WHAT MOSES FORGOT

The last few months, a friend and I have been studying Exodus. That’s why the past few blogs have been about some things we’re learning. Here’s another one, and we have more to share!!

Moses was chosen by God to lead His people out of slavery in Egypt into the Promised Land, and on a number of occasions leading up to their freedom, God laid out His plan and strategy to Moses. One of the recurring themes was the fact that God would Pharaoh’s heart so that he would not let them go.  (Exodus 3:19; 4:21) After the first encounter that Moses and Aaron had with Pharaoh, he cracked down on the Israelite slaves even harder, confirming that his heart was, indeed, very inflexible. The people’s logical response to his intense severity was rebellion. The entire group that Moses was to lead to freedom was worse off than before; they were very angry with Moses and Aaron, and let them know it!

So Moses had some very big issues on his hands. His first and biggest problem was Pharaoh; the second was the people, and the third was that God didn’t deliver His people as He had promised. Moses complained to God: “For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all.” (Exodus 5:23) Moses was so disgruntled with the situation, that he forgot a lot of the conversations he and God had leading up to that moment. He forgot:

• God’s compassion: “I heard their cry…I know their sorrows…I have seen the oppression of My people…He looked on their affliction.” (3:7, 4:31)
• God’s plan: “I have come down to deliver them.” (3:8)
• God’s presence: “I will certainly be with you.” (3:12; 4:12; 4:15)
• God’s person: “I AM…this is My name forever; the Lord God of your fathers.” (3:14-15)
• God’s power: shown in the miracles He did with the rod. (4:2-17)
• God’s provision: He provided Aaron as a spokesman for stuttering Moses. (4:11-16)
• God’s promise: “I WILL bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt…to a land flowing with milk and honey.” ((3:17)

Finally, after a very frustrated Moses vented, God assured him: “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh” (6:1). He patiently reminded him that He was in total control of the situation, and that His plan would be fulfilled “to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.” (6:6-13)

Aren’t we all a bit like Moses sometimes? Don’t we get overwhelmed by the situation at hand that seems to engulf us and fail to see who God is, what He is doing, and that He has a perfect plan He’s working on? Don’t we, too, whine and complain when we make our problems bigger than our God? God give us the grace to remember often that He does have a plan; He is compassionate; His presence is with us; His power can overcome any obstacle; His provision is our daily bread; His promises are true; and that he was – and forever will be – the great I AM! AMEN!

The Jack – Discovery and Amazement

Ever since he was very little, our four-year old grandson Jehiel has had a fascination with tools. By far, his favorite place on our property is grandpa’s workshop. He would rather be there with “Lolo” (his version of Abuelo – Spanish for Grandpa) spending time together on a discovery adventure, than anywhere else. Power tools, hand tools, gadgets; wood scraps and absolutely everything arouses his curiosity. As Lolo patiently shows Jehiel what each tool is for and demonstrates how to use it, his already big brown eyes widen with wonder, and you can almost see the gears of imagination and creativity turning in his little head.

A few days ago, Jehiel discovered the jack. Lolo set it up under the cargo van, and together they raised up the back of the van. Jehiel nearly burst with excitement! He discovered that a jack can lift a very heavy vehicle, and no doubt he’ll always remember the day he helped Lolo do just that.

Jehiel’s discovery reminded me of Psalm 145:14, where the Psalmist declared that “The Lord upholds all who fall, and raises up all who are bowed down.” When we are “bowed down”, weary, discouraged, burdened with a heavy load, let’s let Him raise us up! When we turn to His life-giving Word, He raises us up!…When we cry out to Him in prayer, He lifts us up…when we share our burden with a godly friend, He lifts us up…when we choose to believe His truth (that we already know in our heads) and trust His promises, He raises us up! Just as Jehiel discovered the power of the jack to raise up the van, I am constantly amazed at the power of God that raises me up, and I praise Him for it.

Take a few minutes to be blessed by this beautiful song by Selah that so appropriately expresses God’s power to lift us up. http://youtu.be/H2sZuJbxi8Y  Remember the times He raised you up in the past, and trust Him to do it again…today. You’ll be amazed!

