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.