The Nation's Faith Exodus 4:29-31

3/17/2008 10:03 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time           Focus:  The nation’s faith

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 4:29-31

            Message of the verses:  “29  Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the sons of Israel; 30  and Aaron spoke all the words which the LORD had spoken to Moses. He then performed the signs in the sight of the people.  31  So the people believed; and when they heard that the LORD was concerned about the sons of Israel and that He had seen their affliction, then they bowed low and worshiped.”

            Moses had told the Lord that the elders of Israel would not believe him when he told them that he had seen the Lord and that he was coming to rescue them from the hand of Egypt, but after reading these three verses the story is different for after Aaron spoke the words to the elders that Moses told him to speak and did the signs that God told him to do they believed.  They not only believed but were very happy that God had seen their affliction that was coming from the Egyptians and they worshiped the Lord.  “Worship is the logical response of God’s people to God’s grace and goodness.”  (Dr. Wiersbe’s book on Exodus)

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  Worshiping the Lord is becoming more and more important in my life; I guess I should say that worshiping the Lord in the correct way is what has become more and more important in my life.  I want to know the Lord Jesus Christ better so that I can worship Him better in response to knowing Him better, for worship is probably the crown jewel in the life of a believer and worship is something that God is looking for in all of His children.  Jesus puts it this way when He was talking to the woman at the well in John chapter four:  “But an hour is coming, and now is, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshipers.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To learn to worship the Lord better, and to get to know Him better.

Memory verses for the week:                                  2Cor. 12:9-10

9. And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.
10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; so that when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Aaron Meets Moses in the wilderness Exodus 4:27-28

3/16/2008 7:45 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time               Focus:  Aaron Meets Moses in the wilderness

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:   Exodus 4:27-28

            Message of the verses:  “27  Now the LORD said to Aaron, "Go to meet Moses in the wilderness." So he went and met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.  28  Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which He had sent him, and all the signs that He had commanded him to do.”

            God sends Aaron to meet Moses at Mount Horeb, which is another name for Mount Sinai, and so the two brothers have a reunion on the mountain of God and Moses reveals all the things that the Lord had told him to his brother.  Moses and Aaron would be together for most of the next forty years doing the work of the Lord.  Ecc. 4:9 speaks of it is better to have two people working together than one:  “Two are better than one because they have a good return for their labor.”  In Marks Gospel it is written that Jesus sent His disciples out in pairs:  “And He *summoned the twelve and began to send them out in pairs, and gave them authority over the unclean spirits.”  In Acts 13:2 it is recorded that the Holy Spirit separated Saul and Barnabas to go out and preach the Gospel to the Gentiles:  “While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’”  After reading those sections of the Scripture it shows me that God says that it is better to work in pairs.

            Both of these men would make mistakes in their service for the Lord but I would suppose that anyone who serves the Lord has made some mistakes while doing it, but God is gracious to His children.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I have made many mistakes in my service for the Lord, and I am most thankful for God forgiveness, mercy, love and grace.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to continue to serve the Lord in any way that He leads me and trust Him to pick me up every time that I fall, and not allow the Devil to discourage me in my walk with the Lord.

Memory verses for the week:                      2Cor. 12:9-10

9.      And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with, persecutions with distresses, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Zipporah’s obedience Exodus 4:24-26

3/15/2008 3:43 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time               Focus:  Zipporah’s obedience

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus 4:24-26

            Message of the verses:  “24 ¶  Now it came about at the lodging place on the way that the LORD met him and sought to put him to death.  25  Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin and threw it at Moses’ feet, and she said, "You are indeed a bridegroom of blood to me."  26  So He let him alone. At that time she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood"—because of the circumcision.”

            This story in this section gives me some problems that I do not have the answers for, but I believe that I have the answer to the most important part of the story, and this is that Moses was disobedient to the Lord by not circumcising his second son, and because of this disobedience God would not allow him to lead His people out of the Egypt.  Moses would latter disobey the Lord while in the wilderness and thus he would not be able to even go into the Promised Land, so God does not care if it is even one of His “favorite” ones if he disobeys.