MAKING LISTS (God’s Strength)

Everyone makes lists. To-do lists and grocery lists probably top the list of lists. Lists are good. If you follow my blogs, you may have noticed that I like lists. They help me focus. They simplify otherwise complex issues. Often when I read the Bible, I find myself making lists of several verses related to a certain topic and organizing them; lists of promises with who, why, when and where along side of them; lists of God’s attributes in a certain passage; and the list goes on…

Not long ago I listed and organized verses about God’s strength, and with each one, WHEN I need His strength. I want to share my list with you, just in case you need His strength. The list looks like this:

 WHEN I NEED DIRECTION:
2^nd Samuel 22:33. “God is my strength and power and He makes my way perfect.”

WHEN I SEEK WISDOM:
Job 12:13. “With Him are wisdom and strength.”

WHEN I AM AFRAID:
Psalm 27:1. “The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?”

WHEN I NEED HELP:
Psalm 28:7. “The Lord is my strength and my shield; I trusted in Him and I am helped.”

WHEN I NEED PEACE:
Psalm 29:11. “The Lord will give strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace.”

WHEN I’M IN TROUBLE:
Psalm 37:39. “But the salvation of the righteous is from the Lord; He is their strength in the time of trouble.”

WHEN I NEED A REFUGE:
Psalm 46:1. “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though….(fill in your own ending)”

WHEN I NEED MOTIVATION:
Psalm 71:16. “I will go in the strength of the Lord God…”

WHEN I DON’T HAVE ANY STRENGTH LEFT:
Isaiah 40:29. “He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength.”

WHEN I AM AT THE END OF THE ROPE:
Psalm 73:26. “My flesh and my heart fail; but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”

Notice that the very last word of the last verse is FOREVER. That’s how long we can trust God for His strength! This isn’t simply a list. It is a guarantee that He will always be our strength…FOREVER!

DIALOGUE BETWEEN DOUBT AND TRUST

When Mr. Trust focuses on GOD, who He is and what HE promised, Mr. Doubt is totally squelched. He’s a loser. Listen to the following dialogue:

DOUBT: “I don’t know why this is happening to me…”
TRUST: “But God knows! He has a plan for me, and He will perfect it!” (Philippians 1:6)

DOUBT: “I sure can’t see any good that will come of this.”
TRUST: “But God is working everything for my good – to make me more like Christ.” (Romans 8:28)

DOUBT: “I’m afraid…”
TRUST: “But God is my strength!” (Psalm 18:1,32)

DOUBT: “I’ll never be able to do that; it’s way too hard!”
TRUST: “But God can do exceedingly, abundantly more than I can ask or think!” (Ephesians 3:20)

DOUBT: “My resources are so few…I don’t have enough…”
TRUST: “But God is the Maker and Owner of everything. His resources are limitless!” (Psalm 95:1-5)

DOUBT: “I just can’t go on anymore.”
TRUST: “But God gives me strength and grace!” (2^nd Corinthians 12:9)

DOUBT: “The future looks bad. Really bad.”
TRUST: “But God is with me, and promised never to leave me. EVER!” (Matthew 28:20)

OUR CELL PHONES AND OUR SOULS

Cell phones – what did we ever do without them? They’ve become quite a necessity! After a certain period of usage, my cell phone sends me a warning bleep when the battery is getting low, reminding me to recharge it. So I plug it in, let it soak up the energy, and after a short time it’s ready to go again. No doubt, most all phone owners experience the same. We have to be diligent in recharging them.

How about our eternal souls? They need recharged, too! The stress of daily life; dealing with situations beyond our control; having to make hard decisions or going through circumstances we would never have chosen…all those things drain us! We may not hear the warning bleep, but we know our strength is waning, and we, like our cell phones, need recharged on a regular basis.

The Psalmist was referring to the Lord, the Good Shepherd, when he wrote “He leads me beside the still waters. HE RESTORES MY SOUL.” (Psalm 23:2,3) Letting Him lead us into a place of quietness is the key to the restoration of our soul. It’s good to turn everything off: the radio, the TV, even the cell phone…and be still beside the refreshing water of His word, praying to our God, who restores us and gives us strength to go on.

Being diligent about plugging the cell phone into the charger is the only way it will always be useful and have a strong signal. In the same way, letting God restore my soul daily will keep me strong. Venting with my friends doesn’t restore my soul. Busyness and incessant activity will never restore my soul. Reading self-help books will not restore my soul. Good times with family don’t restore my soul. Nothing can do it…Only the time I spend beside the still waters with God restores my soul. The Psalmist was right:  “HE RESTORES MY SOUL”!

