Bibledoorajar: Peaceful Order Through Humility

Moses had been given the first sign. Surely, he felt the authority of God that would be given to him over the evil imposed on His (his) people. Moses was being reassured that God's authority would be exercised in Egypt. But there is something about the authority of God for us to consider and learn with Moses. 1 Peter 5 tells us that God raises up authority in DUE TIME. We can never forget the human difficulties each of us carries in our hearts that must be addressed before God can act through us.  To show Moses this, God asked him to put his hand near his bosom. Near his heart, the hand turned leprous. Leprosy is that horrible disease that God uses over and over to help His own learn the true condition of their heart. In order to gain God's peaceful authority our pride must be cast down. In its' place comes wisdom, faith and holiness within us. We haven't always understood that this effect comes in due time not arriving when we think it should. God's ways remain forever, not our ways. But surely, humbled Moses, could begin to see that the difficulties that possibly could be faced in Pharoah's court could not be outmatched by God's appointed time! How firm did Moses have to believe that God could handle things that he could not? Very. Unbelief, distrust and lack of faith torture we humans and distract us from whom He really is in our lives. There would be no time for Moses to doubt or worry in the courts of Pharoah. He saw the hand immediately become leprous and he saw the hand immediately become healed. This must have had a calming effect on poor human Moses. God, Himself, would elevate him as Mediator for His people.

Years later, Jesus would refer to Himself, saying He had to be lifted up even as Moses lifted up the serpent in the Wilderness. He had to be accursed and cast all His cares for the future on the Father without whom He said He could do nothing. No pride, no ambition, just waiting on the Power of God. Folks, that's a peaceful producing consideration is it not? Like Esther of old, having done all by placing ourselves in the Hand of God we wait for Him and Him alone to lift us up.

Moses and Aaron would not be the only ones who would have to experience this lesson. Even Pharoah would hear:  "This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: 'How long will you refuse to humble yourself before me? Let my people go, so that they may worship me."

Pride and humility. One must give way to the other in the lives of those who follow the Lord. "I am thine O Lord, I have hear Thy call, and it told Thy love to me...."

Bibledoorajar: All Will Be Well, or No?

Moses is trying to grasp just what God is asking him to do exactly and how he is to do it. Like us, Moses has his eye on himself rather than God. Finally, God puts the focus back on Him. Moses is leaning on the staff that supported him as he roamed the desert. God asked him to throw his support down to the ground. When he did it became a snake and Moses backed away from it. Then God asked Moses to pick the snake up by the tail (what's your humanity saying about now?). When he did, the snake returned to being a staff from which Moses could gain support. The sign conveyed the message that the power of God would make all things well. Much more power than Moses's natural ability would be present in the court of the Pharoah. At least Moses had the intestinal fortitude to pick up the snake! Sometimes that's our problem. That old snake comes around and we don't have the fortitude to pick it up with God's help and watch our situation change. There's a saying about keeping your eye on the ball. For the Christian, our biggest challenge is keeping our eye on our God. We forget He is unchanging and just as able as He was on the day he commissioned Moses. The interesting thing is that God's assurance of all being well depended on Moses leaning not on his own staff but the support of God. Years later, King David would put it this way: "Thy rod and Thy staff, comfort me."

In Bible class yesterday, we were discussing the fact that Paul told Timothy that he had not been given a spirit of fear but of self-discipline. We Christians cannot afford to let human fear stop us in our tracks. We have the God-given ability to fear God and to discipline ourselves to make way for the deliverance and achievements that He intends. Sometimes this is a struggle. As Jacob of old, we wrestle within ourselves. Praise God when we come out on the "right side"!

This staff to serpent and back again was a powerful sign for Moses, but it would take two more to convince him to affirmatively answer the question: "Will all be well, or no? Isn't it great that God is mindful or us and takes the time to reveal himself? Paul told the Romans in chapter 10 that it is with their heart that they believe. Is your heart in it or no?

Bibledoorajar: Can God Be Limited?

     “The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in ourselves.”

