Is your heart a stone?

There is a fine line between dedication to one’s cause and plain old mule-headed stubbornness. I applaud that person who sticks with their plan, who gets back up and keeps fighting even when they get knocked down. There is something to admire in that one who gives himself to God’s Spirit, dying to Self in humble surrender.  How do we respond when the Lord is trying to change us, asking us to adjust our attitude? Do we dig in our heels even when it is in our best interest to adjust, accept, and adapt;  or do we humbly yield to Him?

Moses and Aaron appeared in Pharaoh’s court to request that he let the Israelites go. They said,  "The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to say to you: Let my people go, so that they may worship me in the desert. But until now you have not listened. This is what the LORD says: By this you will know that I am the LORD." (Exodus 7:16-17, NIV)  It’s a crazy request with which Pharaoh will not agree. After all, these people are his labor force, critically important to the Egyptian economy.  He says, “No,” and subsequently the plagues were introduced to Egypt, starting with inconvenience and escalating in their misery and impact. The story of the ten plagues (Exodus 7-12) is a familiar one.  After each episode we read this – "But when Pharaoh saw that there was relief, he hardened his heart and would not listen to Moses and Aaron, just as the LORD had said." (Exodus 8:15 NIV)

The final blow was the visit of the Death Angel, taking the first-born of every household that did not have the blood of a lamb on the doorposts, which was placed there in faith and in obedience to Moses’ directive.  A lamb became the substitutionary sacrifice. Only after this awful consequence of his hard, stubborn heart visited his palace, did Pharaoh let the Israelites leave Egypt. "During the night Pharaoh summoned Moses and Aaron and said, “Up! Leave my people, you and the Israelites! Go, worship the LORD as you have requested. Take your flocks and herds, as you have said, and go. And also bless me." (Exodus 12:31-32, NIV)

Is there some part of your life where you have hardened your heart to the will and purpose of the Lord?

Are you refusing to do what He asks of you – forgiving another, serving in some way you find undesirable, holding onto a sinful habit?

When the Holy Spirit whispers an invitation to greater faith, pointing you in a new way, do you silence His voice or readily listen?

Persistent disobedience produces callousness towards our Father!  Jesus spoke of the spiritual plight of the people who would not respond to Him. Quoting Isaiah, He said, ”‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving. For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.’" (Matthew 13:14-15, NIV)

Let’s pray to have tender hearts that quickly respond to our Father’s love. Fear of what follows our obedience can make it hard to say a ready “yes” to Him. Replace that fear with faith, expecting that He will provide. Pride can hinder our willingness to follow Him, too. His way can appear as foolishness when viewed with natural wisdom. Be humble enough to be seen a fool for Christ!

Our word from the Word is a beautiful promise. Make it yours today. Know the beauty of a tender heart. "And I will give you a new heart with new and right desires, and I will put a new spirit in you. I will take out your stony heart of sin and give you a new, obedient heart. And I will put my Spirit in you so you will obey my laws and do whatever I command." (Ezekiel 36:26-27, NLT)  

Lord, give us a child-like heart,
ready to follow You in faith

wherever You would lead.

For Jesus’ glory. Amen.

______________

I Surrender
(a prayer in song)

Here I am

Down on my knees again

Surrendering all

Surrendering all

Find me here

Lord as You draw me near

Desperate for You

Desperate for You

I surrender

Drench my soul

As mercy and grace unfold

I hunger and thirst

I hunger and thirst

With arms stretched wide

I know You hear my cry

Speak to me now

Speak to me now

I surrender

I surrender

I want to know You more

I want to know You more

Like a rushing wind

Jesus breathe within

Lord have Your way

Lord have Your way in me

Like a mighty storm

Stir within my soul

Lord have Your way

Lord have Your way in me

(Lord have Your way)

(Lord have Your way in me)

Matt Crocker

© 2011 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055

Getting past the ‘if onlys’

We can momentarily escape the tedium and trials of daily life with those dreams of 'if only...'  If only I had more money … If only  I could be 30 again …. If only! What a monumental waste of time and distraction. When we allow ourselves to believe that life would be better with someone else, somewhere else, we hinder God’s ability to use us right where we are.

