Let me take a Selfie

And is there anything really wrong with that? I'm not sure and yet I think that the model that we put out there leads to a lot of wrong things. Hang with me for a second... Have you ever gotten ready to take a "selfie" only to end up taking 5 to 10 then adding in filters erasing this fixing that only to turn around and stare at the screen waiting for feed back scared that maybe this time you put the wrong one up. Your doubts come in, self-esteem issues perhaps, or maybe feeling dumb for even going there, or maybe you regret the fact you caved and gave into the newest thing, or those filters tho... Your mind starts to swirl and becomes a confused pile of mess. All for posting a picture of yourself up on Facebook/Instagram or well you pick the social media platform.

Is it really bad to take pictures of yourself? Nah I don't think so where I think we go wrong as a society is making it such a big deal to post the "perfect" picture to the world. But is that a real honest picture? Think about what you read on social media and you get 2 views the first is MY LIFE IS PERFECT look at my PERFECT house, PERFECT kids, PERFECT spouse, PERFECT everything. My NEW car, NEW house, NEW baby, NEW pet, NEW (fill in the next blank).

What it doesn't show is what that perfection cost you either personally or financially. I mean don't get me wrong when I bought my new car I shared that cause I worked hard for it. Then it turns out that now I have to work 2 jobs, move from my fancy apartment to a rental house that came with issues I don't even want to discuss. But did I post any of that on social media? Nope... why? Same as the selfie with all the filters that was picture 7... so that you would see the "perfect" life that I wish I had and yet I don't want to struggle in front of you. I want you to celebrate with me, tell me I'm pretty, I'm doing well, and that I've made it. If you actually saw the other stuff you wouldn't have been so quick to like the photo and tell me "Congrats" most of you would have lectured me, explained what was going to happen, asked if I was sure, was I ready. And you would have been right, (mind you I would have been angry, but you would have been right). Yet I went for it. I went for the praise and admiration over the sensible thing to do.

Because the other view of Social media are the ones that are always posting the negative consequences of life. The "Debbie Downers" of the internet pop up. You know the ones you have either muted them or ignore them, but they're the ones who are always "complaining" about how hard their lives are, what struggles they are going through, how tight money, how horrible the country is. And after awhile you start to realize that they're angry with their life's situation and you think, "I don't want anyone to mute me and block me because I feel the same way". Yet your life is more like theirs not PERFECT, not WONDERFUL, it only has glimpses of that PERFECT life that you always dreamed of and usually that dream comes at a steep price.

So back to the original question... is it worth it? Is it worth the front, the truth, the selfie number 10 and the only highlights on social media or is it worth being blocked to show others that life sucks. Or could there be a different way all together? (And no I'm not talking about a social media blackout although that would solve a great deal of problems)

What if we went back to our roots.
Look at Psalm 106: 13-14 for me
"But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for HIS counsel.... they gave into their cravings"
I don't know about any of you, but when I was studying the Bible this week that verse gripped me and hasn't let go. How many times in our social media driven lives have we sought counsel from others first, how many times have we sought approval from others first, how many times have we asked others to give us advice on what to do, buy, who to date, how to eat? How many times have we looked for praise from strangers first and only ran to HIM when it fails, or we don't hear what we need or desire?
How many times have we rushed into a relationship, a diet, a purchase without seeking HIS counsel only to then find ourselves stuck in a situation that SUCKS and then look up at HIM and shake our fist asking "WHY ME"

I don't want to be honest here and say that it's more times then I can count, but the LORD knows it has been. I am the first to seek other's opinions of what to do, where to go, what to buy, how to look, and then run to HIM when it falls apart wondering where did I go wrong this time...Wondering why isn't my life PERFECT like the dream, like so&so's social media page. Only to be reminded that maybe their life isn't perfect and when was the last time you truly talked with GOD? How can we expect a relationship with HIM where we get to know what HIS response will be if we only go to HIM when our lives are falling apart? When we are on selfie 15 and the car payment is 2 months behind. And then expect HIM to come up with a miracle that solves the problem immediately. When if we had sought his counsel and WAITED maybe just maybe HE would have presented another option with less filters.