            Why had not Moses circumcise his second son, when his first son must have been circumcised or God would have got on him for not doing that too.  Dr. Wiersbe thinks that Zipporah did not like it when their first son was circumcised so therefore Moses gave into her when the second son was born.  The next question I have is how old was this second son for Moses was eighty years old so that could mean that his second son was at least in his thirties and not a small boy.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I need very much to follow the commandments of the Lord for God is not a respecter of people.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I am very thankful for the nice phone call that I received from Ann Dekker this morning telling me that Andrew has finally been moved to his new prison home, which has many more nice things about it that the previous two.  I still believe that the Lord will have Andrew return our funds and told Ann about the story of my glasses screw and how the Lord spoke to Sandy’s heart through that incident.  My step of faith for today is to continue to believe that Andrew will be used of God to return our funds to us so that we can use them for the glory of the Lord. 

The Promise of God To Moses Ex. 4:19-23

3/14/2008 9:06 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time               Focus:  The Promise of God to Moses

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus 4:19-23

            Message of the verses:  “19  Now the LORD said to Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, for all the men who were seeking your life are dead."  20  So Moses took his wife and his sons and mounted them on a donkey, and returned to the land of Egypt. Moses also took the staff of God in his hand.  21  The LORD said to Moses, "When you go back to Egypt see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.  22  "Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, "Israel is My son, My firstborn.  23  "So I said to you, ‘Let My son go that he may serve Me’; but you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn."’’”

            This scene must have happened soon after the Lord met with Moses on the mountain, but exactly how long it is not known nor probably important. 

            The Lord reassures Moses of what He was going to do through Moses when he went to Egypt, for God tells Moses that all of those who were seeking his life are now dead, and thus he need not be afraid to return to Egypt.  The Lord then reminds Moses that he should perform the wonders to Pharaoh but that his heart would be hardened and he would not let Israel go until God would take all of the first born sons of Egypt.

            God calls Israel His son, His firstborn, and this statement is rich in meaning, especially to those in the Middle East.  The nation of Israel was a miracle from God to even be in existence because of the way they began, and that was the birth of a baby to a 100 year old man and an 90 year old woman, so this was a miracle from God indeed.  The firstborn had special rights and blessings given to them, and the thing that is kind of odd is that most of those whom God has called firstborn were really second born as recorded in an earlier SD when working on Genesis. 

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  The promises of God given in the Bible that I can claim are very important to me.  I am promised a home in heaven that Jesus spoke about in John 14, I have been given the promises of the Holy Spirit living in me who will lead me and guide me through this pilgrimage here on earth.  I have been promised that if I give my tithes to the Lord that He will open heaven’s storehouse to bless me with.  I am promised that if I confess my sins that He is faithful and just to forgive my sins and cleanse me from all unrighteousness.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Believe the promises that God has given to me that are recorded in His Word.

Memory verses for the week:                      2Cor. 12:9-10

9.      And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Moses' Father-in-laws Blessing Ex. 4:18

3/13/2008 8:30 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time               Focus:  Moses’ father-in-laws blessing.

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus 4:18

            Message of the verse:  “18 ¶  Then Moses departed and returned to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, "Please, let me go, that I may return to my brethren who are in Egypt, and see if they are still alive." And Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace.’”

            There as some things about this verse that I am not sure that I understand as well as I should.  It seems that Moses did not tell Jethro the real reason as to why he wanted to go back to Egypt, but told him possibly a secondary reason, and that was concern of his family.  Moses was eighty years old at this point of this story and this must have meant that Jethro was a great deal older than him for he had seven daughters as was told whenever Moses first came to their home.  At any rate Jethro gives his blessing for Moses and his family to leave.  The age thing is something that gets me wondering in this entire story, for I know that when Moses was 120 years old that the Bible says that he still had all of his teeth, and his eyes were still good, but what about the rest of his family did they receive this same blessing too? 

            What was the reason that Moses did not tell Jethro the real purpose of his journey back to Egypt?  Did God instruct him not to tell him?  This seems like it would be highly unlikely, but possible.  Was Moses not willing to talk about the real reason for his trip to Egypt with Jethro out of embarrassment?  This reason seems more likely since Moses was so unsure of himself while talking with God.  Did Moses think that it would be unwise to speak of this subject to Jethro?  I think that that would be the best reason.

