Zaikos.com

Big decisions cannot be ignored

A couple of weeks ago I shared from Exodus about distractions in life. The particular story from Exodus is ripe with lessons we can apply in our lives.

During Moses’ encounter with God, God gives him direction: free His people from Egypt.

⁷The LORD said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. ⁸So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey–the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. ⁹And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. ¹⁰So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

–Exodus 3:7-11 (NIV)

It’s not surprising Moses responded the way he did. His last experience in Egypt wasn’t a very encouraging one; yet here Moses finds himself before God being charged to free an entire nation from slavery.

It should be noted that this passage represents the first official (read: on paper) time Moses received his “calling” from God. I’m convinced that despite his reaction in verse 11, Moses was not surprised to hear what God was speaking to him. Exodus 2:11-25 describes Moses’ intervention for his people, and gives a good indication that, whether or not he understood the full magnitude, Moses had a good sense of how his life would be spent.

Nevertheless, Moses was faced with a fairly hefty decision to make. God wasn’t asking for any small feat–He was asking Moses to change the direction of his life. In other words, Moses needed to make a career move that, if reviewed by a panel of his peers, would have no doubt resulted in God being voted off the island.

Sometimes the direction God wants us to take is clear. Sometimes it’s foggy. Sometimes it’s not even on the radar. Similarly, the direction or decision that God asks of us is sometimes easy and at other times very difficult. Moses had a choice: return (rather, retreat) to the life he had known for the last 40 years, or step into what he had felt his entire life.

It’s clear from the dialogue that transpired between Moses and God that Moses had some apprehension–likely from past failures when trying to do the very thing God was asking. It’s encouraging to see that God met Moses where he was and showed him just how much He (God) was willing to work through him (Moses). That’s what God wants us to see. That some choices are going to be tough. They’re going to be things we know we’re supposed to do, and may have in the past even tried and failed at, but God is not only there with us, He gives us strengths and abilities far beyond our own to get the job done well.

Distractions in Life

In a previous post I shared a passage of scripture from Exodus 3:1-4.

In this passage Moses is going about his day-to-day work when he notices something a bit unusual: a bush, on fire, burning, but not being consumed by the fire.

One of the most remarkable things about this passage of scripture is the beginning of verse 4 (NIV):

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush…

The passage tells us that when God noticed Moses had gone over to look at the burning bush, then He called to him. It’s an interesting choice of words because it tells us is that God was waiting for Moses to notice Him.

Today’s lifestyle is one of busyness, and it’s not getting any slower. Day after day more and more information is being fed into our minds and day after day more and more is being asked of us. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed–it happens to all of us at some point.

Martin Luther is quoted as saying:

I have so much to do today that I shall spend the first three hours in prayer.

What an interesting concept. Luther was so busy he felt he had no choice but to pray more. He had so many things in his agenda he was left with no other recourse; if he wanted to complete them, he had to pray longer.

It’s backwards, yes, but it’s true. God has a way of redeeming what we surrender to Him. It works with money and it works with time.

Much like it took Moses a bit of time to recognize something miraculous was happening, allowing ourselves to get completely caught-up in our daily chores hinders us from seeing the thing(s) God is trying to do.

Much like Moses, God wants us to never forget that while there’s a time and place for the daily chores, there’s also a time and place to sit with Him and have a conversation (which also includes listening).

The Relevant Word

In Exodus 3:1-4 (NIV) we read the well-known story of Moses and the burning bush:

¹Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. ³So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight–why the bush does not burn up.”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush, “Moses! Moses!”

And Moses said, “Here I am.”

What an awesome experience this must have been for Moses. A lot of the time we read stories in the Bible and we don’t really grasp how amazing it must have been to witness some of these awesome events. Perhaps we’ve seen so many advances in technology and science we’ve become desensitized. Or Hollywood’s latest and greatest has shown us things already beyond our wildest imaginations.

Whatever the cause, it’s important we read these stories with careful consideration to what God is speaking to us. Paul says in 1 Corinthians 10:11 (NIV):

¹¹These things happened to them as examples and were written down as warnings for us, on whom the fulfillment of the ages has come.

The simple truth is that God made the choice as to which stories we would be left with; the ones we have serve a purpose in our life today–and even during the times when the scriptures were being penned, God spoke this to His people:

¹⁸“Therefore you shall lay up these words of mine in your heart and in your soul, and bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. ¹⁹You shall teach them to your children, speaking of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up. ²⁰And you shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates, ²¹that your days and the days of your children may be multiplied in the land of which the LORD swore to your fathers to give them, like the days of the heavens above the earth.

–Deuteronomy 11:18-21 (NKJV)

God doesn’t want His Word to be a part of our lives, He wants His Word to be integrated into every aspect of our being (i.e. a lifestyle choice).

¹¹I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you.

–Psalm 119:11 (NIV)

The reality is that these stories, and every other part of scripture, have the ability to change our lives and draw us closer to God through Christ.

Cliché: Read your Bible and pray

Christians are oft-told to “read their Bible and pray.” It’s almost as if this is the be-all end-all solution to life’s difficulties and challenges. Want to know what university or college to go to? Pray. Want to know how to live a more Christ-like life? Read your Bible. Should you take this job offer or negotiate something better? Pray.

Webster defines “cliché” as:

Something that has become overly familiar or commonplace.

By that definition it would certainly seem the phrase “read your Bible and pray” is cliché. It’s not surprising, it’s been around for quite some time. In Matthew 17:14-21 Jesus’ disciples ask Him why they were not able to help a young boy. Jesus’ reply (v. 21, NIV)?

But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

It’s difficult to not become apathetic to the phrase; yet when we look at how Christians in the early church lived their lives we see the following (Acts 2:42 NIV):

They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

The truth is that while “reading your Bible [the apostles' teaching] and praying” feels cliché, it’s a Biblical principle that ensures a continually growing relationship with Christ. Psalm 73:16-17 (NIV) reads:

¹⁶When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me
¹⁷till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.

The context is that Asaph (the author) is contemplating how the ungodly appear to have everything work to their advantage: they always win, they are always rich, they have no worries, and so on. Yet verses 16 and 17 stand out in this passage because when Asaph enters God’s Presence, he sees a larger, more complete, picture. This is what reading our Bibles and praying does for us. It opens our eyes to the bigger picture–God’s perspective.