Picking up my reading in Exodus, I find that Moses in Egypt where he took up God’s commission to lead the Israelites out of slavery and to the Promised Land. And, everything is going wrong! His first encounter with Pharaoh was a disaster! Not only does the king mock him and the Lord, he doubles the work load of the Israelite slaves. The people he was trying to save to turned on him in anger.   So, what did he do?  Run back to the wilderness to his former shepherding gig? No. Take a vacation on the Med.? No. "Moses returned to the LORD." (Exodus 5:22, NIV)    His prayer was not all that faith-filled! He complained  "O Lord, why have you brought trouble upon this people? Is this why you sent me?" (Exodus 5:22, NIV)  Never-the-less, God listened and answered.  

It is the Lord's answer to Moses that shapes the rest of this blog this morning.

God’s answer has three parts that call us to renew our faith, not in ourselves, but in Him.

First, God says, "Trust in my Providence!"   "Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh: Because of my mighty hand he will let them go; because of my mighty hand he will drive them out of his country." (Exodus 6:1, NIV)  If Moses and Aaron had met success on their first visit to the king, how likely do you think they would have been to take the credit? “Wow, we blew that guy away, didn’t we? We are the men!”  And, probably the Israelites would have tried to turn them into gods. The struggle made it clear that the Mover and Shaker in the work of deliverance was the LORD Himself, and those difficulties were a means of creating utter dependence on Him.  

Second, God says, "Know me Personally!"   "I am the LORD  (Yahweh). I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty  (El Shaddai), but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them." (Exodus 6:2-3, NIV)    God told Moses that the trials would lead him to a deeper intimacy with Himself.   Moses was given the Name of God, the holy Name that was so revered by the Hebrews they would not speak it.  So in the Scripture text, we read the word they substituted - LORD.   Where you see that in all capital letters, that is a clue that the personal Name of God, Yahweh  (some say, Jehovah) appears.   His Name means, "the I Am,"  "the Self-Existent One," or "the One who is Present."  

Moses and God came to a place where they were on a first-name basis. Yes, friend, these trials of life can become what motivates us to seek His face. Will you?

Third, God says, "Renew your hope in my Promises!"  "Say to the Israelites: 'I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. I will take you as my own people, and I will be your God. Then you will know that I am the LORD your God, who brought you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.'" (Exodus 6:6-8, NIV)   Seven "I wills" are God's declaration.  And the promises are bracketed by the statement, "I am the LORD."     He secures the promise with the honor of His Name!

Toss the ‘if onlys’ that keep you blinded to His “I will.”

Money might temporarily make life simpler, but you can't buy peace with God, nor exempt yourself from life's trials with wealth. 

Pleasure may divert your attention away from suffering, in your own life or in the world around you, but when the music stops playing and the dance is over, reality returns.  

A new place may provide temporary excitement but with time routine returns.

God, however, is the source of life, of hope, of strength … and ultimately will take us to His eternal home.

Trust His Providence!

Know Him Personally!

Rehearse His Promises!

Here is a word from the Word. Meditate on what the inspired text declares. "For no matter how many promises God has made, they are “Yes” in Christ. And so through him the “Amen” is spoken by us to the glory of God. Now it is God who makes both us and you stand firm in Christ. He anointed us, set his seal of ownership on us, and put his Spirit in our hearts as a deposit, guaranteeing what is to come." (2 Corinthians 1:20-22, NIV)

_________________________

O Love That Wilt Not Let Me Go
(A men’s choir sings this song in a cathedral.

The message is profound.

Their voices will transport you!)

O Love that wilt not let me go

I rest my weary soul in Thee

I give Thee back the life I owe

That in Thine ocean depths its flow

May richer fuller be

O Joy that seekest me through pain

I cannot close my heart to Thee

I trace the rainbow through the rain

And feel the promise is not vain

That morn shall tearless be

O Cross that liftest up my head

I dare not ask to fly from Thee

I lay in dust life's glory dead

And from the ground there blossoms red

Life that shall endless be

Albert Lister Peace

© Words: Public Domain

Yes, YOU can!

