It's about who gets the credit!

Look, Listen- Hear, Obey!

Some challenge arises and we wonder, “What are we going to do?” With that we are off and running, scrambling to assemble resources, putting together our strategies. What’s wrong with that?  Nothing, except that as Christians, we are not our own! The Bible teaches us that we are to “Be silent, and know that I am God! I will be honored by every nation.” (Psalm 46:10, NLT)  Before we work, we are to wait. If we make the plans, we do so within the framework of what we believe to be possible.  The Lord does BIGGER things! 

The newly ‘called out’ nation of Israel left Egypt in high spirits. After a long struggle with Pharaoh, they were finally free. They danced across the desert, singing the praises of God and their leader, Moses.  Then, somebody spotted the dust plume on the horizon and scouts reported that the crack brigade of Egypt’s army was on their tail, some 600 chariots, coming to take them back to slavery.  They could not flee because the Red Sea was front of them. "As Pharaoh approached, the Israelites looked up, and there were the Egyptians, marching after them. They were terrified and cried out to the LORD. They said to Moses, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you brought us to the desert to die? What have you done to us by bringing us out of Egypt? Didn’t we say to you in Egypt, ‘Leave us alone; let us serve the Egyptians’? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the desert!” (Exodus 14:10-12, NIV) Their terror is not baseless.

Moses response to them is a lesson for the ages, for all who would know the salvation of the Lord.  “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the LORD will bring you today.” (Exodus 14:13, NIV)  Wait? Stand in place? With an army coming quickly to capture?  That was exactly what God wanted them to do.  Moses listened prayerfully and God gave him an absurd (by human reason) direction.  “Lead the people right up to the edge of the Sea, then extend your staff over the water and I’ll make a way for them.”  Can you even imagine the faith it took for Moses to relay those plans to the nation?  But, he knew he had heard from the Lord and he did as instructed.  One of the more dramatic and spectacular deliverances in the Bible happened that night. "Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left." (Exodus 14:21-22, NIV)  God did not want a Moses-sized plan because then Moses would have received the credit for the victory.  He told Moses - "The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.” (Exodus 14:18, NIV)

The Spirit of God wants to work in our lives in a way that clearly makes it known that we are His and that what happens to us and through us is His design.  We cannot know His plan if we are full of our own!  He invites us to stop, look, and listen – and only then to move out in obedience.  The first generation of disciples waited before they went out to tell the Story.  God wanted to empower them so they would bear witness to Him, not to themselves.  He does not call us to passivity, but to prayer. Those prayers are not to instruct Him on what we want done, but rather to talk over the challenges of the world we live in, so that He can share His heart with us.  Are you ready to wait?

Here’s the word from the Word.  It’s familiar. Don’t rush through it. Read it prayerfully, thoughtfully - "For God, who said, “Let there be light in the darkness,” has made us understand that this light is the brightness of the glory of God that is seen in the face of Jesus Christ. But this precious treasure—this light and power that now shine within us—is held in perishable containers, that is, in our weak bodies. So everyone can see that our glorious power is from God and is not our own." (2 Corinthians 4:6-7, NLT)

In my life, Lord, be glorified today! Amen.