INTERVIEWS FROM THE PAST: “One Thing” (Part 3)

For the last interview, our reporter chose a very interesting gentleman. One of the most religiously correct and well-educated people of his day, Saul of Tarsis dedicated his life to persecuting the true believers in Jesus Christ. He was passionate about the wrong things. He mistakenly thought that his goodness depended on his religiosity, on who he was…until he had an amazing encounter with Jesus, who turned his life around (even changed his name to Paul) and empowered him to become one of the most famous evangelists in history and the author of much of the New Testament. Paul was a very focused man. I can imagine the interview going something like this:

REPORTER: “Paul, how can you explain the dramatic change in your life? You formerly persecuted the followers of Jesus, and now you’ve dedicated your entire life to teaching others about Him. What happened?”

PAUL: “That same Jesus met me when I was on a mission to turn His followers in to the authorities. Blinded by a tremendous light that surrounded me, I fell to the ground. In complete surrender to Him, I asked Him what He wanted me to do.”

REPORTER: “How amazing! What did He tell you?”

PAUL: “He simply said to get up and go into the city that it would be told me what to do. From that moment on, I realized that all my religion, my self-righteousness, my accomplishments were nothing compared to the love that Jesus has for me. He gave everything up, and even though He was sinless, He died to pay for the sins of the whole world – and more importantly, of MY sins! That realization gave my life a brand new meaning, and new direction!”

REPORTER: “Doesn’t your past plague you? You were religious and sincere, but wrong. You mentioned at one point that you were the “chief of sinners.” What is the ONE THING you do to keep on going with that kind of past now that you’ve changed?

PAUL: “The ONE THING I do?… “Forgetting the past, I keep focused on the goal: The prize at the end of the race. I keep going forward with faith in Christ, in His strength, and trusting in His righteousness, not my own.” (Philippians 3)

REPORTER: “You mentioned the prize. What is that prize?”

PAUL: “To become like Christ!”

REPORTER: “Hummmmm…..”

WEEKLY BIBLE READING PLAN – Sept. 20-25: Knowing God Better (2)

MONDAY: Nehemiah 9:31. Reading this verse, we praise God because He is a God of _________ and ______________.

TUESDAY: Psalm 62:7. It’s reassuring to know that God is a _________________ for us!

WEDNESDAY: 2 Peter 3:9. Thankfully, our God is __________________ towards us!

THURSDAY: Jude 25. God alone is ________________________.

FRIDAY: John 3:16. Besides showing us His love for us in this verse, we understand that He is also a _____________________ God.

SATURDAY: 2 Corinthians 1:3. God is the Father of _______________ and the God of all ____________ .

BONUS: Revelation 4:8. Reading this verse carefully, we can find 3 important characteristics of God. He is _______________,  ______________________, and ________________________.

Our Lavish God

Everything God does points to the fact that He is generous. He isn’t stingy, nor does He give His blessings by drips or in measurable increments. Observing His creation affirms that He does everything in a big way. How many celestial bodies are there? We can’t count them, and man doesn’t even have the capacity to know. How many grains of sand are there in the world? There’s no way we can tally them up, but He knows; He formed each one of them. Couldn’t He have been satisfied creating just one color, one kind of bird in the sky, or one fish family in the world’s oceans? Wouldn’t it be just as good with one kind of tree to grow in all areas of the earth, or simply one special fruit for all of us to eat? NO! He created countless species of each plant and animal, for His pleasure and for our enjoyment. That is the physical proof of His generosity, and the lavish nature of our Creator God.

In the spiritual realm, God is just as generous, and we have passages in the Bible confirming His lavishness. Look at some of the evidence:

GOD POURS HIS LOVE OUT IN US! Romans 5:5: “…the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”

GOD POURS OUT HIS FORGIVENESS! Isaiah 55:7: “Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts. Let him return to the Lord, and He will have mercy on him; and to our God for He will abundantly pardon.”

GOD POURS OUT HIS MERCY! Psalm 103: 8, 17: “The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in mercy…[it is]from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear Him.”

GOD POURS OUT HIS SPIRIT ON US ABUNDANTLY!  Titus 3:5,6:  “…the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Savior…”

GOD POURS OUT FLOOD WATERS ON THE THIRSTY! Isaiah 44:3a: “For I will pour water on him who is thirsty, and floods on the dry ground…”

GOD POURS HIS SPIRIT AND BLESSING ON OUR CHILDREN! Isaiah 44:3b: “I will pour My Spirit on your descendants, and my blessing on your offspring.”

