2009 – Day 68.Mar. 10 – Covering Home Base

2009 – Day 68.Mar. 10 – Covering Home Base

Passage of the Day: Exodus 4: 18 … 18 So Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, “Please let me go and return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

My Journal for Today: Today we have an extension of our discussion from yesterday on Moses’ communication of God’s big plan to his father-in-law and family. And Swindoll, in discussing this, lauded Moses as an exemplar of humility, sensitivity, and grace in the way he communicated this incredible set of circumstances to his family, especially to Jethro who had adopted him. This plan of God’s was to be a big deal for Jethro and the family; and Moses was so gentle and caring in the way he laid out God’s plan for him.

And Swindoll points out two sets of principles we can all learn from this Bible story in the life of Moses. And the first of these is somewhat redundant from yesterday in highlighting the need to be very sensitive in communicating a God-ordained course change to others in your life who might be effected by the change. Swindoll reminds us that we are the ones who have gotten God’s calling; and others have not. They will not feel the same tug on the heart that the called one will feel. In fact, they may have a tendency to see only how that change in the life of the called one will affect them or the risks it might bring about for their loved one who is proposing the change. Therefore, Moses here is a great example of being very sensitive and simply giving out the basics of where God is leading with the Lord’s new directions.

The second principle is related to the first. When God calls, providing the calling for a new direction in life, He will open the doors of hearts and set out the providence to make things happen for His own glory. If God’s plan is truly the way of the Master, the Lord is going to smooth the way and lay out the resources for His plan to be carried out. There are other examples of this in Scripture, like how Nehemiah’s calling to go back to Jerusalem from Babylon was shaped and smoothed by God to soften the heart of the Babylonian king and to provide the resources for Nehemiah to change his life course completely to move as God directed. And here we see the same thing. God called, Moses answered; and when he went to Jethro, giving the Old Sheik only sketchy information, Jethro was all go – primarily, I believe, because it was God’s Spirit leading the way to provide for that attitude from Moses’ daddy.

So, we learn a good lesson from this. When God sets out a radical plan for our lives, if it’s truly God’s plan, the hearts of those who are affected will be prepared, even though we should be gentle and sensitive in laying out the change for them. And also, if it’s truly God’s life-changing plan, He will provide the resources and the directions for God’s plan to happen. Doors will fling open and provisions will come forth; and all the called one must do is walk through the doors and receive God’s grace along the way to make the plan happen for God’s glory.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, when You call; help me be ready to go. Amen

2009 – Day 64.Mar. 6 – Hard of Hearing

2009 – Day 64.Mar. 6 – Hard of Hearing

Passage of the Day: Exodus 3: 4 – 22 … Read from this link …

My Journal for Today: Well, this new deal from God to Moses was a bit hard to take. I can imagine Moses saying to himself, “Did I hear that right?” … Here was the transformed shepherd who had been working his flocks in obscurity for the last 40 years; and now this bush was telling him that God would use him as the instrument to deliver God’s people from 400+ years of slavery.

“Did I hear that right?”

Many times it’s hard to hear God’s calling through the tyranny of the urgencies of life, … through the din of informational noise coming from our culture, and filtered through our out-right deceitful hearts. We can become spiritually hard of hearing when God tries to break through with His plan … with His calling for our lives.

I know when God began calling me into ministry in my discipleship years ago, my first reaction was, “Who, God, … me?” I simply couldn’t imagine that God would take a sinner like me with a track record of over 20 years of habitual sexual sin and over 12 years of infidelity to my wife and to use me for His glory. I was definitely hard of hearing to God’s call for me to be used by Him as a delivery agent to help transform other Christians who had become mired in sexual sin.

So, I identify with Moses’ selective spiritual “hearing loss.” It’s tough to hear God calling when we’ve got mufflers on our spiritual ears from years of sin and shame. It’s tough to hear God’s will when the enemy would deceive us with his very loud lies of condemnation and discouragement. But when we do try hard to listen, God will speak His will for us. Oh, it may not be in a burning bush; but it will come through His word, through His witnesses, through His ordained and anointed preachers and teachers, and through that still small voice He has planted in our hearts, … the Holy Spirit.

And when we do hear God calling, we need to recognize and acknowledge a truth taught to me by my mentor years ago; and that is, “God’s calling is His enablement.” As Swindoll points out, “In God’s calling, He has a plan; but He never expects you (alone) to carry out that plan. He’s going to pull it off. He simply wants you to be the instrument of action. After all it’s His reputation that is at stake, not yours. All He asks is that you give yourself to Him as a tool He can pick up and use.”

How about it? Are you ready to unplug your ears; and listen carefully so that God can give you His plan? Are you ready to be used for God’s glory … maybe loudly like a Moses … or maybe quietly like a Daniel. But if you are His, He CAN use you! And if you hear His will and follow it, He WILL use you.

My Prayer for Today: Lord, thank you for calling me out and giving me the ears to hear. And oh how I want to be surrendered to be used by You. Amen