Posts Tagged: Moses
“Enough Already!“”
I have never felt like I was enough—at anything. A sense of inadequacy pervades everything I am and do. Sorry to be so brutally out front about this, but there it is.
I’ve decided, just today, that I don’t have to be sufficient or adequate in any area of my life. At least, I don’t have to be sufficient or adequate on my own. That last phrase (“on my own”) is the crucial one.
Since the Garden of Eden, people have been trying to make their way in the world on their own. Do I need to tell you that this has not gone well? No, you’ve probably noticed.
We were not designed to “make it on our own.” We were made to help one another. Above all, we were made to be helped by God. To paraphrase a quote from a St. Augustine prayer, “Our hearts are inadequate until they find their adequacy in thee.” God is the source of our adequacy, our sufficiency, our enough-ness.
God called Moses to go back to Egypt to lead God’s people, Israel, out of slavery. “I’m not enough, LORD,” said Moses. And of course, he was right. But God said to Moses, “I am your enough-ness!”
Jeremiah was called to be a prophet to Judah and the gentile nations. Jeremiah said that he wasn’t old enough. God said, “Shut up and prophesy!”
In discussing his gospel ministry, the Apostle Paul asked, “Who is sufficient for these things?” The answer that he expected was, “No one! Certainly not me!” But then, Paul said, “But our sufficiency is from God.”
So, I have resigned from my quest to be enough. It is not a godly quest, because it is not quest for God. Enough already! God is enough for me, for you, for the whole human race. In fact, God is more than enough.
“Leaving out a Crucial Detail”
‘And Moses said to Aaron, “What did this people do to you that you have brought such a great sin upon them?” And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”’
(Exodus 32:21–24 The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, https://accordance.bible/link/read/ESVS#Ex._32:21)
I love this story. It is an incredibly human narrative. Moses “lollygags” around with God on Mount Sinai, while the people below get ants in their spiritual pants. The people come to Aaron, the priest, and express their impatience with this slow-poke, Moses. Aaron reacts immediately, instead of responding thoughtfully. And voila: The golden calf!
This is not a funny story. It is deadly serious. And yet, even deadly serious stories can have some humor in them. This one certainly does.
When Moses confronts his brother Aaron, Aaron explains—or excuses his behavior.
‘And Aaron said, “Let not the anger of my lord burn hot. You know the people, that they are set on evil. For they said to me, ‘Make us gods who shall go before us. As for this Moses, the man who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has become of him.’ So I said to them, ‘Let any who have gold take it off.’ So they gave it to me, and I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”’
When Aaron is telling the story to Moses, Aaron leaves out a crucial part of the story that the author of Exodus had already told the reader.
“3 So all the people took off the rings of gold that were in their ears and brought them to Aaron. 4 And he received the gold from their hand and fashioned it with a graving tool and made a golden calf. And they said, “These are your gods, O Israel, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt!” (Exodus 32:3-4, English Standard Version, emphasis mine)
When he speaks to Moses, Aaron leaves out the bit about his use of the engraving tool. He says, “I threw it into the fire, and out came this calf.”
Now, before I, before we, look down our long spiritual noses at Aaron, I/we might want to have a look in the mirror. When we are explaining why we did what we ought not to have done, or have failed to do what we ought to have done, we all tend to leave out crucial details. And in those crucial details are the real reasons why we’ve done what we shouldn’t, or not done what we should.
A crucial part of integrity is honesty, and a crucial part of honesty is being completely honest about our own part in what has gone wrong. It is easy to pretend that something “just happened,” when in fact we happened it.
Healing and transformation can only occur when we acknowledge our own engraving tools. Details matter—especially the details that relate to our own personal responsibility.
“Be Quiet and Move Forward!”
“The Lord will fight for you; you must be quiet.” (Exodus 14:14)
This is the YouVersion verse of the day for July 1. It is a very fine reminder. The Israelites were in a desperate situation. They were trapped between Pharaoh and his army behind, and a seemingly impassable body of water in front of them. As we might say it, they were between the devil and the deep blue sea.
The Israelites were quite understandably panicky. They cried out. They blamed Moses. They longed for “the good old days” when they were the Egyptians’ slaves. After all, there were plenty of graves in Egypt. What need was there to go into this desolate place to die?!
And into this impossible situation, Moses speaks the improbable words, “. . . you must be quiet.”
However, taking vs. 14 all by itself may be somewhat misleading. This is a common problem in reading the Bible or any other book, or in having any conversation. Words out of context can be very misleading. In fact, an isolated statement may mean precisely the opposite of what it seems to mean when you factor in the context. In this case, vs. 15 seems to stand on their heads Moses’ words about being quiet.
