Now 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 wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. There 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. So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.” When 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.”“Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.” Then he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob.” At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The 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. So 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. And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.” But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” And God said, “I will be with you.”  (Exodus 3: 1-11)

I’ve been teaching in our Rooted and Grounded Sunday class about Moses (then Joshua) and the Israelites.  I tell you, I am fascinated with all the happenings in this story that spans 5 books of the Bible.  If you read this epic account with an eye for the practical lessons for yourself, you will be talking to God for a while about them.

I want to focus today (and probably more) on Moses’ call, his fears about the call, and God’s practical school of faith.  Have you ever believed or known there was something that you were supposed to do, but you were quaking in your boots about it?  I certainly have.  When you compare the assignment with your abilities, the scales are tilted far away from your natural capabilities.  All your insecurities rise up within you, and you ask, “Who, me, God?” Or you are facing a life challenge that is way beyond your pay grade.  Then what?

Well, Moses found himself in just such a predicament.  And mind, you, Moses had been living in a bit of a predicament for a very long time.  Once the adopted son of Pharoah’s daughter, living in the Egyptian palace, Moses had let his temper get the best of him, and he had killed an Egyptian who was abusing a Hebrew slave.  Good motive, bad choice; very bad choice.  Then he learned that he’d been seen.  So Moses had fled to the wilderness to get himself out of trouble, and there he’d been a lowly shepherd for about 40 years. Day after day, Moses tended the sheep of his father-in-law, Jethro.

Exodus 3 picks up with Moses doing what he did, tending those unruly, stinky sheep on the back side of the wilderness in Midian. Not exactly a fulfillment of the dreams he must have entertained while in that luxurious palace.

Listen, don’t be surprised if God shows up to call you in a new direction when you least expect it.  Even if you’ve made some big mistakes in the past, God is not through with you. It could feel for all the world you are on the backside of a desert, and you feel your life is essentially over as you tread through the dailyness of a dull or painful life.

BUT He has given you certain gifts and talents, and all of your experiences (yes, even those) help to develop your abilities to prepare you for each new moment. This about it.  God was calling Moses to go and bring His people out of Egyptian slavery.  Moses had been trained in Egypt, so he knew that culture.  He had now spent much time in the wilderness.  Can you see how each experience prepared him for the calling God was placing on his life?  He could talk to Pharoah in light of Egyptian beliefs and culture, and he had valuable skills for leading approximately 2 million people through such a barren terrain.  God’s Hand on our lives is like that. If you really look, you can see how He has prepared you for each new experience.  Have you noticed this?

Despite all of that preparation, when God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, Moses was anything but thrilled about the assignment. He immediately began to look at his own self-perceived inadequacies.  And Moses began a series of protests and dialogues with God that just may ring a bell with each of us.

Hmmm…I warned you this might “take a minute.”  I managed to get us to the beginning of this experience at the burning bush.  We will continue tomorrow.

In the meantime, please embrace this encouragement.  You can’t go too far in your foolishness for God to forget about you.  We’re told in Romans that the gifts and callings of God on your life are irrevocable.  Stop in your tracks.  Hear the Voice of Almighty God, calling you, beckoning you to the amazing adventure of being in over your head with Him!

Lord, I stand in awe of Your persistent Love and Purpose on each of our lives. May I never give up on me before You do.  You are so faithful to keep on working with me, even when I fail again and again.  Thank you, my God.

Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5: 48)

Oh, we know it in our heads, but sometimes our emotions don’t get the memo.  We know logically that no human is perfect (except The One).  Then we make mistakes, mess it up, maybe even manage a lollapalooza.  And the personally-delivered, judgmental mental tongue-lashing begins.

“How could I be so stupid?”

“I always blow it!”

“I’m such a failure!”

Notice that the self-message is not, “I failed in this instance,” but instead, “I am a failure.” This is a clue that you may be holding a standard of human perfection before you with zero tolerance for errors.  It’s all or nothing.  You do it just right, or you’re a failure. Perfectionism is virtually a guarantee of low self-worth.  Why?  Because you never can measure up to an impossible goal.