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I want to focus in on why Moses did not tell Jethro his real reason for going back to Egypt, and that is that I think he just did not want to talk about it for he was unsure of how the outcome would turn out.  I know that I have a huge problem in telling people things that I am not sure how they are going to turn out and this has gotten me into some trouble in the past and I would pray that God would give me the grace to correct this problem in the future.  I recognize that this is a huge problem and ask the Lord to give the grace to stop this excessive talking about things when I am not sure of the outcome.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Seek the grace of God to correct the excessive speaking about things that I am not sure of. I do not want to boast about my strengths but about my weaknesses, and have my life more private with others.

Memory verses for the week:                      2Cor. 12:9-10

9.       And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10.   Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with insults, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then I am strong.

Moses Claims "Someone Else Can Do it Better Ex. 4:13-17

3/12/2008 9:36 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time               Focus:  Moses claims, “Someone else can do it better.

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus 4:13-17

            Message of the verses:  “13 But he said, "Please, Lord, now send the message by whomever You will."  14 Then the anger of the LORD burned against Moses, and He said, "Is there not your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he speaks fluently. And moreover, behold, he is coming out to meet you; when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.  15 “You are to speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I, even I, will be with your mouth and his mouth, and I will teach you what you are to do.  16 “Moreover, he shall speak for you to the people; and he will be as a mouth for you and you will be as God to him.  17 “You shall take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.’”

            I just wonder how Moses felt whenever he had to write this portion of Scripture and other portions of Scripture whenever he sinned or when something very bad happened like when his nephews were killed by God for burning strange fire? 

            In all five of these excuses Moses gives to God he is telling God of his weaknesses, or weaknesses that he though he had.  I want to quote my memory verses in this section as God has been speaking to my heart about this same issue:  “9 And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.  10 Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.”

            There are many different places in Scripture where God uses the weak things that a person has in order to bring honor and glory to Himself, for when God uses the weak things in a person that person is forced to recognize that it is God who is doing the work and not the person’s own strength doing the work. 

            Dr. Wiersbe writes that one of the worst things that can happen to a believer is to have God give in to one of the selfish prayer requests that a believer insists on getting from God.  “When God in His anger gives us what we selfishly want, that gift rarely turns out to be a blessing.  One of the most painful judgments God can send is to let His people have their own way.” 

            In regard to Moses’ weakness Dr. Wiersbe writes:  “The lesson is plain:  God

knows us better than we know ourselves, so we must trust Him and obey what He tells us to do.  When we tell God our weaknesses, we aren’t sharing anything He doesn’t already know.  The will of God will never lead you where the power of God can’t enable you, so walk by faith in His promises.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  My attitude has changed a couple of times about the possibility of getting this job in Hawaii, first I was willing to wait on the Lord and see if this was His will for me, and then as time went on I really got excited about the job and especially the location of the job and also the length of the job and wanted it no matter what, and now after doing today’s SD God has shown me that I need to wait on Him, and know that if God allows Tim to get this job and allows me to go on it then it will be for His reasons and if He closes the door on this job then that means that He will have something else in mind for me to do which will be better because it will be from Him.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  God has showed me in the past through all He has led me through that I should continue to learn patience and contentment and somewhere along the way I have forgotten those lessons and need to brush up on those lessons so by faith I will trust the Lord, especially concerning this job.

Memory verses for the week:                      2Cor. 12:9-10

9.      And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I would rather boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then I am strong.

Review of older memory verses:                            Philippians 1:9-11

9.      And this I pray, that your love may grow still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10. so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11. having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

Moses Said To God "I'm Not a Fluent Speaker (Ex. 4:10-12)

3/11/2008 8:23 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time   Focus:  Moses said, “I’m not a fluent speaker.

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus 4:10-12

            Message of the verses:  “10 ¶  Then Moses said to the LORD, "Please, Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither recently nor in time past, nor since You have spoken to Your servant; for I am slow of speech and slow of tongue."  11  The LORD said to him, "Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes him mute or deaf, or seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?  12  "Now then go, and I, even I, will be with your mouth, and teach you what you are to say.’”