“15 The LORD said to Moses, ‘Why do you cry to me? Tell the people of Israel to go forward. 16 Lift up your staff, and stretch out your hand over the sea and divide it, that the people of Israel may go through the sea on dry ground. 17 And I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they shall go in after them, and I will get glory over Pharaoh and all his host, his chariots, and his horsemen. 18 And the Egyptians shall know that I am the LORD, when I have gotten glory over Pharaoh, his chariots, and his horsemen.’” (Exodus 14:15-18, English Standard Version)
When there is no forward, God commands his leader Moses to command the people to move forward. How do you go forward when there is no such thing?
There is frequently a forward, even when we don’t see it is, or think that there could be one. We may not like the forward, but it may be the right one, nonetheless.
So, you don’t know what to do? Move forward! You may need to be quiet first. But then, you may hear the command to move forward anyway.
“WHAT IS REALLY STRANGE”
DTEB, “WHAT IS REALLY STRANGE”
Some of us at the meeting this morning decided to walk from the church to the restaurant where we have our after-meeting. There had been a lot of rain, and as we were walking through a shopping center parking lot, we saw a strange sight.
“Look!” one of the guys exclaimed. He was pointing at something in a very shallow puddle of water. It was small, but was moving too fast for any of us to tell what it was. I thought it might be a very small snake. One of the other guys thought it was a tadpole. (He was probably right.)
We stared at it for what seemed a long time, until somebody said, “That is really strange.”
However, one of the men in the group said, “No! What is strange is four guys standing in a parking lot staring at a water puddle.”
The spell was broken, we laughed, and moved on.
Strange things abound in our world. The really strange thing is when humans notice those strange things.
There was a man tending a flock of sheep in a fairly barren area. Apparently, he was starved for entertainment, so he noticed things. But things rarely got weird. One day, they got very weird indeed.
He noticed a bush on fire. No big deal. He had seen that before. But he stared a little longer and furrowed his brow. Something was strange here: The bush was on fire, but it wasn’t burning up! He decided to go over for a closer look.
4 “When the LORD saw Moses coming to take a closer look, God called to him from the middle of the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!’ ‘Here I am!’ Moses replied.
5 ‘Do not come any closer,’ the LORD warned. ‘Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.’ (Exodus 3:4-5, New Living Translation)
Apparently, the LORD speaking to Moses was closely related to the fact that Moses turned aside to see the bush. It wasn’t the burning bush itself that led to the call of Moses to lead the children of Israel out of Egypt. It was Moses’ curiosity. It would seem that God likes people to be curious, at least, under certain conditions.
Now, obviously, curiosity isn’t always a good thing. It can, in fact, be fatal. But the mere fact that something can be wrong does not mean that it is always a bad thing. (Sex and lots of other things come to mind at this point.) In fact the worst bad things are usually very good things, that have been terribly twisted.
Moses likely regretted his curiosity a thousand times. Getting the children of Israel out of slavery was not a cake walk. And once God had, through Moses, gotten the people out of Egypt, there was the matter of getting them into the Promised Land. The fact of the matter is that the people he had helped bring out of Egypt nearly drove the poor man (and God) crazy. (Read Exodus through Deuteronomy for further details.)
Nevertheless, the truth is this: Whether the Israelites knew it or not, whether Moses liked it or not, it was Moses’ curiosity that ended up being transformative.
I don’t know if our curiosity this morning about some life form in a parking lot puddle will ever be as transformational as Moses’ curiosity before a burning bush in the desert. However, I suspect that the ministry of curious noticing was good for us. And perhaps the really strange thing is that we don’t notice more strange things.
Let’s notice a few strange things today and every day. Who knows? It might be the beginning of freedom for ourselves and others. It might lead to a life-transforming encounter with God.
MOSES, GOD, AND THE BURNING BUSH: CURIOSITY, REVERENCE, AND SURRENDERING TO OBEDIENCE
It might seem as if the words in the title of this post have nothing to do with one another. However, there is a story that has all of these components: the story of Moses and the burning bush. The story is found in Exodus 3-4 in the Bible.
Moses had been adopted in the court of Pharaoh, King of Egypt. (You might say that he had a “court-appointed” guardian, but you would only make such a bad pun if you have my particular brand of humor. For your sake, as well as for the sake of those around you, I hope that you don’t!)
Moses eventually got on the bad side of the king because Moses killed one of the king’s low-level officials. Kings don’t like it when someone murders one of their officials. Moses ran for his life.
Eventually, he got into the d.p.p. (desert protection program), which was a bit like the witness protection program. He assumed the identity of a shepherd in the Sinai Desert.
It was while he was taking care of the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law that Moses encountered a strange phenomenon: a bush that burned, but did not burn up. (See Exodus 3-4 for further details.)
Apparently, there wasn’t a lot of excitement in the desert. No t v, no Facebook or Twitter—in fact, no internet access at all! So, Moses decided that a burning bush that didn’t burn up was worth a look-see.
Moses didn’t hear the voice of God until he yielded to his curiosity. The biblical story is very clear about that. “When the LORD saw that he had gone over to look, God called to him from within the bush . . .” (Exodus 3:4). Apparently, one of the conditions for hearing the voice of God is curiosity.
