Increased Work, Impossible Work

…and they said, “May the Lord look on you and judge you! You have made us obnoxious to Pharaoh and his officials and have put a sword in their hand to kill us. Exodus 5:21

God had asked Moses to “Go!”

He was to go to Egypt and plead to Pharoah for the freedom of Israel. Yet, when Moses did exactly what the Lord told him to do, Pharoah’s response was contempt and even more work for the children of Israel, work that was not even possible for them to carry through.

They came to Moses, angry and disheartened. Moses had only made everything worse. How could HE do this to them??

In verses 22-23, Moses [in turn] cried out, “Why, Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Is this why you sent me? 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.”

How many times have WE gone through circumstances that seemed to accumulate trouble as each day passed? How many times have we blamed the people closest to us?

Then we cry out, “What is God doing?”

Exodus 6:1 says, Then the Lord said to Moses, “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.”

Moses had only recently come face to face with the voice of God at the burning bush. The Israelites didn’t even really know Him.

In verse 2-5, God also said to Moses, “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. 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.”

Moses was updated on the history of how His people came about and what His plans where for them and their future. Now He gave Moses words to speak.

Verse 6 says, “Therefore, 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.’”

We don’t always understand why we go through our trials. Yet everything we go through is for our better understanding of the Lord our God.

This past week, our household dealt with a few organized changes. We had our carpet replaced. As the workers pulled up the old carpet, they alerted us to something very special underneath. Verses of scripture had been written by previous owners before the old carpet was installed. “Then you will know that I am the LORD your God!”

When He brings us into new unknowns, He is the LORD our God.
When depressing situations arise, He is the LORD our God.
When illnesses arise and death takes a loved one, when we feel so very alone, He is the LORD our God.

We praise you, Lord. With all our hearts, we lift your name above all the earth. We worship you, and we lay down our lives for you. Even when the work is increased and even when the work is impossible, we turn our faces to you alone and we bow down at your feet. Even when the battle becomes fierce and discouragement tries to enter our hearts, we keep our gaze fixed on you, for you, and you alone are the LORD our God. When our bodies seem frail and fragile, YOU are the Lord our God. In Jesus name, Amen.

Bright Word

If anyone turns a deaf ear to my instruction, even their prayers are detestable. Prov. 28:9

On a bright day, when the sun is shining through the windows onto my computer, I can see every speck of dust; not so much when it’s in the shadows.

God has a way for us to see ourselves the way He sees us, and it’s through the brightness of His word. The Bible (His instruction) shines on us to help us review our lives and realign our hearts to Him.

When we turn a deaf ear to the Father’s instructions, our lives are dull. They don’t make sense. We live in the shadows, unaware of our offenses, trying uselessly to find our way.

Turning a deaf ear means to ignore, neglect, choose the opposite or other path, take a side trip, take a break, stop where we are or listen to other voices that are not God’s.

Truly, if my ears are deaf to the right voice, it means that my ears are indeed listening to someone else.

Prayer is an acknowledgement that God is who He says He is. Yet, if I ignore His instructions, it shows a deeper sense of disbelief. I am not serious about my desire to follow Him. Maybe I want what He can give me, but am unwilling to give of or invest myself for God. I am simply using Him for my own purposes.

God, give me what I want and I’ll talk to you.

Deaf ears happen when our minds are dulled in illness, boredom, weariness, hurt or depression. The enemy lures us into a state of complacency in which we don’t care whether we obey or not. To WAKE UP, we must stay in His word and remember that He is providing everything we need in order to follow Him.

I once heard a friend say, concerning the hope of our teenagers, “There is no doubt that these young people are tempted in sin and sometimes fail, but as long as there is still a struggle to DO what is right and a strong desire to repent, the teenager is doing well.”

We all will at times fail in our walk with God but the struggle or repentant tears tell us that our hearts want to follow God’s instruction and that our ears are not deaf.

Today’s verse shows me that some prayers are acceptable and some are not. Is it possible that mankind can sometimes lack what it takes to receive an answered prayer?

Yes! The man who will not abandon the sins he favors most (those dearest to his heart) is not heard by God. Such a person may even outwardly worship God, whom he ‘adores,’ yet less than what things his flesh loves. His heart is not surrendered to the Almighty Father. His onlookers may be fooled to think he is holy and good, but God never falls for the religious pretense.

The man’s heart reveals the truth about his prayers when bad, not good fruit, presents itself in the presence of the One he so piously entreats, and his petition to God becomes detestable.

God compassionately listens to the prayers of the sinner who holds tight to the Father’s precious will and clings to His better ways. It’s not his own goodness that earns a right response from God, but his heart. God’s anger and frustration burn with the one who stubbornly rebuffs His commands. The verse above says that this person’s prayers are detestable!

Our Father requires us to hear and respectfully follow His voice when we take His bright word (His letter to us) into our hearts. We respectfully wait for His response (“yes,” “no” or “wait”) when we kneel and express ourselves to Him in prayer. What a beautiful, delightful communion between the Lord and ourselves as we listen and cry out.

Try to speak to Him (in prayer) without the effort of listening and obeying and there is no communion. A heart that refuses God, our Creator is, in turn, refused himself.

When I follow God’s instructions, I’m not doing so without any benefit to myself. God’s ways are good for me. I may not receive the thing I ask for, but when I follow His instruction, my prayers are heard and my life is enhanced and blessed.

Lord God, I have never been a perfect woman. I have made great mistakes. But, in your compassion, you cover my sins with so much love, I can hardly take it in. Your love draws me to you and to your bright word. Father, light up the dark places inside me and cleanse my soul from sin. Help me to walk the path of your precious instructions. In Jesus name, Amen.

Don’t You Dare Come Near My Cubs!