Then you read scriptures like the one in Matthew above, and you become even more hopeless.  “Be perfect?  Me?  You’ve got to be kidding!” But you try.  You try to be a “good Christian,” and do what “good Christians” do.  You strain to make everything go right.  But it’s all so hard.  In fact, it begins to feel impossible.  The drive to perform, perform, perform (especially that kind with the goal of earning God’s favor – or your own – or the approval of others) is kindling for burnout.

But isn’t “be perfect” what the Word of God says?  That’s how it’s frequently translated. However, so often we take the translated word, attach our most familiar modern meaning to it, and make erroneous assumptions.  That can easily happen right here. Now I’m going to share that same passage with you from the Amplified Bible, which provides the more original and detailed meaning of that word perfect.

You, therefore, will be perfect (growing into spiritual maturity both in mind and character, actively integrating godly values into your daily life), as your heavenly Father is perfect.  (Matthew 5: 48)

Whew!  How I love that suffix –ing!  Grow-ing.  Integrat – ing.  This perfect word means a process – a stretching, learning, failing, learning some more, trying again, making little steps toward spiritual maturity process. We are be-ing conformed to the image of Christ.  We’re not there yet, but we are head – ing in that direction. Gradually.  Stops, starts, setbacks, and comebacks. God does not give up on us, but He keeps on work-ing with us.

And by the way, can we go back to the performance of The One? When we received Christ, we received HIS PERFECTION in exchange for our sinfulness.  We are clothed with HIS righteousness, and that’s what God sees.  The attempt to make ourselves perfect is redundant.  He’s already accomplished all of that!

So the good news is, the goal in the working out of our lives is progress, not perfection!

God, forgive me when I berate Your beloved one – me.  I am so glad that Jesus’ performance has become my performance in Your eyes.  Help me not to discourage myself and hold back my progress with the mental habit of perfectionism.  I want to grow, step by step, in You.

Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance.  “Take away the stone,” he said.

“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father,I thank you that you have heard me. I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face.

Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11: 38-44)

It was those words in bold that totally bowled me over as I devoured this passage I had apparently only nibbled before.  “Take off the grave clothes!”

“Oh, Lord,” I thought.  “How many of us have been raised up with Christ, we are fully and eternally alive in Him – but we’re still wearing grave clothes?  We’re wrapped in bondage to entrapments over which Christ won the victory – but we are not living in that triumph.  Our thoughts are those that bring discouragement, distress, and derailment – all smelling of the soul “death grip” where the enemy would like to keep us trapped. We’ve been given righteousness in our spirits, but our minds and emotions are sinking in quicksand, struggling to catch a breath.

Grave clothes.

Are you and I living far beneath what God intended? I’m not necessarily talking about “sin.”  I just mean that Jesus paid the ultimate price for us to have “abundant life.”  Instead sometimes we choose those thoughts and actions that “steal, kill, and destroy.” (John 10:10)

A.W. Tozer said, “The devil makes it his business to keep Christians in bondage, bound and gagged, actually imprisoned by their own grave clothes.”  Jesus provided a whole new set of clothing.  He said that we are clothed with the pure and beautiful robe of His righteousness. He promised us that even though troubl would come, in Him, we would overcome. He offered us HOPE in the middle of hopeless-looking situations, for He is Hope.  In the Spirit, He exchanged all the He is for all that we are not.  But we continue to walk  in the “are not” rather than the “are.”

Grave clothes. Your grave clothes.  What are they?

Take them off, and walk in LIFE freely!

Thank You, O God, for the new LIFE that You have given me.  May I never even set a toe on any path that leads me into the enemy’s desire to kill me.  You are LORD.  I want to act like that is Truth!

When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw Him, she fell at His feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. “Where have you laid him?” he asked. “Come and see, Lord,” they replied. Jesus wept. (John 11: 32-35) 

Read the entire story about Jesus and Lazarus in John 11.

That little two-word verse is often quoted:  “Jesus wept.”  I’ve heard it used to justify that tears are O.K. because Jesus did it, and that’s true.  I’ve seen it explained that Jesus was grieving because his friend Lazarus was dead and in the grave.  Well, no.  Jesus completely knew what He was about to do, and Lazarus was going to be fully alive when Jesus got through with him.  Jesus wasn’t mourning Lazarus.