            I wonder what it was that has happened to Moses since he left Egypt some forty years earlier.  When Moses left Egypt it seems that he was trying to accomplish in the flesh what God now wants to do with him in the Spirit and it may be that since he failed doing it in the flesh that he does not even want to go and do this in the power of God. 

            This is excuse number four for Moses and there is one excuse that he didn’t use and that was that he was eighty years old.

            A couple of quotes from Dr. Wiersbe’s book:  “The God who made us is able to use the gifts and abilities He’s given us to accomplish the tasks He assigns to us.”          

            “Humility isn’t thinking poorly of ourselves; it’s simply not thinking of ourselves at all but making God everything.  The humble servant thinks only of God’s will and God’s glory, not his or her own inadequacy, success, or failure.  Moses was clothing his pride and unbelief in a hollow confession of weakness.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  These two quotes from Dr. Wiersbe’s book kind of step on my toes a bit.  There are times when I think poorly of myself and believe it is humility, but it is not, and there are times when I try and do things in the flesh, helping God out a bit and not using the recourses God has given me, and that is the Holy Spirit.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trust the Lord wholly for my future for if He save me, an undeserved sinner who was heading for hell then He can take care of all things in my life.

Moses Said to God "The Elders won't Believe Me (Ex. 4:1-9)

3/10/2008 10:36 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time   Focus:  Moses says to God “the elders won’t believe me”

Bible Reading & Meditation                     Reference:  Exodus: 4:1-9

            Message of the verses:  “1 ¶  Then Moses said, "What if they will not believe me or listen to what I say? For they may say, ‘The LORD has not appeared to you.’"

2  The LORD said to him, "What is that in your hand?" And he said, "A staff."  3  Then He said, "Throw it on the ground." So he threw it on the ground, and it became a serpent; and Moses fled from it.  4  But the LORD said to Moses, "Stretch out your hand and grasp it by its tail"—so he stretched out his hand and caught it, and it became a staff in his hand—5  "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."  6  The LORD furthermore said to him, "Now put your hand into your bosom." So he put his hand into his bosom, and when he took it out, behold, his hand was leprous like snow.  7  Then He said, "Put your hand into your bosom again." So he put his hand into his bosom again, and when he took it out of his bosom, behold, it was restored like the rest of his flesh.  8  "If they will not believe you or heed the witness of the first sign, they may believe the witness of the last sign.  9  "But if they will not believe even these two signs or heed what you say, then you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water which you take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.’”

            Moses makes excuse # 3 to God in this section that I am looking at today.  He asks the question on behalf of the elders of Israel, but maybe he was the one who did not believe God could cause the elders to believe him.  I believe that because God knew Moses’ heart, and that he would eventually be obedient to Him that He kept answering the excuses of Moses, although God will get upset with Moses over one of his future excuses.  God is patient and shows his patience towards Moses as He answers all of his excuses. 

            God gives three signs or miracles for Moses to do in the presence of the elders of Israel in order to show them that it was truly God who is sending Moses to rescue all Israel from the hand of Egypt.  In John’s Gospel he records eight signs or miracles that Jesus did in order to convince his readers that Jesus was indeed the Christ and that believing on Him they too could experience eternal life.  Joh 20:30-31  “Therefore many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing you may have life in His name.”

            Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I cannot be hard on Moses even though at times I think that just because he was talking directly to God and God was talking directly to him, and also because I know the rest of the story that I have the right to be hard on Moses, I cannot use this as an excuse so that I can be hard on Moses.  Why?  Even though Moses was one of the greatest men in the OT he did not have all the things available to me as a NT believer, for I have the completed Bible and I live on the other side of the cross and I have the Holy Spirit living in me, and I can also talk directly to God in prayer and can hear from Him by reading His Word.  To sum it all up I don’t have any excuses as to why at times that I do not obey God, and I, like Moses am thankful for the patience of God.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to know God better and trust Him more and obey His commands.

Memory verses for the week:                      2Cor. 12:9-10

9.      And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10. Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak then I am strong.