Proverbs 17:12 Better to meet a bear robbed of her cubs than a fool in his folly.

Envision a mama bear. If her cubs were taken from her, she would be in an all-out war to get to her babies. She would fight to the death to save them.

Envision the fool clutching at his folly just as fiercely as the bear fights for her cubs.

The verse tells me it’s better to be in the path of that bear than the fool! Oh my!

To tell you the truth, I find it much easier to apply this verse to everyone else.
“Boy, that person sure is being foolish.” “Wow, does he have a lot to learn!”

However, I have to stop and let the words sink into my own heart….deeply.

In essence, I cling to my folly and say, “Don’t you dare come near.” But, what is folly? It is a refusal to change, an unwillingness to grow or gain wisdom because the foolish one knows all the answers. He is stuck in his own ideas. Maybe he’s prideful over the need to be right, yet also fearful of being wrong. Perhaps he is headstrong and obnoxiously outspoken and never forgives or forgets someone else’s misdeeds. He is bitter, immature and blind (wisdom from others is unwanted advice). He loses sight of the truth and often complains. At times he is a martyr who serves others from wrong motives: “I’ll smother you with my gifts and service, enabling you, because I am afraid you’ll leave me or because serving makes me feel good about me.“

He might be a person who is unwilling to go out of his comfort zone, haughty (acting superior), well-meaning but wrong. He is bound to his folly, enslaved, imprisoned and chained. The fool clutches sin so tightly to his chest that it rules him.

When a fool hears truth, he may ignore it, or he might retreat in shame, allowing the wisdom to make him feel inferior (so much drama). He may be self-deprecating, walking around with head hanging down, sad, debilitated, paralyzed, scared to fly because he might fail: “I’m no good, I’m unworthy, I’m a terrible person, tell me I’m a good person.”

Perhaps he is self-pitying, seeking attention and depressed, OR he may overcompensate by being loud, boisterous, self-centered and pushy, trying to deny that his problems exist.

The fool allows plenty of negative self-talk about other people or circumstances, “That person is being so unfair.” He can be impatient or lazy with too much downtime. He steps out of the light of Christ and into darkness.

At times, I am that fool but I don’t want to stay there. So next I ask myself:

What is the opposite of folly?
The wise one is real as opposed to covering up things by being boisterous and loud. I don’t mean that he spills out his guts all over the place. Certainly, he can be sad about his life, but he doesn’t let sadness affect his self-esteem (He is a child of God). He is sincere about his life: genuine (complete, absolute, authentic, pure). His realness comes from being in the right place with God.

He runs from folly! He lets go of petty things in life. He gives into God and doesn’t give up. He brings himself to a still place before the Father and listens to Him. He prays and leans on God. He is others-centered and takes care of himself so that he will have what it takes to give to those around him. His sole purpose in life is about God and His people. He considers others and shares of his means, his energy and time. He is gracious and interested in God’s plan for that moment.

When he hears truth, he steps into God’s light and allows it to convict him. He is convinced and inspired to change. He accepts what he hears and surrenders to God his all. He finds himself desperate to be with God more than to have his own needs met by anything of this earth.

Lord, give me a heart that is wise. Take my foolishness far from me. Help me to fight and cling (as the mama bear to her cub) to be in your light rather than to prove my point. Remove from me the need to defend myself and instead defend you. I surrender my folly and trade it in for wisdom from on high. In Jesus name, Amen.

Words Matter

…the speech of the upright rescues them. Proverbs 12:6

I love this part of today’s verse, but in order to get the whole picture, here’s the first part: “The words of the wicked lie in wait for blood, but the speech of the upright rescues them.”

All week I’ve been exploring the words my mouth speaks and how those very words can affect the world around me and even my own life. As I began to go back and look at the first part of Proverbs 12:6, it felt like the main character was in a danger of some sort and the words he spoke might get him out of trouble.

Was he crying out to God, saying something clever, speaking some encouragements or truth? One thing I do know is that he wasn’t stirring his foe to anger. He wasn’t badmouthing his foe or arguing. That would have simply quickened his death.

What is it about words that are so powerful they can save my life, whether it is truly a dangerous situation or just a tense moment with another fellow human being? The words I speak must be carefully thought through.

Words matter!

This week I learned in my circumstances that we all have moments of feeling blue. In these desperate moments in which I need to find safety and am ‘depressed,’ what comes out of my mouth to encourage others can turn around to comfort and rescue me.

What may have begun as hurt or embarrassment can change into joy and experiencing God on a level not known before, because I focus my ‘self‘ and my words on Him and not on my frustrating circumstances. I act and speak as if I was His ambassador.

God is the giver of all things, yet ‘I’ am responsible for what comes out of my mouth. There are many things about me that I cannot change, but I can affect more outcomes of my life than I realize.

Sometimes I force myself into self-control that helps me NOT to say what I wish I could say, and other times the situation calls for me to muster up the courage to speak what needs to be said (in careful, thought-out words).

Either way, my soul is changed dramatically when I go against what my flesh wants to do and follow the Lord instead.

Perhaps we all, at times, can become too self-absorbed in always thinking about the inner things of our hearts. Yet, I’m the one who lives in this body and in this mind. If I don’t attend to my ‘self,’ I will not have anything left to promote an outward perspective that gives to others.

I am learning how to speak good things that bless people, not so that it will bless me too. That is just a side effect of righteous speech. Today’s verse is about the great natural consequences of speaking good things.

Father, put on my tongue: kindness and truth in love. Help me to take seriously the fact that my words make a difference, whether they are positive or negative, gracious or selfish or generous or stingy. In heated moments of irritation, help me to value the people you put in my life and promote what is good for them through what I say. In Jesus name, Amen.