So why did Jesus weep?  He was with Mary and Martha, whose spirits had been crushed.  He felt their pain deeply, and He cried with them.  He cried for them.  He had intense empathy.  He didn’t just feel sorry for them, He personally felt with them.  Even though He knew that Lazarus was about to come forth out of that grave, He was willing to experience deep compassion in the moment, and it so moved His emotions that the Messiah, Savior of the world, cried.

He feels with you and me as well.  He is inside us, and we are inside Him.  Our hearts beat together.  The scripture often says, “He was moved with compassion.”  That word “move” in the original is an intense word, like the churning of the bowels.  Not only does He Love us, not only does He care for us, He allows Himself to feel what we feel.

I think Hebrews 4: 15-16 is one of my favorite scriptures.

On His arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother.  When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet Him, but Mary stayed at home. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give You whatever you ask.” Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” (John 11: 17-23)

Please read this entire account in John 11: 1-45.  We’ll be pondering this passage for a few days.  I was reading this familiar story in my time with the Lord this past Saturday morning.  You know how it is, when you’ve read something 1000 times, and then zap!  The Holy Spirit bowls you over with it?  Well, that’s what happened to me. I feel that I am to share with you some of what I saw afresh in that passage.

So Jesus’ good friends, Mary and Martha, sent word to Him that their brother and Jesus’ friend Lazarus was very sick.  They asked Him to come.  But Jesus never arrived before Lazarus died.  Four days after Lazarus’ death, when he would have already been “stinking,” when Mary and Martha were grieving and surrounded with mourners, Jesus finally showed up.

What must they have felt while Lazarus got sicker and sicker?  SURELY Jesus wouldn’t let them down!  “Where IS He?” Then their brother was gone!  What disappointment in Jesus they must have experienced!

Have you ever felt that?  You’re hurting.  You’ve prayed.  Others have prayed.  However, no relief seems to be in sight.  Where IS He?

This reminds me of a family story.  My daughter’s three boys at a much younger age were outside with her as their Daddy, Steven, was trying to roof the new shop by himself.  The volunteer help had not shown up, and the task was hard.  Amy was praying for her husband and asking the Lord to send help for him.  She kept on praying out loud about this as time passed by, and Steven struggled.  However, no one came to help.  Finally, Joseph spoke us with his astute little observation:  “Mama, I think Jesus is asleep!”

That’s what it can feel like sometimes.  You wait, and you wait, but nothing seems to be happening.

Why does God delay? Often, God is at work behind the scenes, putting the pieces in place in ways you could not imagine in order to create answers that will delight you when they appear.  In this case, Jesus let the situation become humanly impossible so that it was completely clear that He was God, for only God could overpower death itself. If your circumstances seem to be growing worse and worse, this may just be a set-up for a miracle.  If you think about it, desperately impossible situations are the most fertile grounds for miracles. Like Martha, hold on to faith that even at this late hour, God can step in, and upside-down situations can be right-side-upped.

Further, keep your eyes on Him and your attitude right while you’re waiting.  The Lord may want to work a miracle or two of growth and healing inside you before and even instead of changing your situation.  Sometimes God delivers you out of circumstances.  Other times He delivers you in them.

God, there are some things I’ve been waiting for a long time.  According to Your Word, I know that I am praying in Your will.  When will I see them, O Lord?  How long must I wait?  My eyes are on You, my God.  I know that You are at work.  In the meantime, You have my full permission to be at work within me, transforming me more completely into the woman You want me to be. I trust You, my Lord.

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment.  And the second is like it:  Love your neighbor as yourself.” (Matthew 22: 37-39)

Flying back yesterday from speaking at a Christian women’s retreat at Ridgecrest, NC,  my mind floated to some similarities between the functioning of airplanes and how relationships work.

So I have a couple of riddles for you.

What is required for an airplane to take off? That’s no trick question. It takes fuel and the application of pilot skill and attention to give the active lift.

