Facing The Adventure: Facing Who we are meant to be
I was standing on my driveway in the middle of the day, when little Caleb ran into our cul-de-sac street with his back pack on wheels. He looked over at me. He got that worried look on his face, and began to explain himself. You see, Caleb talks a mile a minute, and has dozens of questions each minute. I heard the van start up in my neighbors garage as redhead Caleb declared, “Mister Randy, I am running away,” with that always “I’m going somewhere” smile on his face. He was running and standing still in the same moment. I thought he might be catching his kindergarten bus, but then Caleb cleared it all up. “I am running away, but don’t worry, my mom is supposed to pick me up at the corner and take me to school.”
Isn’t that just like us? And Moses too. Here is Moses running from everything from conflict to history to expectations to who knows what. As of last week we saw how Moses thought he knew what to do, and got ahead of God, when he tried to rescue the enslaved Hebrews on his own terms. It didn’t work of course, as he ended up killing a man, exposed by others, and running from a hot under the collar Pharoah.
When we run, isn’t it true that so often when we run, we are counting on God meeting us at the other end. Because that is infact what God does in this situation. Today we will look at Moses experience of the burning bush in the bushlands of Midian.
I.
The
Coincidence
3:1-4 “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 desert and came to Horeb, the
Do you ever come across what seems like coincidences and think, “Could God be saying something to me now?”
Do you know why it takes God so long to call us to do anything of consequence? Because get so full of ourselves there is no room for him. In fact, sometimes when we run it seems that we run so far from God that we can be by ourselves, and God respects that, but he’s still sitting right next us, saying “I’m here when you are ready.”
It is infact Moses who says, “here I am.” But God has spoken first. And God speaks when we are ready. Moses was ready. Do you know why? Moses responds with a simple “here I am.” No list of accomplishments, no credentials. Nothing. That’s what 10,600 days will do to you as an assistant sheep herder. He was ready. And God knows when you are ready to listen to the shepherd’s voice.
You see, it is never a coincidence when God has been there for you the whole time. He’s gone no where. Good things will happen, and some bad things will happen to you in this life, but each coincidence, or better put incident will help on your way to connecting with God again.
II.
The Call – Read
5-10
God speaks to Moses from the
bush in
God says:
“I have seen the misery…
“I have heard them crying out…
“I am concerned about their suffering…
“I have come down to deliver…
Never forget, God notices everything. He was right there when the Jews were led into the gas chambers. He was there when the planes crashed into the twin towers. On this mother’s day we know that he was there when many mothers here today lost children in pregnancy. He’s there everytime we hear of another tragedy in the news. And he was right there and didn’t intervene when his Son was crucified on the cross for our sins. He didn’t intervene and take the easy route because he knew there was a greater purpose for which he was totally committed.
It took 40 years of wilderness experience before God spoke significantly to Moses. We tend to forget the timing of biblical stories. Moses married Zipporah and had children. By now Moses is 80, and now is 2/3s of the way through his life. He had grand kids for sure. He had a settled life now. In some ways he had adjusted to his life Midian even as a foreigner.
Are you going through a wilderness experience? Have confidence, God will speak again. What have you done that causes you to run? Moses committed murder, and was on the run. But God was still there, and he still right here with you. And he’s waiting even more than you for the right moment to call your name again. But like little Caleb, we have questions.
III.
The Objections
– These are basic questions we ask in our life all the time.
1.
Who
am I?
As a pastor, I get this a lot. “Oh, pastor, I could never do that.” Or as God is dealing with you directly, you
would be tempted to say:
“I
could never see me leaving this area”
“I
can’t imagine going on a mission trip”
“I
don’t think I can ever forgive that person”
“I just
won’t …”(you fill in the blank)
You see, God speaking to us has everything to do with our
willingness to listen, and God isn’t going to speak to a hardened, callous, not willing to let go heart.
Some of you haven’t heard from God in years. You have to ask yourself, why not? God will not barge into an unwilling
heart.
2.
Who are
you?
Remember, this probably is not a hand on the hips kind of in your face response. If it was, God would not be speaking to Moses. You See,God knows Moses’ heart. It has an opening, and Moses is working through the issues. There’s questioning God, and then there’s questioning God.