Patience... Lord bless me with patience not opportunities

Patience…

Lord why don’t I have any and why is there such a push for it? If I know that is a character flaw why do I desire it so much? Is it because we all truly want what we can’t have? What’s so great about patience and why do so many of us lack it. I’m not just talking about the patience that comes with driving and not getting mad at the guy in front of us for cutting us off (although if we are being completely transparent I could use of that kind as well). No what I’m talking about is the kind of patience that comes from love, mercy, grace. The deep stuff. The patience that allows you to be nice and civil to that one person that you really just want to strangle, yet something internally keeps you from screaming or saying that one thing you know will get them to back off because you’ve finally crossed a line. The patience that allows you to give grace in a situation where all you want to do is put that person in their place and prove to the WHOLE WORLD they’re stupid and you the calm cool collected biting your tongue person is AWESOMELY right… yet something prevents you from doing just that. Is it common sense, is it patience, or is it something else?

Have you ever met someone that you sit back later and find yourself saying, “man they have the patience of a saint”? I want to be that person and yet in order to be that person I would have to be tested and tempted and put through the burning “fires” in order to learn from the mistakes of not responding to that annoying person who won’t shut up. So that eventually when that person is talking to get a reaction from me I can have a detachment that allows me to appear to “have the patience of a saint”. Then again I want the genuine thing the kind of patience that still allows me to care for that person yet not get riled up by their ignorance. Is that even a thing that can happen?

I start to question if it’s a good idea to even write this down. I mean right now as I write this my palms are sweaty and my heart is pounding it’s almost like tempting fate asking for lightening to strike. Like ha ha now what do you have? It’s a rhetorical question I am posing here just in case the universe can read and wants to take me up on anything in this section (for the record), but hang with me for another minute. How does one develop the level of amazing grace? The patience of a saint, the kind of love for others that surpasses all logic to where a person can give up their entire weekend to help another person do something and (here’s the shocker) not complain about it. Where another person can give up their possessions and live somewhere else. Or donate all their time and money to the poor and not questions. Even better I ask you this how does a person sit in a coffee shop without ear buds in and listen to the person who sat down next to them uninvited and started talking without looking for the exits?

What is it in those people that sets them apart? Is it a gift? Is it patience? Is it grace? Or is it simply recognizing that we live in a world so broken that the only way any of us are going to heal to give those people who really need to be listened to an ear and someone who cares enough to give them 5 minutes at a shop to listen to their chatter. After all it isn’t personal they picked you because they have to tell someone. Maybe next time instead of taking things so personal or as a personal attack or an inconvenience maybe we should start looking at it as an opportunity to make that person walk away thinking someone out there in this cold world cared enough to listen for 5 minutes or didn’t escalate my being a “jerk” to an even more embarrassing situation. And in return we might experience the whole patience thing that looks really good from a third party looking in from the outside. Or give either way for one person in one moment we were the person with the patience of a saint and after all wasn’t that what this whole article started off being about?

Anger

Ever had a time when you're angry. I mean a right proper anger for absolutely no reason? Sometimes you might be able to justify getting angry. Maybe the cashier isn't listening to your complaint for the 3rd time. Maybe your husband and kids are just being that annoying. Maybe your mother is asking for something else. Maybe your co-worker just won't shut up about her perfect life. Sometimes though you might just find yourself angry for no reason or at least no know reason that you can phantom. So you all the sudden have become the jerk we all make fun of. You know the one, the one that yells at the poor cashier for no reason, or the waitress for getting the order wrong. Or the jerk who makes fun of the co-worker with the perfect life, Your're the one lashing out and yelling at someone who in all fairness probably didn't deserve it like your husband, kids, or mother.
You are the one who can't find anything positive about the day, month, year. And before you know it you are the one sitting all alone at lunch festering in your anger, hating the world even more, and blaming them for the hand you've been dealt after all they couldn't possibly understand what you are going through.

Who would want to talk to you I mean if they do they run the risk of getting an earful of complaints, yelling, or you dragging them into an argument that no one asked for. Others may start to avoid you or worse you start to attract "that crowd" you know the one I am talking about. The ones just like you that can't find anything good to say about anything. So all you do is talk about the negative things over and over working yourselves up into a frenzy as you compare who has it worse. After all it's easier to join in on negativity then it is to find something positive.
Then there comes a point when you realize maybe this is God's fault or heck maybe you were already there. So you start questioning Him and His "almighty glory" where are you when I need you? How come you never seem to help me? Why do good people always seem to be the ones suffering?