                                                                William Shakepeare

The time had arrived. It was God's intent to free his enslaved people---captives to be set free. And before him stands a man (Moses) giving all kinds of excuses as to why he is not the one to get the job done. Why God could have struck him and all his excuses dead in a minute! But instead God would not be limited by all the human reasons Moses gave to Him about his abilities. He listened patiently to all the difficulties Moses saw. Moses, once the young, lofty and quick to anger Egyptian prince, now wondered what ability he would have in the courts of Egypt. But God was quick to reassure him. HE would be with him. He not only would be with him, but He shared some of the mighty acts that He would be doing with Moses. And He told him that this would be a token unto Moses---that after the mighty acts that led to freedom of God's people were completed---he, Moses, would worship God there in that very place where they were talking. 

God's love for the captive, for Moses, would cover the multitude of sins and weaknesses that God had seen everyday in His people. His power would be with them. When they could not, He would. HE WOULD! What wonderful words. Yes, Shakespeare, there is great trouble within ourselves, but those of us who serve a Mighty Risen Savior have a powerful presence with us all the way. But we must see that great ability. As Jesus walked the land, there were many who wanted to follow Him, but when given the opportunity found all kinds of reasons why they could not proceed with Him. It is, after all, trust and obey. Do you believe He will go all the way with you and that one day you will worship Him face to face? Is, therefore, what is within in you, less of a limiting factor? 

            " Seeking You as a precious jewel

               Lord, to give up I'd be a fool
               You are my all in all."

                                                       Dennis Jernigan

Bibledoorajar: Moses, You, and the Glory of God

     When I was in Graduate School, my class was given an assignment of dissecting an autobiography of an individual in order to try and understand the life dynamics that led that particular person to impact society in the way that he did. It was a fruitful lesson, but fell short in explaining the man's totality of being in his latter days. Here we are today, trying to ferret out some of the things that impacted Moses, but we soon see that the forty years of Moses' life experiences in Midian are not enumerated very much. We know he worked as a shepherd, an occupation not well respected by many. We know that he married and lived among his wife's people. We know that life was pretty ordinary compared to that of the Egyptian palace from whence he came.
     So "average" was his existence that the reader wonders just how God would empower him to do what he must in the courts of Egypt. But there on the desert floor, we are made to understand. Moses would find himself in the presence of the Shekinah glory of God. He looked afar and saw a thorny bush burning. The interesting thing was that it was not being consumed. The fire did not go out.
He was compelled to go nearer; he was compelled to know more.
     It seems that for any of us, Moses, me, you, who want to serve our Lord, we must first find ourselves in the presence of the Shekinah--the glory of God. From this perspective--all of Him and none of us--do we find the empowerment to do what we are called to do. Just as the thorny bush did not go out, the crown of thorns does not diminish in our lives. We have been redeemed and empowered by Everlasting Grace. And so we sing...

            "Anywhere with Jesus I can safely go
           Anywhere He leads me in this world below...."
                                                             Jessie Pounds

Later, a chocolate heiress, Helen Cadbury, would forsake her fortune and become a humble servant of God. She wrote this verse to the hymn:

            "Anywhere with Jesus,
             Over land and sea,
            Telling souls in darkness of salvation free;
            Ready as He summons me to go or stay,
            Anywhere with Jesus when He points the way,"

And so it is, for those who have confronted the Shekinah---the thrice Holy God.

Bibledoorajar: Providence and Illumination

What in me is dark, illumine, what is low, raise and  support, that to the height of this great argument I will assert eternal Providence, and justify the ways of God to men.                                              John Milton Not everyone believes in the providence of God, but the Bible is very clear that God is at work in the lives of His servants and "arranges" life experiences to illuminate His will for their lives and to protect and raise the bar of their ethical living. To this end, He was quite aware when His selected, Moses,  fled the country of Egypt. Fleeing, he wound up in the land of Midian near seven shepherd girls who were having trouble with some ne'er-do-wells. Moses took all of the guys on by himself and won. This, of course, made quite an impression on the girls who were the daughters of Reuel. Reuel was also  impressed by the stranger's actions on behalf of his daughters so much that he sent them back to bring him home for some hospitality. This "coincidence" put Moses where God would leave him for quite a while. He even gained a wife out of the deal: Zipporah. In our family, we have a saying if we have complications some how. We say God knew what was best and prevented us from doing what we thought we were going to do. It makes sense to us to justify God's providence in our lives. How about you?  See Romans 8:28.