GOD POURS ABUNDANT BLESSING ON GIVERS! Malachi 3:10: “ ‘Bring all the tithes into the storehouse…and try my now in this’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘If I will not open for you the windows of heaven and pour out for you such blessing that there will not be room enough to receive it.’ “

                Unfortunately, we are often blind to God’s lavish nature. Asking for little, we settle for much less than He wants to pour out on us, and we live as spiritual paupers. God is lavish; He is generous, and His “pouring out” is always abundantly beyond what we could ever imagine. Let’s not forget how generous He is as we cry out to Him today!

“Now to him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to HIM be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, for ever and ever. AMEN.” !  Ephesians 3:20,21                                                             

WHAT WERE YOU SINGING, PAUL??

Acts chapter 16

The Apostle Paul and his companion Silas were dragged to the authorities of Philippi, accused of being troublemakers and causing the crowds to rise up against them.  Their clothes having been torn off, they were mercilessly beaten “with many stripes” and thrown into prison under tight security. With the searing pain of the beatings throbbing through their bodies and their feet locked into stocks, “at midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God…” (Acts 16:25) In that extreme situation, they chose to pray and sing.  I think I can understand the part about praying. Wouldn’t we all cry out to God in such circumstances? But… I’d like to ask him something: “What were you singing, Paul?”

Suddenly an earthquake shook the prison, opening the doors of every cell, breaking every chain that was restraining each inmate, and freeing them from their stocks. In the chaos of this unprecedented event, every one of them could have escaped. It was the perfect opportunity! The chance of a lifetime! But no…they ALL stayed. No one left. Obviously, Paul and Silas’ prayers and songs were loud enough to be heard by all. What was the theme of those songs that made the cursing stop, the insults be silenced and the groaning of the inmates cease? What were they hearing that night? “What were you singing, Paul?”

Could it be that the imprisoned criminals were hearing – for the first time – words of hope, of forgiveness and a new life? Were they perhaps listening to lyrics of praise to Jesus, who came to loosen chains and set captives free?…who suffered the punishment that they deserved when He died on the cross…who transforms even the most hardened criminal? The captive audience, given the opportunity, didn’t escape. “What were you singing, Paul?”

Evaluating my life, I ask myself: “What am I singing?” When it seems like there is nothing to sing about…when I’ve been treated unfairly…when I’m in pain or locked into a hopeless situation…what am I singing? I want to learn Paul and Silas’ song! I want to sing praises to my God, my Father who has everything under control, who will never let go of my hand and gives me His strength every day. I want to lift high the name of Jesus, who died to forgive my sins and transformed my life! I want to follow the example of Paul and Silas, praying and singing with such faith and conviction that everyone around me takes notice and wants to hear more about our awesome God who is worthy of all praise!
“Behold, God is my salvation, I will trust and not be afraid;…the Lord is my strength and song; He also has become my salvation.” Isaiah 12:2

THERE IS NOTHING TOO HARD FOR GOD!

“Ah, Lord God! Behold You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and outstretched arm. There is nothing too hard for You.” Jeremiah 32:17

Take a look around at God’s creation: the beauty and intensity of colors, the intricacy of shapes, the variety of sounds, textures, and flavors; the synchronization and perfection of everything He created: it -was all engineered, designed, and created by the same all-powerful, all wise God who has sustained it since its inception. Everything from the minutest detail to the most immense heavenly body was – and is – the work of His hand. All of that is visible evidence of a changeless truth: there is nothing too hard for God!

Jeremiah, a prophet of God (722 BC – 585 BC) considered all the visible evidence of a changeless truth, and expressed it to God as the opening statement of his prayer. Then he laid his concern, his burden and his worries out before God, being convinced that there is nothing too hard for Him. He understood WHO he was crying out to.

When we look to God for help, strength, wisdom, guidance; when we lay our burdens out before Him, let’s also remember WHO He is: the Maker of the heavens and the earth. With that truth in mind, let’s ask ourselves:

• Is the issue I’m struggling with too hard for Him? NO
• Can I trust Him to work out the details of this situation that is stressing me? YES
• Will He be able to handle this complex issue? YES

Let’s repeat this truth, along with Jeremiah, when we trust in God for what seems to be impossible: “There is nothing too hard for You.” Let’s believe it today as we trust Him with our cares!