Any of this sound familiar...

If it doesn't you are one lucky human being and I applaud you. For the others welcome to the club

The Bible is usually helpful on situations like this if we can catch it early enough in our anger to research, but usually by the time we realize we need to look at truth we maybe too far gone to look through scripture to help us. The thing about the bible that can be frustrating is it approaches anger in 2 ways. It gives us examples of God's anger and how he reacts to anger to give us a proper role model to follow and it gives us examples of human anger and what not to do to learn from. Personally I learn better from other's experiences as I am likely to have done them as well. That being said in anger I also like to see the right way to approach a situation since it feels a time that my anger will just flare up out of no where.

What was hard about this topic to write was where to begin. After all I have anger daily either through stress, sadness or worry which I found to be funny. A lot of my emotions that I experience will tie back to anger. If you make me feel unsafe or scared you will see angry Sara. If you make me worry about you angry Sara again. If I am stressed dear me angry Sara

It's starting to sound like I am always angry but I think that my emotions lead to anger as a first response, almost like my body doesn't know how to process the others. Weird I know, but there it is. Psalms 4 helps me to feel less weird in this. It shows us that anger in itself is not a sin, but can lead up to sin by our actions. When you think about that it makes perfect sense. A good friend has told me numerous times that emotions are neither good nor bad they are just like colors. And if you think about it like that anger is an emotion, one that God has as well, therefore the emotion of anger isn't bad. What gets people in the bible in trouble and us in life is how we handle that anger. It's the lashing out, the drinking, the yelling, cussing, and the fighting that becomes the sinful part of anger. Psalms 4 shows us that David's anger is actually driven from anxiety, worry and stress: holy frijoles batman it's like David and I are way too similar at times.
But unlike me David doesn't react by yelling at others instead in Psalms 4 he reminds us to examine our own hearts and be silent, then to trust in the Lord. Which Paul then takes and carries into Ephesians 4:26 "In your anger do not sin do not let the sun set while you are still angry". The first part being very important do not sin in your anger. The 2nd half I use to wrestle with a lot until an older woman at church pointed out an important thing to me, "it's because of the verse that immediately follows. If you allow your anger to fester while you sleep you give the devil a foothold and you have something to hold on to the next morning never allowing peace to enter in and heal the wound." That lady was very clever.
That's why it will feel like you are angry all the time non-stop.

If we are not taking the time to examine our hearts in silence to see what is really the reason we are angry the root cause of our anger if you will. We will have no way to turn to ask God to help us with it. If we are saying Lord take this crazy co-worker out of my life because they make me angry it doesn't really make sense. Let's say God does and a new co-worker comes in, what's to say that new person wouldn't make you just as angry or worse more angry? Instead of asking for the superficial part of the anger we need to examine our heart and find the root of the anger then ask God to help us with it. You can fix the superficial parts are day and never get rid of the anger. It isn't until you get to the root that you will start to feel better. The goal of examining your heart is to help you and the Lord work on it together. That then allows you to build up TRUST with HIM to help us with not only everyday anger, but eventually everyday issues. The sooner we do that the sooner we stop the festering of the wound. The festering of worry, anxiety, stress, hurt, it will have no place to grow because we aren't allowing it gain a foothold within us.

The interesting part about the enemy getting a foothold when we allow our anger to fester or go to sleep with it is this: The bible address feet and why they are important in Ephesians again and it's when we put on the full armor of Christ. Most of us know what this is so I will skip the parts not important to this. But the part that sticks out to the enemy gaining a foothold on us is this: A foothold is a place or support for the feet where a person may stand or walk securely per the dictionary... yet our feet is where the readiness that comes from the gospel of PEACE is located. When we carry around anger we no longer have peace. Please let that soak in for a minute the reason the anger festers the reason we lash out is our peace has been stolen by the enemy who we have allowed to gain a foothold in our lives. HE HAS STOLEN YOUR PEACE WITH YOUR PERMISSION and done so by your anger. To add insult to injury he is helping you to hold on to it by feeding you lies to "justify" your anger. The longer you allow that anger to fester and grow the longer the enemy can rob you of your peace.

