Be An Imagebearer
Things may not look so good right now…
Maybe you have decided to take a risk or a leap of faith recently and things aren’t materializing the way you thought they would.
In the book of Exodus we read the beginning of the story where God tells Moses to go to Pharaoh and set His people free from slavery.
3 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 wilderness and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in flames of fire from within a bush. Moses saw that though the bush was on fire it did not burn up. 3 So Moses thought, “I will go over and see this strange sight—why the bush does not burn up.”
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,[a] 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.
7 The Lord said, “I have indeed seen the misery of my people in Egypt. I have heard them crying out because of their slave drivers, and I am concerned about their suffering. 8 So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. 9 And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me, and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them. 10 So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
As you probably know, Pharaoh didn’t immediately let God’s people go.
The Jewish Mishnah says that it took about a year from the time of the 1st plague until the final plague. Can you imagine how Moses must have felt? He knew that God had said go, he no doubt believed that God would do what He said He would do. However, in the eyes of the watching world that year must have looked like God wasn’t going to come through. I am sure there were days where Moses said to himself, “Have I made a mistake?” “Did I really hear God?” There may have even been times when Moses lost friends because they trusted Moses and felt like he had led them astray because God wasn’t acting on their timeline.
I am sure the emotions were running high. Moses was probably a little frustrated that God was taking so much time. The Hebrew people were certainly feeling like Moses had made a mistake because their lives became more difficult while they waited instead of getting better. Pharaoh was likely gaining followers because it looked as if he would win this tug of war between he and Moses, the Moses who supposedly heard from God. I mean, come on, a year is a long time, right? When God makes us a promise shouldn’t it happen immediately? Shouldn’t God wave a wand or something and just make people do what He wants them to do?
Lets look ahead at the story…
In Exodus Chapter 12, after a lot of pain and a lot of time, Pharaoh tells Moses and the Hebrew people to get out of his Country. However, the story isn’t over, once the people leave, Pharaoh pursues them because he once again changes his mind. Matter of fact if you keep reading you will find that a lot of people died when the waters overtook them when the Children of Israel crossed on dry land. All the way to the bitter end Pharaoh fought the will of God and he lost. God always wins!
The Israelite’s were free but they had to continually stay on guard against their enemies. So do you and I. Has God told you to do something for Him? Have you heard God’s voice in your own burning bush or in a song you were listening to or while you were out on a run? It really doesn’t matter where and how speaks, what matters is that you have ears to hear. If God tells you to do something you can take it to the bank that God will come through. He may not come in the way you had envisioned. it may take a lot longer than you ever imagined it would take. It may and probably will be more painful than you ever thought it could be. But you can take it to the bank, God Will!
So many times we miss out on what God wants to do in our midst. We have all kinds of great excuses, so did Moses.
We can’t afford it.
We don’t have the people to make that happen.
We don’t have the right location.
We don’t have any assurance that this will work.
Let me sum it up like this. The greatest risk of all is to take no risks for God. You may not be able to afford it but God can. You may not have the people but God does. You may not have the best building or the best location but follow God and trust that He will show up and show off. If God told you to do something then take a leap of faith and do it.
Ask yourself these questions:
What do we have to lose?
What do we have to lose if we don’t do it?
If we don’t take the risk then God doesn’t get the glory!
Take the risk, be an Imagebearer.
Ronnie