Earlier Memory verses:                     Philippians 1:9-11

9.      And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real love and all discernment,

10. so that you may approve the things that are excellent,  in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11. having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.  

The Eternal God Knows All Things (Ex. 3:17-22)

3/9/2008 11:23 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time              Focus:  The Eternal God knows all things

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 3:17-22

          Message of the verses:  “17  "So I said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."’  18  "They will pay heed to what you say; and you with the elders of Israel will come to the king of Egypt and you will say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. So now, please, let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’  19  "But I know that the king of Egypt will not permit you to go, except under compulsion.  20  "So I will stretch out My hand and strike Egypt with all My miracles which I shall do in the midst of it; and after that he will let you go.  21  "I will grant this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians; and it shall be that when you go, you will not go empty-handed.  22  "But every woman shall ask of her neighbor and the woman who lives in her house, articles of silver and articles of gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and daughters. Thus you will plunder the Egyptians.’”

          Now after God tells Moses what His name is and what His name means He then tells Moses what it is He will do, and that is He will cause the Egyptians to allow His people to leave Egypt and not only leave Egypt, but they will leave with spoils, which is probably wages for all of the work they were doing as slaves.  The I AM has spoken to Moses and what He has told Moses will come to past.

          Spiritual meaning for my life today:  It is seen from these verses that God is in control of all things and just as He was in control of this situation with Moses He will be in control of all the things that are going on in my life too, and that gives me comfort.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I trust the Lord to take care of all of the problems that I am facing, to control them in the way He deems best, to bring good to me and to bring honor and glory to Himself.

Memory verses for the week:          2Cor. 12:9-10

9.   And He has said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10.                        Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I Don't Know Your Name (Ex. 3:13-16)

3/8/2008 10:42 PM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time              Focus:  I don’t know Your name

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 3:13-16

          Message of the verses:  “13  Then Moses said to God, "Behold, I am going to the sons of Israel, and I will say to them, ‘The God of your fathers has sent me to you.’ Now they may say to me, ‘What is His name?’ What shall I say to them?"  14  God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM"; and He said, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’"

15  God, furthermore, said to Moses, "Thus you shall say to the sons of Israel, ‘The LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.’ This is My name forever, and this is My memorial-name to all generations.”

          In this section Moses wanted to know what the name of God really meant for he already knew what His name was from it being passed down from the patriarchs.  God told Moses that His name was “I AM.”  This word is based on a Hebrew verb which means ‘to be’ or ‘to become.’  Years later when Jesus was on the earth He would finish what this name means when He gave the eight “I AM’s” in John’s Gospel.

          Spiritual meaning for my life today:  By knowing what God’s names mean I can learn more about who God is and more about what His character is all about too, and this is good.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  Trusting the Lord for the outcome of the possible job in Hawaii and not worry because I have not heard anything from Tim as of yet.

Memory verses for the week:  2Cor. 12:9-10

 9  And He has said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness." Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10  Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

I'm A Nobody (Ex. 3:11-12)

3/7/2008 8:52 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time      Focus:  Reason # 1:  I’m a nobody

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 3:11-12

          Message of the verses:  Moses gave God five reasons why He should not send him to rescue Israel from Egypt, and this is the first reason:  I am a nobody. 

          “11 ¶  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?"

12  And He said, "Certainly I will be with you, and this shall be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God at this mountain.’”

          As I try and look at this story of Moses in a new and fresh way I wonder what Moses was thinking about as far as whether or not God would use him to rescue Israel during those forty years of taking care of sheep.  I also wonder in what year did Moses and his wife have their children, was it when Moses first got there or was it latter on in their married life?  The reason I bring these question up may have to do with the reasons why Moses was balking at God’s request for Moses to go to Egypt and rescue Israel.  He may have thought that he was their deliverer when he left Egypt but after living forty years in another country and having a wife and family he may have thought that he just did not want to leave.

          Another thing that I marvel about here is the patience of God towards Moses and that may have had to do with the situation Moses was in, but God surely was patient with Moses throughout this first part of Moses’ calling. 