Here’s a second question. What does it take for an airplane to come down? Hmmmm…

The answer? Nothing. Do nothing about managing the plane, have no fuel, and pay it no attention at all – it’s coming down!

Relationships are like that. Too many people in relationships think they can just put it in neutral and coast, and all will just go along fine in that ho-hum way. Don’t refuel regularly with spiritual connection, intimate communication, and shared activities. Don’t pay attention to the guages of each others’ signals of engagement or detachment. Let resentments grow because you are unwilling to “speak the truth in love.” Add more crud into the fuel – trash like put-downs, disrespect, and hateful actions. Just like the airplane, that relationship is on the way down.

No, wonderful relationships never happen through neglect. They thrive, “stay up,” and rise ever higher through love in action.

Jesus said that the two commandments that sum it all up are, love God wholeheartedly and love “your neighbor” as yourself. LOVE DEMONSTRATED daily in loving attitudes and behavior is the essential fuel. It’s not enough to feel it; what counts is to do it.

I’m reminded as I wrap up these thoughts of the old Lewis Grizzard book entitled, “If Love Were Oil, I’d Be About a Quart Low.” Does that describe your relationship? How will you refill the tank with the fuel of active love today?

Lord, please convict me when my actions toward people are less than loving, and strongly nudge me to make the effort to reach out in kindness.  I need the fuel of Your Love to flow through me and outward to those I touch.  And may I never take those I love most for granted.

I have seriously overslept!
Devotionals will return tomorrow.

I love you.  Go with God into a great day – in your very human body.

But each one must carefully scrutinize his own work [examining his actions, attitudes, and behavior], and then he can have the personal satisfaction and inner joy of doing something commendable without comparing himself to another. For every person will have to bear [with patience] his own burden [of faults and shortcomings for which he alone is responsible]. (Galatians 6: 3-5, The Amplified Bible)

Usually, too much self-focus is ill-advised for the believer who wants to follow Christ. However, what I am about to describe is not about being selfish. It’s about being responsible – for yourself, the only one over whom you have any real control. It’s also about staying away from one of self-esteem’s sneakiest saboteurs. Contained in this important scripture passage are 3 secrets of effectively fulfilling God’s plans for your life.

1. Know that you cannot control or manage another person.  To believe otherwise is a prime ingredient for chronic frustration.  As the Amplified Bible elaborates, it’s your own actions, attitudes, and behaviors for which you are responsible.  Each other individual is accountable for his or her own.  You can influence, but you cannot control.
2. Avoid the comparison trap! God made you uniquely you.  He never intended for you to try to be someone other than that.  He gave you the strengths, talents, and abilities that you are responsible for developing.  They are perfectly suited to the lifetime of plans and assignments God has for you.  Don’t get yourself off track with self-evaluation on a report card God never designed.  Relax into the flow of being the best version of yourself that you can possibly become.
3. Work on yourself.  That’s a handful! I don’t know about you, but by the time I tackle everything that needs emphasizing and fixing about myself, I don’t have time to fix you.  I’m glad to use my helping skills when I can; that’s part of deploying my strengths when God calls.  But I cannot do for you what God has assigned to be your tasks. I’d be crippling you and frustrating me if I tried to take that on.  No, my job is to walk step by step with the Holy Spirit through my own life.  I am accountable for keeping my heart clean.  I have to keep the wax out of my spiritual ears so that I am sensitive to His whispering  calls.   It’s my job to keep my eyes trained on Him while staying aware of the opportunities He has placed in front of me.  When God’s Spirit points out an area that’s not where God wants it to be, I must courageously go there with Him and do the work.  Yep.  This is a handful.

I take comfort in the encouragement Paul gave the Philippians in the Biblical first chapter, 6th verse, of his letter.

He Who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ.  

Thank God I don’t have to compare myself to you, to fix you, or to work on myself alone!

Oh, Lord, You know what a work in progress I am.  Thank You for Your plans for my life.  Help me to stay on Your track by living the me that You created.  I want to make a difference in my world, God, but first, I must work in partnership with You to make a difference in me.