Have you ever side-stepped an invitation to do something because you doubt yourself? Maybe you were urged to apply for a job and decided, last minute, not to go for it, questioning your ability. We all know that over-confidence can land us in a real mess. However, a more common issue is the failure to live fully because of fear.  A crisis of confidence is not unique to you or me. It happens to us all.

Moses, the one-time prince of Egypt, failed and ran off to the wilderness, where he disappeared into obscurity, tending Jethro’s sheep for 40 years! Then, in the purposes of God, it was time! Israel needed a leader and God knew the right man for the job. God met Moses at a miraculously burning bush in the desert. It was aflame, yet not being consumed. When the shepherd saw it, he was intrigued and on investigation, found that the LORD used the phenomenon to get his attention! Once He had Moses’ focus, He called him to return to Egypt and deliver his people from slavery, leading them to the land of promise.  

So did Moses say, "Great! When do I start?"   That is not the way it went. He grasped the apparent impossibility of the job, looked at his resume which included murder and flight to avoid prosecution, and asked God, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”(Exodus 3:11, NIV)   In the dialogue with the Lord he points out his inability and God answers, not by reminding him of his charisma, intelligence, education, or court access.  

 God says to Moses -I'll be with you! … "The LORD said to him, “Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say." (Exodus 4:12, NIV)  

You and I share a high calling, too!  We are ministers of grace, agents of reconciliation, and ambassadors of the Kingdom of God. We are invited to live a holy life and to extend His rule into a world in rebellion, to lead those who are captive of Satan's deception, out of the darkness into the Light!  Which one of us is smart enough, pure enough, to be able to say, "Follow me as I follow Christ."?  (1Corinthians 11:1)  Not one, no one. If we look only to our training or our natural abilities as a qualification for taking up the call of God, we will say, “Lord, you have the wrong person here. Look for another.”  

Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, a prideful bunch, people who were abusing spiritual gifts and failing to truly honor God. He tells them the true Source of their strength is God, the Spirit.

"Thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphal procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him.. . .   who is equal to such a task?. . . Such confidence as this is ours through Christ before God. Not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything for ourselves, but our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life." (2 Corinthians 2:14-16; 3:4-6, NIV)

Meditate on these words from the Word.  Humbly thank God, the Holy Spirit, for empowering you for the task, then just do it.  Let Him amaze you with how much He can make of so little! 

"You light a lamp for me.
The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness.

In your strength I can crush an army;
with my God I can scale any wall.

God’s way is perfect.
All the Lord’s promises prove true.

He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.

For who is God except the Lord?
Who but our God is a solid rock?

God arms me with strength,
and he makes my way perfect.

He makes me as surefooted as a deer,

enabling me to stand on mountain heights."  
(Psalm 18:28-33, NLT)

Now, let’s go in His strength and lead people to the Promised Land. Ready?

__________

Oceans (Where Feet May Fail)

(A song that talks about His invitation.

God used this song to comfort Bev and me when we faced her cancer.)

You call me out upon the waters

The great unknown where feet may fail

And there I find You in the mystery

In oceans deep my faith will stand

And I will call upon Your name

And keep my eyes above the waves

When oceans rise

My soul will rest in Your embrace

For I am Yours and You are mine

Your grace abounds in deepest waters

Your sov'reign hand will be my guide

Where feet may fail and fear surrounds me

You've never failed and You won't start now

Spirit lead me where my trust is without borders

Let me walk upon the waters

Wherever You would call me

Take me deeper than my feet could ever wander

And my faith will be made stronger

In the presence of my Saviour

I will call upon Your name

Keep my eyes above the waves

My soul will rest in Your embrace

I am Yours and You are mine

Joel Houston | Matt Crocker | Salomon Ligthelm

© 2012 Hillsong Music Publishing (Admin. by Capitol CMG Publishing)

CCLI License # 810055