to be your peacemaker.  To love all people…with no boundaries of race…or cleanliness..or politics…or economics. Give me a love in my heart for everyone…no matter how they present to me on the outside…no matter what hate they may harbor on the inside. Forgive me for not grasping this command form you earlier in my life…and wash me of any remnants of fear that might hold me back from loving unconditionally today.  Give me the ability to bless those that I see each day…with the love and blessings you shower on me continually. Amen.