January 31, 2012 … God Showing Off

Exodus 2: 15: … [God Reveals Himself] ... 1 Moses answered, "What if they do not believe me or listen to me and say, 'The Lord did not appear to you'?" 2 Then the Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?"
"A staff," he replied. 3 The Lord said, "Throw it on the ground." Moses threw it on the ground and it became a snake, and he ran from it.4 Then the Lord said to him, "Reach out your hand and take it by the tail." So Moses reached out and took hold of the snake and it turned back into a staff in his hand.5 "This," said the Lord, "is so that they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob—has appeared to you."

My Journal for Today: Sometimes God just flat shows off! Have you ever had that happen, … God giving us what I call “a glimpse of His glory?” Well, as I read through Exodus in my chronological reading plan this morning, right at the outset of the three chapters I was led to read today (Exodus, Chapters 4-6), I was taken to Moses’ burning bush encounter with God, where the Lord just flat showed off for poor Moses, who was feeling pretty small in God’s presence.

I can recall one of my own “burning bush” experiences with God when I, like Moses, came to the end of myself and the realization that God cared enough for me to reveal His glory and grace … just for little-ole me. It was a wild set of circumstances for me on April 13th, 1983. And, by using the testimony of a young quadriplegic on an audio-cassette, recorded some years earlier, as well as a wild – truly unbelievable re occurrence of the number 13 in the context of that moment, I realized that all that was transpiring that morning could not have occurred by chance. On that morning in my office, it may not have been a burning bush, but God called me out very much like He did Moses. And also like Moses in the presence of God at the bush that day, I felt totally inadequate to the glimpse of God’s glory which was being revealed to me. But also like Moses, that’s what it took to get my attention and for me to come to the realization that God was calling one Bill Berry to something far greater than I could imagine in that moment.

I really hope you can look back on your life at times when God showed you a bit of His greatness and glory so that you can carry around an awestruck feeling of our God with you. And I pray that we never lose our realization of just how great God is. Moses, as we know, got over his burning bush calling; and he marched forward to follow and serve his Lord with humility and meekness; but it took God flat showing off to get his attention and to call him out for service.

I pray – for you – that if God hasn’t done so … that He will be a show-off for you soon and give you an indication of the truth of what Paul wrote about to believers in 2nd Cor. 12: 9, where Christ was quoted by Paul, … “My grace is sufficient for you; … for my strength is made perfect in [your] weakness.” Paul was another one whom God had to do a big show-n-tell to get his attention; and the NT Apostle came to realize that God’s greatness is sometimes revealed in our humility. So, when we’re being humbled by life’s circumstances and God’s bigness, my friend, let us take a look around us. God’s probably just showing off His glory in the grace He’s providing us through our humble circumstances.

My Prayer Today: … My Lord, thank You so, so much for showing off in my presence. May I never lose the awe You’ve given me in those glimpses of glory. Amen