Zechariah was committed to muteness until he named his son John because from the bottom of his heart he had issue with God’s ability to do what he said he would do. But Mary questions God is much a different way, for the angel comforts Mary with instructions Mary receives in the next moment. Mary obeyed God. God knew Mary would do that.
3.
What if they
do not believe me?
4:1 – “1Moses answered, “What if
they do not believe me or listen to me and say, ‘The LORD did not appear to
you’?”
There were 3 signs God gave Moses, the rod becoming a snake, the leporuous hand, and the ability to turn the water of Nile Rive to blood. Isn’t it interesting that all 3 signs were discounted by pharaoh. Discarded.
These signs were Moses weren’t they? If we were honest with ourselves, half of the responses from God are for our comfort, and nothing else.
Who is the “they” you refer to? God cares about our fears too.
4.
What if I
can’t do it?
Me plus me equals finite.
Me plus God equals infinite.
Do you have that switched? Many of us do, even today. You think God is limiting you to short living. You think if you give your all to God, you are going to lose something. Forget about eternity, I’m talking about here and now. You plus God equals infinite.
5.
What if
there’s someone else?
Not me, not here, not now. All the fears of the past are flooding in. God knew this would happen to Moses. You want to know what kind of personality Moses was. He’s what we call a “steady Eddie”. Moses was trying to figure out how to stay in his own accepted norm of steadiness. But God knew that the passion to rescue the Israelites was still upon Moses’ heart. That’s God persisted with Moses. He knew Moses would obey.
IV.
The Key
Hey Moses,
I’ve got good news. Remember when the
people would not listen to you. They are
ready to listen. The situation has
gotten much worse, and they are ready.
God’s timing is everything. Look
at those 5 keys words for they have everything to do with success in God. “they will listen to
you”.
Friend,
you don’t control that, God does. You
can succeed in business, educate yourself to death, or influence til you are blue in the face, but until God says “they will
listen to you”, they won’t. and it comes down to this key. God is in charge of his world, and he knows
how to build it, redeem it, and supply it’s every need. Period.
Why? Because he holds the power.
V.
The Power
When the power of God shows up,
there’s no stopping it. That is why I
resolved many years ago that if God is telling us Christians in
God’s point in my heart was this. It is by God’s power, and in God’s power that lives are changed and God’s kingdom built. The reason god showed up in wilderness was Moses was finally ready to lead a nation.
How do we know? We know because Moses did not go into Midian and build an alternative kingdom. He was never labeled more than an assistant sheep herder in vocation. He remained available for God in every way.
God tells Moses that he will strike the Egyptians in judgment. Moses tried to just that 40 years earlier, but when Moses figured out that it’s up to God to say where and when, God moved right in and used Moses again.
VI.
The Faith –
“Let me go”
4:18 – “Then Moses went back to Jethro his father-in-law and said to him, “Let me go back
to my own people in Egypt to see if any of them are still alive.”
Isn’t
interesting that after all these years, Moses learned new ways of fellowship. He asked his Father-in-law for permission to
go back. We can only imagine what was
going through Pastor Jethro’s mind and prayers all
those years. You see, Moses figured out
who he was meant to be. But he didn’t
find out at the burning bush. That was
the proof it did happen. Moses figured
it out in the wilderness. He figured out
what to let go of, and what to embrace.
Conclusion: Lee
Strobel tells the story of a little boy standing on the sidewalk in the
middle of a block. He was obviously waiting
for something. An older man approached
him and asked what he was waiting for.
The little guy confidently told the older man that he was waiting for
the bus. The man laughed and said the
bus stop was in the next block. The boy
said ok, but didn’t move. He said the
bus would pick him up here. The man
became annoyed and told the boy that he had better get to the corner so he
wouldn’t miss the bus. They boy thanked
the man, and said he would wait here.
The man stomped off as the boy would not move. The brake tires squealed to a stop as the
little boy got on the bus, but not before he yelled after the man, “my dad is
the bus driver.”
Wherever you find yourself standing in life, make it a faith stand. Stand for what God says matters. If you are delivering a small child by changing his diaper, or delivering a nation, do it by faith. And accept God’s process of making it happen.