But as soon as the LORD God saw that Moses was curious, God decided to take him to another level: reverence. “Don’t come any closer! Take off your sandals. The ground you are standing on is holy ground.”
Curiosity without reverence swiftly becomes irreverence. The difference between holy curiosity and garden-variety nosiness is the fear of the LORD. I’m afraid that I am often more curious than reverent. In fact, I would hazard a guess that this is true of our entire culture. Curiosity can lead to deep insight and profound growth. It can even lead to a life-changing life’s calling. Such a life-calling can transform our own lives and can, as with Moses, lead to the transformation of others. Many a transforming liberator has begun his difficult and unwilling journey by being curious, but the journey is continued and energized by reverence.
But then, comes the really hard part: obedience. Moses struggled with that one—a lot! In the face of God’s sending Moses back to Egypt, Moses tried to wiggle out of God’s call. Moses presented one excuse after another, until finally even the All-Patient One lost his patience with Moses.
But, in the end, Moses obeyed. And while postponed obedience is disobedience, when we finally do obey, it is still obedience. It’s not pretty, but it is obedience.
Curiosity, reverence, and obedience: They may not be the Holy Trinity, but they are important.
Wrong Question? Right question? No question!
But Moses said to God, “Who am I . . . ?” that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring the sons of Israel out of Egypt?”
And He (i.e., the LORD) said, “Certainly I will be with you . . .” (Exodus 3:11-12).
Moses was asking the wrong question. He was asking who he was. Who was Moses to go to Pharaoh, and tell him to let God’s people go from their slavery?
The right question was this: “God, will You go with me?”
Actually, Moses didn’t even need to ask this question. The LORD God was going with Moses, whether or not Moses asked!
Have you ever been asked—or told—to do impossible things? Have you ever asked the question, “Who am I to do this?”
Wrong question! If God tells us to do something, God will go with us.
The with-us-ness of God is one of the most comforting and empowering truths of the universe. And it wasn’t just Moses that God was with. God was with Israel when they went through the fires and floods (Isaiah 43:2).
For Christians, Jesus Christ is the ultimate expression of God’s with-us-ness. Joseph, Mary’s husband, was thinking about divorcing his betrothed wife. She was pregnant, and Joseph was quite certain that the child was not his.
However, an angel appeared to him in a dream. I’ll let Matthew tell this story.
“But when he had considered this, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, ‘Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit.
‘She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.’
Now all this took place to fulfill what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet:
‘BEHOLD, THE VIRGIN SHALL BE WITH CHILD AND SHALL BEAR A SON, AND THEY SHALL CALL HIS NAME IMMANUEL’ which translated means, ‘GOD WITH US.’”
I was puzzled by this passage for years. Name him “Jesus.” This fulfills the prophecy that the child will be called “Immanuel.”
Matthew explains that the name “Jesus” (which literally means “the LORD will deliver”) means that Jesus will primarily deliver his people from their sins. It should be noted that even (especially?) God’s people need to be forgiven. And the name “Immanuel” means “God-with-us.”
However, there is a problem: Name him “Jesus,” to fulfill the prophecy that he will be called “Immanuel.”
What! That sounds like someone saying, “Name him ‘George,’ since it was predicted that he would be named ‘Timothy’!”
But eventually, I got it: THE ONLY WAY FOR GOD TO BE WITH US IS FOR GOD TO DELIVER US FROM OUR SINS.
I have heard it said this way. I have no idea who said it, but it cannot be said better. “God is not against us for our sins; rather, God is for us against our sins.”
Who are you to do something impossible, like dealing with the messes you’ve endured or created? Wrong question! God is with you! And that’s not a question. It is a glorious reality!
DOWN TO EARTH BELIEVER
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- “Character is the Real Lesson” January 19, 2024I am often confused about what lesson I’m really supposed to be learning. For example, this morning I was trying to knock out several Spanish lessons. My intentions were a lot better than my internet connection. I’ve done three lessons. Or rather, I’ve done two lessons. One of them I did twice because the internet […]
- “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked” January 1, 2024Each year, I try to come up with one word or a short phrase for what I intend to work on in the upcoming year. 2024 is “The Year of Becoming Un-Planked”. What?!! What does that even mean? So glad that you asked! Jesus said to his disciples, “Why do you look at the speck […]
- “Searching for the Noble One” December 26, 2023My wife and I were reading Luke, chapter 2 on Christmas Day. Luke 2 talks about the shepherds being told to look for this very special child—in fact, this King—in a stable. I prefer the word “barn”. I grew up on a farm. I know what a barn is. A stable is entirely too biblical […]
- “That Don’t Impress God Much” December 14, 2023DTEB, “That Don’t Impress God Much” “That Don’t Impress Me Much” (Song by Robert John Lange and Shania Twain) Micah 6:8 (MSG) “But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women. It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor, be […]
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