Dear friends, it's good to be back with al of you. Most of you would have been on long road trips. And as most of you may have experienced, these trips can be fun, thrilling, adventurous, confusing, and sometimes downright scary! Our journey with God is somewhat similar to that long road trip. We know where we started and what our destination is. But the journey is filled with so many twists and turns that it’d make a thriller look boring.
For a biblical illustration of a soul’s journey with God I’d like for us to study the life of the Prophet Moses. The life and works of Moses are recorded in Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers and Deuteronomy. But I’d like for us to focus on his early life in the book of Exodus. Moses was born into a Levite family that was held in captivity and slavery in Egypt (Exodus 2:1-2). Moses’ radiance at birth was obvious to his mother and she knew that he was a child of destiny (Exodus 2:2). Every blood washed and born again saint is a child of destiny. The reason many Christians walk around in gloom and depression is that they haven’t realized their destiny in Christ (Ephesians 2:10, 1 Peter 2:9). Once they see themselves as God sees them (John 14:12, Romans 8:37) nothing on this earth will ever make them depressed, self-conscious, insecure or doubtful.
When a child of God is in God’s will, the Lord will make others, even pagans, favourable to them. Exodus 2:6 tells us that Pharaoh’s daughter “….felt sorry for him.” Here is the crown princess of Egypt whose father has been enriching himself by enslaving the Hebrews and she defies her father by feeling sorry for and later adopting a Hebrew child (Exodus 2:10). Not every saint may have a spectacular beginning, but the end is most certainly glorious (Romans 8:30, 2 Corinthians 3:18, Psalm 34:5). If God Almighty could take the son of a Hebrew slave and shake the Egyptian empire to its foundation, then try and imagine what He could do with you and I.
The journey with God could also involve some unexpected twists and turns (like taking a wrong exit). Sometimes we know what God’s will is for our lives, but instead of patiently waiting upon the Lord we tend to run ahead of him and get ourselves into trouble. In Exodus 2:11-15 we see one such incident where Moses murdered a fellow Egyptian to rescue an Israelite. Compare this modus-operandi with that of the Lord Jesus who never hurt anyone but gently led justice to victory (Isaiah 42:3). This chain of events cascaded into a series of events that prompted Moses to flee into exile in Midian (Exodus 2:15). This was certainly not God’s perfect will (Ephesians 4:23), but the Lord did allow and some fascinating events took place. It’s like taking the wring exit and running into some unscheduled, fun and adventure filled events. Midian, in so far as the Israelites were concerned, was a heathen and pagan nation and God Almighty ordered the Hebrews to exterminate it (Numbers 31). In Exodus 2:16-17 Moses runs into some unexpected trouble but ends up rescuing the daughters of the Midianite priest and marries one of them (Exodus 2:21-22). Has anyone ever told you that one could find love in the strangest places? This was not only an interracial marriage, but also international and explicitly forbidden by the Lord (Numbers 31). This just goes to prove that God’s will can defy all logic and conventional wisdom (we see something similar to this in the story of Boaz and Ruth’s wedding through came the lord Jesus Christ). God’s permissive will was painful for Moses. Pharaoh’s adopted son had to become an outcast and royalty had to dwell among shepherds. But this exile taught Moses some valuable lessons for the future (like shepherding the Israelites later).
A journey with God almost always involved some supernatural, cosmic or Divine event. These don’t happen all the time but when they do happen they shake the foundations of our faith. Moses’ encounter with the burning bush in Exodus 3 was tailored to his particular proclivities. Moses’ curiosity was aroused because here was a bush on fire that simply didn’t burn to dust and ashes. Paul had a different vision. He saw the risen Christ in all His resplendent glory and was struck with temporary blindness (Acts 9:1-8). How we see the Lord depends upon our spiritual condition at that time and not necessarily the Lord Himself (Psalm 18:26). One thing that’s certain is that an encounter with God, no matter when it happens in your journey with God, alters you profoundly. Saul the Pharisee became Paul the Apostle. Moses the eighty year old Bedouin shepherd became Moses the Prophet. Always be on the lookout for God to reveal Himself at unexpected times and in inexplicable ways, for therein lies the secret to our walk with God (Genesis 5:24).
The journey with God will almost always lead us to the point of spiritual and sometimes physical exhaustion. Moses had started out quite ambitiously killing an Egyptian, but now he was a reluctant old man (Exodus 4:13 who had to be rebuked by the Lord to do that which he was eager to do forty years ago. God can never use us in our strength. We have to be emptied of all our natural abilities and strength before He can fill us with His Holy Spirit (Mark 2:22, 2 Corinthians 4:7-9). If like Moses, you fell that your journey with God has worn you out and led you into a dead end, then rejoice, because God is about to get started with you. Our extremities are God’s opportunities.
Dear friends, I’m quite certain that all of you are sanctified, Holy Ghost baptized saints. Should there be any among you that don’t know the Lord yet, I pray that the Lord of the Universe will set you free from sin and disobedience into His glorious light and freedom. Amen.
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