Someone Else

One of my favorite biblical role models is Moses. God used him to lead his people out of slavery and into the promised land. Moses was humble; so humble that he was allowed to talk to God face to face. But he did have a bit of a rocky start. He wasn’t always an incredibly obedient man of God. When God called him to lead the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses searched for any excuse he could to get out of it. When no excuse seemed to be good enough he ended his evasiveness with these words in Exodus 4:13:

“But Moses said, ‘O Lord, please send someone else to do it.’”

Ultimately, he obeyed the Lord and, as a result, was so highly regarded by God that in the New Testament, when Jesus was miraculously transfigured on the mount of transfiguration, Jesus was only joined by two people; Elijah and Moses. But his spiritual journey didn’t start out very well. He said to God, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.” Then the Bible tells us that God burned with anger. When God asks you or me to do something, let us be quick to say “yes” and quick to be about it. It is my hope that God never hears those words come from my mouth, and I hope he’ll never hear them come from yours either.

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Obedience to God should be the goal of every believer. When he asks us to do something, we shouldn’t be like Moses and shrink away from our calling. In Moses’ defense, what God was asking seemed incredibly challenging. I’m sure most of us would’ve been afraid too, even if we knew that God would be there with us. And I’m sure it turned out to be just as hard as Moses envisioned, but God doesn’t always call us to do things that are easy, comfortable, or even things that we are gifted at. Sometimes he calls us to do things that are difficult. But one thing we should always remember is that when God calls us to do something, he is always there leading us in the midst of it.

Hands Up

You’re probably familiar with the story in Exodus 17 where Moses ordered Joshua to fight the Amalekites. During the battle, as long as Moses’ hands were raised, they were winning, but when Moses got tired and lowered his hands they began to lose. In case you’re a little fuzzy on the story, in Exodus 17, verses 10 through 13, the Bible says this:

“So Joshua fought the Amalekites as Moses had ordered, and Moses, Aaron and Hur went to the top of the hill. As long as Moses held up his hands, the Israelites were winning, but whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning. When Moses’ hands grew tired, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held his hands up – one on one side, one on the other – so that his hands remained steady till sunset. So Joshua overcame the Amalekite army with the sword.”

Often times this story is mentioned when highlighting our responsibility to hold up the hands of our spiritual leaders. I don’t believe that it directly correlates, but I do believe that the sentiment is sound. Though our pastors, evangelists and preachers may not need us to physically hold up their hands in the midst of a literal battle, like Aaron and Hur, we should support them, so to speak. I challenge you to encourage your pastors and let them know that they’re not standing alone in the ministry God has called them to. If they feel like they are operating solely on their own, they may become overwhelmed, and their arms may begin to fall. If our pastors are spiritually healthy, their flock will be also. We can stand in their corner to show them that we’re right there with them in the fight, encouraging them, or even physically helping them, when they are weak or overwhelmed.

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I encourage you to send your pastor an uplifting email or card, volunteer for some of the less glamorous church ministries, and pray for him and his family often. I believe that like Aaron and Hur, we have a responsibility to stand alongside our pastors with love and support as they go about doing the work of the Lord in our body. And I hope you would agree.

The Passover

If God has gotten a hold of your life and you’ve allowed him to transform you from the inside out, your life may look totally different than it used to. One danger is that those who are faithful and obedient may fall into the trap of feeling a bit self-righteous. The Holy Spirit can break addictions, influence your circumstances, and inspire you to walk in obedience. But I encourage you to not let your transformed life blind you to the truth – that we, including you, still need to blood of Jesus and the forgiveness of sins, just like everyone else. Remember the story in Exodus? On the 10th plague, God told Moses to have the Israelites smear the blood of a lamb without defect on the doorposts of each of their houses because God was planning to kill the firstborn in every house of the Egyptians. Exodus 12:13 says:

"The blood will be a sign for you on the houses where you are; and when I see the blood, I will pass over you. No destructive plague will touch you when I strike Egypt."

Just like the lamb’s blood, we have to remember that it is the blood of Jesus that makes us righteous, not our own deeds. When things are going well in our walk with God, it is easy to compare our lives to other believers and non-believers, and pride can make us feel as if we’re somehow better than other people. We can never forget that if we don’t have the blood of Jesus on the doorposts of our hearts, it doesn’t matter how good we think we are, we would be on a path to hell. It is only the blood of Jesus that saves us – that sets us apart from anyone else on earth who will face destruction. So, let us not deceive ourselves.

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Just like the smearing of lamb’s blood on the doorposts of the Israelites houses saved them from God’s wrath, so does the blood of Jesus save us from eternal damnation. It really has nothing to do with how good we are. It is by grace through faith that we are saved. So, we shouldn’t fall into the trap of looking down on others who aren’t as obedient as we may be in our walk with Christ. It’s great if your walk is strong. And if your walk is not, this truth doesn’t give you a license to sin. But when we boil it down, it all starts with the blood – without which not you, not me, no one could enter heaven.

Empty-Handed

Almost every time I read the old testament, I’m thankful that I was born after Jesus came to redeem us. When he came on the scene he didn’t really change all of the rules, but he did revise them. For one thing, we no longer have to sacrifice animals to God to atone for our sins. Jesus took care of that with his own blood. If you read the first several books of the old testament, you’ll realize that there are several other things that the Israelites had to do that we no longer have to do. But I believe that there are a few that we should still keep in mind. For instance, in the second part of Exodus chapter 23 verse 15 God says:

"No one is to appear before me empty-handed."

There are at least two other times in Exodus and Deuteronomy where God tells his people that they are not to appear before him empty-handed. In context, this is in regards to the annual feasts that they are to attend and celebrate. But I like to also think of it as a theological sentiment that we all should try to maintain. Often times we appear before the Lord in prayer with our hands out, asking him to do something on our behalf. But what if when we came to him, we didn’t come empty handed? I’m not suggesting that every time we pray that we should set aside a dollar for the next offering or anything like that. But what if we came with the intent to praise, worship and adore him before we bring our requests to him? What if when we pray, we think about ways to honor his God-ship before we look to him to satisfy our needs? If you think about the Lord’s prayer that Jesus modeled for us in the New Testament, he does just that. Just something to think about.

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God tells the Israelites that no one is to appear before him empty-handed when they come to the annual festivals to celebrate. If we really reflect on what it should look like to literally come before the one and only God; the God of all creation, who personifies holiness, power and love, don’t you think that we should take steps to honor him by at least humbling ourselves and lifting him up? If you do, the next time you pray, I challenge you not to appear before the Lord “empty-handed”.