When we hold onto emotions that cause sin and never look at the root cause instead allow those emotions to let us sin we lose our peace we give the enemy power and we lose control. That's why giving the enemy a foothold in our lives is such a scary thing.

Do not let the sun set in your anger. It's time to get back our PEACE and our freedom. TRUST IN THE LORD and ask for help.

God Promises Deliverance

I just love the heading of Chapter 6 God Promises Deliverance I mean what a beautiful beginning to a chapter.

We left off 2 weeks ago with Moses asking the hard question of :  “Why Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? (woe is me is this the only reason I was brought here to do nothing, but bring trouble? What’s the point?) Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all (like you promised what gives? Why did we even bother? So what’s the point? Why come here if nothing was going to happen and all we were going to do was cause trouble? And now no one likes great this is going real well Lord, now what?)

And we begin Chapter 6 with God answering Moses with “Now you will see what I will do to Pharaoh” I don’t know about you but if I were Pharaoh I would be scared (actually to be fair Pharaoh has no idea this conversation is happening so let’s reverse this) If I were Moses I would be terrified for Pharaoh.  There are a few people in life that I think God should be like let me show you my full power (no it isn’t right and yes I am judging and yes I will repent of that later) That being said there are a few. Even those few people don’t deserve to have the Lord Almighty say, “Now you (Sara Brown) will see what I (the Lord Almighty) will do to (insert the people Sara Brown feels deserve this punishment) to Pharaoh.” That gives me the chills just writing it. Then the Lord continues, “Because of my might hand he will let them go; because of my might hand he will drive them out of his country.” I love this. The Lord is leaving no doubt as to who will be responsible for letting His people go. It will be by His mighty hand and there will be NO DOUBT as to why Pharaoh let HIS (AKA the Lord’s) people go because it will be down “by my mighty hand”. Whew wee things just got real up in here.

And here it comes again my favorite quote as if we were in doubt on who the Lord is: God also said to Moses, “I am the LORD 

(Dang signed sealed and delivered you can take it to the bank he is declaring once again to clear it up who he is) I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty (Wow just wow reading that man could you imagine being one of those blessed people and now Moses is concerned one of them), but by my name the LORD I did not make myself fully known to them (I struggled with this and had to go back and re-read and re-read those accounts and I promise you I will do a follow up post on that soon more research needs to be done). I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.”

Again God reminds the people and Moses that He remembers His promise and that He has heard their groaning (crying and pleading) and He will not forget His promise to them. This right here is some powerful stuff.

He goes on to make 7 I statements in the form of promises to the people of Israel that he wants Moses to tell them in the next paragraph that are important I am going to break them down for you so that you the reader can see them more clearly. He starts off again by saying: I am the LORD and:

1. I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians.

2. I will free you from being slaves to them

3. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgement.

4. I will take you as my own people

5. 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

6. I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham to Isaac and to Jacob.

7. I will give it to you as possession.

I am the LORD.

Wow 7 promises from God 7 I am statements from the LORD himself delivered and guaranteed to the people from Moses the prophet. Yet do the people respond in a positive uplifting way?

Nope they are just the opposite in fact they do not listen to Moses because of their discouragement and harsh labor… ponder that for a moment. Have you ever been in a situation that was so discouraging that you just couldn’t see the light shining in? or heard that one friend who was being uplifting telling you the truth, speaking the truth, spreading love because you were so discourage you couldn’t even bear to think of the positive? That’s where the Israelites were at. After all life while bad was livable they were slaves yes, but they were still able to live a life, until this Moses character came in and spouted off about God wanting them to be free and a purpose greater then this a life more exciting than this, freedom that existed outside of this and now look at life. Where had all this great talk gotten them? Where was God now? What was He doing? Why was he taking his precious time? Wasn’t he ALL POWERFUL, ALL MIGHTY couldn’t he just smite Pharaoh and be done with it all? What’s with this game Moses was playing all he was doing was making life… harder, struggles more unbearable, life more difficult. Was it really worth all this for God to prove he was I Am?

