35 Sitting down, Jesus called the Twelve and said, "If anyone wants to be first, he must be the very last, and the servant of all."
NIV
I want to know what it means to be last, not so I can be first, but so I can find out what it means to be a servant of all.
Ex 3:10-12
10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of
11 But Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of
12 And God said, "I will be with you. And this will be the sign to you that it is I who have sent you: When you have brought the people out of
NIV
So first God gets our attention and then we have are human moments of fear. Then we are confronted with the choice, do we go or not? Do we do whatever we think God is telling us to do? Again I do understand how scary this is, I have fear myself but I have seen that fear diminish a lot over the years and at the end of this I will tell you why, but back to Moses. So God says “Go Now” but Moses still was a little unsure (as we all are). And then God did something that surprised me, he gave Moses a sign so that Moses would know that it was God (yeah, we all want that) but Moses would not see that sign until AFTER he had obeyed. (Wait a minute!) The thing is even though God does know are frailty and fear he still wants us to act by faith, not by sight. Now we can see times in the Bible were God gave signs before to those he was calling to something but following all of those there was still the moment when they had to act on faith. To be a Christ follower we must be willing to hear God’s voice and obey by faith, even when we are not sure. Jesus said in John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me.” Being a follower of Jesus is listening to the voice of God, letting him speak and acting, by faith, to see God do great things in us and through us. But we have a choice. Moses could have said “If you don’t give me the sign now then I won’t go”. God would have still done what He wanted but Moses might not have been the man.
I said I would tell you why I saw my fear diminish. Well it was because when I heard God, or thought I heard God. I started to step out and act on what I thought God was telling me. In that process I learned to know not only that God DOES speak but what his voice sounds like. It was a process and God used that “strange sight” many times to get my attention. But I learned to listen, and then learned to obey. If we choose to think God does not speak and we can just do whatever as long has it is not sin then I believe we will miss out on the great things God has for us. When God chooses me I want to GO, I don’t want my fear of the unknown or fear of even listening to Him speaking to stop me from being who God created me to be in everything He calls me to.
Ex 3:4-6
4 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."
5 "Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground." 6 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.
NIV
So after God gets our attention you would think the hard part would be over. “We have now heard God and we now know what to do”. But I don’t see that as the case very often. Even once we hear God and God has made himself known to us we still have a tendency to react just like Moses did, in fear.
At this, Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God.
Now the things we are afraid of varies but fear is a pretty common, human response. Something that I am sure God knows to expect from us. Moses was afraid to look at God, maybe he felt unworthy, maybe he didn’t know God well enough so he was afraid of what God might do, and maybe he was afraid God would ask him to do something. All are very logical fears. One fear I see many times is the fear of, “Is this even God”, how can I know if this is God”. These to are very logical fears. But if we stop at our fear, if we stop listening because we are afraid of what will be said, what we will have to do with what is said, or I can’t know for sure this is God then we will miss out on callings God has for us. What would have happened if Moses had let his fear overtake him when God spoke? God would have probably still accomplished his will but Moses would have missed out on being a part of the big thing God was doing. I don’t want to be one that misses out on what God is doing...Do you?
Exodus 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
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."
As I was reading these first few verses I noticed a phrase that I have never noticed before. The text says Moses saw the “strange sight” and then went over to look at it. Then it says that when God saw that Moses had gone to see the bush he called out to him. I wonder how many times God has tried this in my life. I tend to pride myself has someone who is always looking to see what God is trying to say to me. But if I was able to see my life from an out-siders view I wonder how many times I was not looking and God did something “strange” to get my attention. I have been so eager to claim to have a ear to God’s voice and maybe I do but yet still has I think back I am forced to recognized that ear was trained by God getting my attention from the “strange” things he was doing just to get my attention. WOW! It makes me feel a little more humble before my God and others and a lot more loved – I live under his Grace not my own deeds!
Oh one last note that must be recognized… God may do many strange things to get our attention but it is not until we say “Here I am” that the action really starts!