Bibledoorajar Speaks of Faith's Direction

     During the past week, I have been helping my eleven year old great niece think through her speech topic for the  Leadership Training conference coming soon in Dallas. The topic the participants were given was "Give It Up" based on the passage in  Luke 14: 33 in which Jesus details the kind of disciple He desires. As she developed her speech she focused on making decisions that would be in God's will and that would bring glory to Him. What if she had to select one activity over another? How would her faith and her walk with God be involved? Which way would bring glory to God?
      In the story of Moses, we are reminded of how God is involved in matters and of how the way we attempt to handle something may have to be "adjusted".  The book of Hebrews says that Moses accepted his fate with the Hebrews by faith. But faith in God got adjusted when he chose to take matters into his own hands. God had to act to protect His own glory and He did this by allowing not only the Egyptians to know that Moses had gone about suffering with the people the wrong way. but  also the Hebrews. 
    This brings up the difficulty Christians sometimes have of choosing the best route: waiting on God in faith. Waiting on God is hard sometimes. Especially if it becomes apparent that you are not going to get to do something for Him or His kingdom in the way you thought it would happen. Once Moses became aware that everyone knew what he had done he fled. We get to see just where God took him to wait and just how long it would be before God would be ready for Moses to take action in the way that God wanted it done. God's action would not involve murders or assassinations, but the people would go free in a way that they nor the Egyptians would ever forget.
     Faith's direction often involves waiting to see just what God needs from us and just when will that be. The human tendency is to think that time has past, but rather it may be to our advantage to wait for time that is right. Only God knows how to develop the servant that He desires. What is the servant willing to give up? There is probably not anything more fulfilling than waiting to see how God will work something out in our behalf but allowing time after time to pass is sometimes hard. We have a tendency to think that nothing is happening; we are doing nothing for God. But faith's direction is often quiet and internal. And then, just when unexpected, faith presents the opportunity for service and we can accomplish something that brings glory to God.

Bibledoorajar: Staying in Faith Character

Josephus, the Jewish historian, tells us about the Pharoah of Moses' time. You know, the one who ordered all the male children to be thrown into the Nile. Josephus tells us he had only one daughter and that she had no children of her own. What a situation for God to use. He moved the daughter's heart to save Moses and bring him to the very palace where her father lived. And further, he moved the heart of Pharoah to allow him to be brought up in the wisdom of the Egyptians and to enjoy all the pleasures of royal living. Perhaps he thought that he could by his will bend the will of Moses to become an Egyptian through and through. But Pharoah did what many people do; he discounted God. For Pharoah allowed his daughter to bring in a Hebrew to care for the child and God saw that that Hebrew woman was Jochabed, Moses's faith driven mother. So now we have moved from throwing the baby back into the Nile, to rearing it in both Egyptian and Hebrew ways. Once again, God turns the wisdom of the ungodly into foolishness and defeats the ways of his arch enemy Satan. In his great sermon, Stephen says that Moses learned the Egyptian ways well and became very learned. Without other children Pharoah would surely offer him succession to the throne. But Stephen says that Moses's heart was somewhere else. It was with the people of God who were being held in bondage. He had faith to believe what his parents told him: that the time was coming near for the people of God to be delivered. Faith character loomed larger and larger in Moses. But one day, he fell out of character and without God ordained authority he killed an Egyptian who was mistreating a Hebrew. Here is the human character at work: "he quickly looked this way and that and saw that no one was looking..."
Moses fell for one of the biggest temptations of most of us--taking the situation out of God's hands and into our own. He tried to get rid of the evidence by burying the man. Later the next day, he tried to appeal to the better nature of two Hebrews who were in fisticuffs. What he got in response was a revelation that there were witnesses to his own sad behavior and thus he was not qualified to judge them. The response: fear. Run.
Perhaps staying in faith character is the hardest thing for a Christian. Our weak humanity prevails too often. Like Moses, we have a hard time waiting for God to act. I guess that is why patience is listed as a virtue in the Bible. It goes hand in hand with having a will to wait upon God. Moses was a good forty years ahead of God's deliverance plan and lost his faith to no avail. These things were written as an example for us. Jesus said if you must, turn the other cheek while you wait for God to prevail. That is true faith character at work and the challenge is to stay in character. The good news is God still went on to use Moses and He will still go on to use us in spite of our human failings. God is faithful, even when we cannot be.