And if that wasn’t bad enough when Moses reports back to God that the people weren’t buying God wants him to go to Pharaoh and tell him to “Let the Israelites out of his country” Moses was like 

Doubt comes flooding back in (you remember that topic from here right) well beautiful doubt #3 raises it’s wonderful head “If the Israelites will not listen to me, why would Pharaoh listen to me?” (And let’s sprinkle in some of doubt # 4 for good measure because if the enemy is going to mess with our heads he’s going to do it to the ninth degree right?) “Since I speak with faltering lips?”

Poor Moses it doesn't appear that he can win in this situation. In fact it rather feel hopeless. 

Have you felt in this boat? God is telling you one thing and the world is telling you another? Or worse you friends and family are saying No? How have you dealt with it? 

We are going to work through 1/2 of the plagues (there are 10 after all) this week and next I hope. And I will continue to research how Abraham, Issac and Jacob did not fully know God (Chapter 6 vs. 3 thoughts welcomed). Let me know what you thought about today by leaving a comment here. Talk to you guys soon as we dig deeper into Exodus!

Bricks without Straw

Chapter 5 of Exodus takes us into a bricks without straw and a shaky ground for Moses. After a great start for Aaron and Moses things go downhill for the two quickly. Have you notice that this is typically how things go when you are on your purpose. You are flying high after some doubts, maybe some insecurities, but you push past them riding the wave of greatness. Maybe you finally get some people to support you and back you then you hit your first obstacle and WHAM BAM THANK YA MA’AM you start to slide down back into the whoopsie maybe this wasn’t a good idea and end it on a question to God of, “are you sure this was where we were trying to go? Was this really the plan?”

That’s exactly what chapter 5 is all about.

We start off with flying high after the elders bowing down and worshiping God being happy he heard their plea to walking right up to Pharaoh and letting him know the plan in v. 1 “This is what the God of Israel, says, ‘Let my people go, so that they may hold a festival to me in the wilderness.”

Instead of Pharaoh saying, “yep sounds like a great idea to me should we schedule it for next Thursday.” He responds with, v. 2 “Who is the Lord that I should obey him and let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go? I do not know the Lord and I will not let Israel go?”

Moses and Aaron respond back not with explaining who he is, but with their request again and state that if Pharaoh doesn’t let them go he will be struck with plagues or with the sword. Fair point and they were told to say that, and the Lord did state he would harden Pharaoh’s heart, but clearly Moses and Aaron could use some diplomat skills cause maybe they could’ve started with well Pharaoh this is our Lord and this is what He does and He is AWESOME so can we have 3 days? (read more about how to do just that here) NO cool so now He is going to do this? But alas they didn’t feel the need to do all that they just jumped to the chase and went right to the plagues and sword (hence the whole I am not eloquent doubt and fear Moses clearly has might be slightly justified (doubt 4 can read about it here).

v. 5 shows us why diplomats are important “But the king of Egypt said ‘Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their labor? Get back to your work!’ Then Pharaoh said, “Look, the people of the land are now numerous and you are stopping them from working.” V. 6 That same day Pharaoh gave this order to slave drivers and overseers in charge of the people v. 7 “You are no longer to supply the people with straw for making bricks; let them go and gather their won straw. But require them to make the same number of bricks as before; don’t reduce the quota. They are lazy; that is why they are crying out.”

Ouch He thought they didn’t have enough work to do which is why they had time to complain (clearly Pharaoh has never worked. Because as someone who does work it doesn’t matter how much work you have you always have time to complain just saying.) Because the straw wasn’t provided the people were unable to make their quota in this day when you didn’t make your quota you didn’t just get written up you got a beating and still had to work. It wasn’t pretty. What was worse is the overseers and workers didn’t understand what was happening or why this was coming down? What was happening and why? So they asked Pharaoh in v. 15-16 Why are you doing this? “Your servants are given no straw, yet we are told ‘Make bricks!’ Your servants are being beaten, but the fault is with your own people.” AKA how can we do this if you do not provide us materials (take that boss!)

Pharaoh response back with “Lazy that’s what you are – lazy! That is why you keep saying ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord’ Now get to work. You will not be given any straw.” As far as Pharaoh saw things they just wanted a 3 day holiday to drink and be merrier (AKA 4^th of July and I’m not saying they didn’t deserve it and shouldn’t have had it. I’m just saying that’s what he thought it was).

v. 19 is when it all comes to a head, “The Israelite overseers realized they were in trouble when they were told “You are not to reduce the number of bricks required of you for each day.” When they left Pharaoh, they found Moses and Aaron waiting to meet them, and they said ‘May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials have put a sword in their hands to kills us.”