          Spiritual meaning for my life today:  I do not know at what point in Moses’ life that he became a true believer in God, for he surely did not have too much of a chance to know God being raised where he was raised and so this encounter with God at the burning bush may have been when he began to believe in God for the first time, and again it may have happened earlier in his life.  The reason I ask this is because I am trying to figure out why Moses was so opposed to go and do what God was instructing him to do.

          I know disobedience to God for me, a person who has been saved for over thirty years, is certainly not what I should be doing, and believe me when I say that I have disobeyed God, but am very thankful for His grace and mercy, and for His forgiveness.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  To make sure that my safety nets are back in place.

Memory verses for the week:                    2Cor. 112:9-10

9.   And He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power if perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast about my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10.                        Therefore I am well content with weakness, with insults, with distress, with persecutions, with difficulties for Christ’s sake; for when I am weak, then I am strong.

Recent memory verses:           Philippians 1:9-11

9.   And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10.                        so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11.  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.

What Moses Heard (Exodus 3:5-10)

3/6/2008 7:44 AM

SPIRITUAL DIARY

My Worship Time              Focus:  What Moses heard

Bible Reading & Meditation               Reference:  Exodus 3:5-10

Message of the verses:  “5  Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."  6  He said also, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Then Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 ¶  The LORD said, "I have surely seen the affliction of My people who are in Egypt, and have given heed to their cry because of their taskmasters, for I am aware of their sufferings.  8  "So I have come down to deliver them from the power of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and spacious land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite.  9  "Now, behold, the cry of the sons of Israel has come to Me; furthermore, I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians are oppressing them.  10  "Therefore, come now, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may bring My people, the sons of Israel, out of Egypt.’”

This must have been one of those moments of wonder for Moses and this would not be the last moments of wonder for him either.  God speaks to Moses out of a burning bush that would not be consumed by the fire so God certainly had the attention of Moses at this time.

God identifies Himself as the God of Moses’ fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob of whom Moses would have been familiar with.

The Lord now tells Moses that He has seen the affiliations that are going on with the children of Israel and he has head their cry and remembers the promises that He had given to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob concerning bringing them out of Egypt and into the land where they all had sojourned, the land of Canaan.  Next God tells Moses that He has chosen Moses to be used of Him to deliver Israel out of bondage and into the Promised Land.  I would imagine that Moses was wondering why God would want to chose him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt for he probably looked upon himself as a failure because he had tried to help them before, but this was in his own strength, and he naturally had failed. 

Spiritual meaning for my life today:  This story is all too familiar to me and I have to put off all that I have known about this story so that God can use it to teach me whatever it is that He want to teach me from it.  No because I know what is going to happen I may have the tendency to not think about each part of this wonderful story and wait for the ending.  Moses was standing on a mountain talking to a burning bush, or at least at this point listening to a burning bush speak to him.  God is incapable of making any mistakes and so He has His reasons for identifying Himself in this way for He could have identified Himself in human form like when He spoke to Abraham right before He destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah.  I see in this section that God is compassionate and that He has heard the cries of the children of Israel and remembers His promises to them and in the same way He has compassion on me and sees all the things that I’m going through and remembers all the promises He has for me too. 

I want to say something about how wondrous it must have been for Moses to see this sight and actually be listening to God speak to him, and I know that there are far too many times when I miss the wonder of all that God has done and for this I am saddened.

My Steps of Faith for Today:  I want to know God better than I know Him now.  I want to make this time together with God each day a time when I get to know Him better and better and not just have it a time of learning facts as I have been doing.

Memory verses for the week:                    2Cor. 12:9-10

9.   And this He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for power is perfected in weakness.”  Most gladly, therefore, I will rather boast in my weakness, so that the power of Christ may dwell in me.

10.                        Therefore I am well content with weaknesses, with insults, with distresses, with persecutions, with difficulties, for Christ’s sake, for when I am weak, then I am strong. 

Review of other memory verses:                Philippians 1:9-11

9.   And this I pray, that your love may abound still more and more in real knowledge and all discernment,

10.                        so that you may approve the things that are excellent, in order to be sincere and blameless until the day of Christ;

11.  having been filled with the fruit of righteousness which comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.