…when Moses was grown…he went
out to his brethren and looked at their burdens. —Exodus 2:11
{CHAMBERS} “Moses saw the oppression of his people and felt certain
that he was the one to deliver them, and in the righteous indignation of his
own spirit he started to right their wrongs. […] God allowed Moses to be driven
into empty discouragement, sending him into the desert to feed sheep for forty
years. At the end of that time, God appeared to Moses and said to him, “
‘…bring My people…out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should
go…?’ ” (Exodus 3:10-11). In the beginning Moses had realized that he was the
one to deliver the people, but he had to be trained and disciplined by God
first. He was right in his individual perspective, but he was not the person
for the work until he had learned true fellowship and oneness with God. We may
have the vision of God and a very clear understanding of what God wants, and
yet when we start to do it, there comes to us something equivalent to Moses’
forty years in the wilderness. […] We are focused on the right individual
perspective of things; we have the vision and can say, “I know this is what God
wants me to do.” But we have not yet learned to get into God’s stride. If you
are going through a time of discouragement, there is a time of great personal
growth ahead.”
{ELGIN} God calls, prepares
and then sends. That pattern is clear in
both the old and new testaments. A.W. Tozier
wrote, “God does not use a man (or woman) greatly until they have been hurt
deeply.” That happens in the season of
preparation. After my new birth in 1976,
I was certain that I had been called to the ministry. I thought I should become a Chaplain in the
Army. Change the tank on my collar (the
insignia for the Armor branch in the Army) for a cross. Looking back now, I can see that becoming a
Chaplain would have been a huge mistake. It was a good thing, but something, like
Moses, that I chose to do in response to the call of God. Fortunately there were some very wise men
that gave me council. One a chaplain,
another a mature Christian officer. So,
here I sit today, in someone else’s home, in a state that is not my own, entering
into a work that God has shaped me for.
Sometimes I wonder why I can’t be most other people. But then I consider that “ (I am) God’s
handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in
advance for (me) to do.” (Ephesians 2:10) It is easy to accept what the preceding 2
verses tell us … “we are saved by grace through faith”, not so easy to accept
that we belong to God. He is the potter
and we are the clay. There is a bigger
story than my comfort or occupation … God’s eternal plan.
I sometimes tell Martie, my wife,
that I wish I could only do one thing, like work on a garbage truck. Those guys really have to know two
things. Don’t get off the truck until it
stops and get back on before it starts.
(Actually there is more to it than that and they provide a great service
to the community) But my life is not my
own. When God calls us to lay our lives
down, that means we must loosen our grip.
To let go and let God. All of you
reading this know that “letting go” can be a challenge. It was for Moses … it was for Peter .. it is
for us. Maybe your calling is not like
mine. Perhaps you are supposed to be a
butcher, a baker or a candlestick maker, or a stay at home mom, whatever. It does not mean that your life does not belong
to God. You may not be called to lead a
nation across a desert, but you have been called to live a life that brings
glory and honor to God and lifts Jesus up as the resurrected King. To walk in obedience to the will of God and
not follow your own way. Listen, it’s a
struggle … you never arrive … the temptation to “look back to Sodom” (Genesis 19:26) is always there. The question “Did God really say?” (Genesis 3:1) will ring in your ears. But there will be a voice that whispers in
your ear .. “This is the way, walk in it.”
(Isaiah 30:21) In spite of
the distractions, that is what the redeemed must do. That would be you my friend!
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