Wow, harsh words from people who have or had just been worshiping and praising God for relief that He had heard their groaning. Yet to turn and curse the relief that had come they hadn’t gotten the memo of refine by fire (sometimes we don’t either) how quickly relief turns to anger when it gets hard before it becomes easy no? 

It’s also hard when the same people who were supporting you turn on you. Opposition from within the ranks of God’s people is often harder to bear than persecution from without (which is why being hurt by a church or members of a church family hurt 10 times worse than when it is by just someone else). How much do you think that sting/blow had to hurt? How bad do you think Moses questioned God in that moment? Well let’s see in v. 22-23 he turns to God and says, “Why Lord?” Oh how quickly do we go there when things go south? Why why why is this happening? First signs of trouble first thing we ask is Why Lord? 

But let’s see what else Moses asks, “Why Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? (woe is me is this the only reason I was brought here to do nothing, but bring trouble? What’s the point?) Ever since I went to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people, and you have not rescued your people at all (like you promised what gives? Why did we even bother? So what’s the point? Why come here if nothing was going to happen and all we were going to do was cause trouble? And now no one likes great this is going real well Lord, now what?)

I love Moses and what I really love about Moses is he isn’t afraid to ask the Lord the tough rough hard questions of seriously Lord now what? What are we going to do now? Why did we come here? Is this it? Do you do that? Do you feel comfortable enough to be that honest with God to ask those questions? 

Don’t worry if you are wondering if God answers the questions are coming up in Chapter 6!

Why should I obey?

Moses and Aaron tell Pharaoh what the Lord says... Pharaoh's response, "Who is the Lord that I should obey him? I do not know the Lord."

I think a lot of people brush past this point and move on quick to get to the meat of Chapter 5 I mean after all God already said he was going to harden Pharaoh's heart. But, this really stuck out to me when studying this chapter for our review tomorrow.

Sometimes we are super quick to jump on people about things AKA "SIN" (and you can replace sin with whatever nasty you want) and say "you need to stop doing "SIN" because God commands it, and I can prove it right here in verse, whatever"

What we lose sight of is Pharaoh's response which was "Who is the Lord that I should obey him? I do not know the Lord."

Yes I am aware that this is was a particular response in one instance in one moment in time, and that we shouldn't take a verse out of scripture to apply it to a situation but, don't we do that all time? And let's think about how much this applies to our current generation (or the one below mine). So many people do not know the Lord it's actually quite frightening. And by know I mean really know Him and if they don't know the Lord why would they obey him? Why would they even want to? It's no wonder why they look at us like we are cray when we do things or are willing not to do things? Or wonder at the nonsense we believe, the stuff we "give up", "won't do" because we feel it is "morally" wrong because we KNOW HIM or because we have a RELATIONSHIP with HIM.

Yet when you don't know the Lord why would you want to obey a commandment of His? Why would you even understand the commandments or think that they are wrong? Why would you fear Him or delight in doing what is right to sit in his presence? Heck even Knowing Him and having a relationship with Him does not always assure obedience to Him at all times (hint, hint, just look at Abraham, Jacob, Moses and that's a few names leading up to Exodus my friends). 

So when we meet people and we find ourselves wondering why they are doing "SIN" maybe instead of judging them we should approach them with the classic line of "Hey have you met my friend Jesus?" (just kidding don't do that.) Maybe instead show them why we do obey the Lord. Why obedience is a good thing.

Wrapping up Chapter 4

We are back in Chapter 4 of Exodus starting with v. 14 “Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do. He will speak to the people for you and it will be as if he were your mouth and as if you were God to him. But take this staff in your hand so you can perform the signs with it.”

• Side point: Because Moses was not confident enough (in himself or in the power that God was going to give him) with God’s best (himself) he had to take God’s second best, which was having Aaron as a spoke’s person and sadly that did not turn out well for Moses as we will see later when he leaves Aaron in charge and they all start worshiping a cow (seriously a golden one which doesn’t make matters any better).

• Also side point: The Lord’s anger burned against Moses: I don’t know about any of you but yo check this I don’t want the Lord’s anger to EVER burn against me. That scared me. I was like what does that mean? How scary was that for poor Moses to have the Lord’s anger burn against you? God is still saying you are going to have to talk but to Aaron and now I have to teach both of you what to do and say.

Whatever the anger was it proved to Moses not to give any more excuses and to just return to Egypt. So he does he packs up his wife and kids ask his father-in-law Jethro to go and off he heads. The Lord reassures him all those who want you dead are dead themselves (v. 19) And he starts the journey with the staff of God

• Side point: The Lord uses ordinary objects to do extraordinary things so that it can be plainly seen that the power of the object came from the Lord. – I read this and was like same can be said about people after all à Those excuses Moses advanced to the Lord to show his incapacity were the very reasons for God’s selection of him for the task… let that sink in

• The same excuses you present to God on why you are not worthy, not equip, not good enough, not prepared, not ready to do your calling are the very same reasons GOD picked YOU for the task at hand.

God goes on to give extra instructions to Moses and reminds him that He will harden Pharaoh’s heart (v. 21) now I believe that Pharaoh’s heart was already harden and God allowed it to stay that way, but it is clear as day written right here that God will harden it so we shall move on. Because these are important instructions to Moses and involve firstborn sons

“This is what the Lord says: Israel is my first born son, and I told you, “Let my son go, so that he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; so I will kill your firstborn son.” – ah foreshadowing got to love it don’t you.  Also when the Lord wants results He does not play around.

Now v.24 gets interesting because we see a spot where before Moses can go forth and become the great Moses that he is he had to be humbled YET AGAIN and learn obedience YET AGAIN. 

v. 24-26 “At a lodging place on the way, the Lord met Moses (scary thought) and was about to kill him (oh my it just got worse). But Zipporah (Moses’ wife in case you were not aware) took a flint knife, cut of her son’s foreskin and touched Moses’ feet with it. “Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me, “(At that time she said bride-groom of blood.” Referring to circumcision) she said. So the Lord let him alone.”

If you recall which you may or may not it was a sign of the covenant made with Abraham in Genesis 17:9-14 every mail had to be circumcised within 8 days of being born or brought into the household in order to be part of the covenant. Apparently Moses had not done it with his son. Obedience is key when one is doing the calling of the Lord. It is also growth and that involves growing pains. Thankfully every time I have growing pains it has not gotten quite to the point of the Lord about to kill me as far as I know. And if it has I don't want to know let's be honest. 

Once that little piece of the puzzle was taken care of the Lord moved on to Aaron and had him go forth to meet Moses on the mountain of God. That place just sounds wonderful. Like let's go meet on the mountain of God. Great things surely happen on the mountain of God no? Like the bush that doesn't burn happens on the mountain of God where God appears? See great things happen there. Anyway Aaron and Moses meet there and they talked and Moses told Aaron everything that had happened. What was to come and the signs he was commanded to do.

From there they headed into Egypt and v. 29-31 “brought the elders of the Israelites together. Aaron told them everything the Lord had said to Moses, He also performed the signs before the people, and they believed. And when they heard that the Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery they bowed down and worshiped.”

That last verse gets me every time, “And when they heard that he Lord was concerned about them and had seen their misery they bowed down and worshiped.” Sometimes all I need to know is that He is hearing me and that He is concerned about what I am going through. Yes I know we will get through it. Yes I know that He has me. But dang yo sometimes I just want to know that he is concerned. That’s all it takes. I love that they bowed down and worshiped Him. Should they have been doing this all along? Yes but, when it feels like silence for so long sometimes you go through the motions. Does it make it right? No. But, when you hear that God really does care and He was concerned enough to bring Moses and Aaron to you to help man how amazing that must have felt to them? He cared enough to do all this wow. 

Add to that they BOWED down and worshiped! When honestly was the last time you got off your butt on the church pew and BOWED DOWN on the grown face first to worship the LORD? Praising Him for all that He has and will do for you? Thanking Him for picking you? Thanking Him for loving you? Worshiping Him for just being Him? Man almighty I feel that it is time for me and as soon as this goes live I plan to have a bowing down worship session myself!!

What was your favorite part of Chapter 4? Next week we are getting into Chapter 5 and Bricks without Straw!