Today’s reading is Exodus 5:22-7:25, Matthew 18:21-19:12, Psalm 23: 1-6, and Proverbs 5:22-23.  I find myself still thinking of what happened in Exodus 3-4. And it brings to mind a word–insecurities.  We all have them.  Even the greats of the Bible had insecurities. Moses’ calling came at a time when he least expected it.  He was 80 years old when he happened upon the burning bush.  And even though he was standing in front of a burning bush, with the voice of God shouting out His glory, Moses still displayed his slave mentality.  He said, “Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” (Ex. 3:11). God’s reply was, “I will be with you” (Ex. 3:12).  Our confidence should not be in ourselves, but in Him.  Remember, God loves to use the ordinary to bring about the extraordinary.  So, God took the very symbol of Moses’ mediocrity, his shepherd’s staff and turned it into a symbol of power, holiness and greatness.  Once again, the ordinary turned into the extraordinary.  It was through this ordinary staff with its ordinary owner that God displayed His greatness through plagues and partings of the sea, and through victorious battles.  God told Moses to Go.  And He calls us to Go, too.

The word ‘Go’ obviously involves action on our part.  And it is not a suggestion, such as, “if you feel led, go” or “if you aren’t too busy, go”.  It is a direct command for every believer:  “Go!”  We find it again in the most powerful commission of all:

“Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go.  When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted. Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”     

                                                                        (Matthew 28:17-20)

If you knew that you were about to go to heaven in the next few minutes, what would you say to your family and close friends?  Would you not think through and carefully word your last statements so that they would be remembered and cherished?  Would you not take that opportunity to say things that are of extreme importance, not just casual conversation?  Of course you would want to carefully speak, if you knew you were heaven bound!  And so it was with Jesus.

Matthew 28:18-20 is known as The Great Commission, and it was the last instructions that Jesus gave before He ascended into heaven.  It was very important, and it was meant for all of the family of God, every believer then and now and in the future.  And the command was to “Go!”  Now it is not my place to tell you where to go; God will readily tell you that, if you are courageous enough to ask Him.  He may want you to go to another country or simply go next door. But as a fellow believer, I can remind you that we all must “Go”.  We all must reach out to others.  We all are God’s workmanship, and all have good works that He wants us to do, which He has prepared in advance for us.

Worship is part of the preparation for the extraordinary plan of God in your life.  Notice, in the Matthew 28 passage, that the disciples obeyed and went where Jesus told them to go.  They would have missed it if they had not listened and obeyed.  Next, we see that they saw Jesus.  We must open our eyes to see Him.  We must seek Him, daily.  We must learn enough about Him that we recognize Him and His Voice in our lives.  When we see Him, when the scales fall from our eyes, our response will be worship.  They all had that response, though some still had to push through their struggle with doubt.  Their worship prepared their hearts to accept the mission set before them.  And the mission was this: Go!

Why do you think Jesus prefaced His commission with these words:  “All authority in heaven and earth has been given to me.  Therefore…” (Matt. 28:18, 19)?  Because they needed to know that they did not have to function with a slave mentality which would hinder their mission.  They needed to know that the One with all authority, King of Kings on earth and in heaven, was the one sending them.  They should go with the confidence of their royal status!  And He ended the commission with further confidence building words: “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

So we see a progression in these passages that I can relate to.  First we listen and obey.  This leads us to worship.  If we have occasional doubts and fears, worship will help push through that.  Worship will prepare our hearts to receive His call on our lives.  We will need to keep in mind that it is in His power and authority that we take that step of obedience to go, knowing that He will never leave us alone but will empower and equip us for extraordinary things.  If you have insecurities, like Moses did, trust God anyway.  Trust Him, not yourself.   Then you will have the courage you need to ‘Go’ wherever and whenever He calls you.

Today’s reading is Exodus 4:1-5:21, Matthew 18:1-20, Psalm 22:19-31, Proverbs 5:15-21.

But my studies are still in Exodus 2 and 3.  Moses struggled with a slave mentality, even though he grew up in a palace with all the rights of a son at his beck and call.  That slave mentality certainly showed when, in anger over the harsh treatment of his lineage, he killed a man.  And then, when found out, he ran for his life.  The chosen, royal one was now a murdering fugitive, once again barely escaping a death sentence. His royal status had suddenly come to an end.

True royalty does not come from earthly status.  I know many that seem to have everything that this world could offer, yet as much as they try to rely on their earthly status, it just never measures up. They are truly still slaves trying to dress up as royalty so that no one will know how they really are.  On the other hand, I know others that are true royalty, bought and paid for by the blood of the King, officially adopted into the royal family, yet they still act like slaves.  They do not tap into all the riches of the King, their Heavenly Father.

Unfortunately, I can relate to both extremes, for I have been guilty of both.  In the past, I have had moments of self-reliance, leaning on my own efforts, my own connections, and my own earthly significance.  But every time, this reliance left me empty.  And there have been many times that I have lived with a slave mentality.  Many times, I have forgotten who I am, and Whose I am.  And this tragic forgetfulness has left me feeling powerless and poor.

If I should receive a million dollars placed into my checking account, what if I never wrote a check?  What if I never took advantage of the gift?  It would not change the fact that I was wealthy, but I certainly could still look and act like a pauper.  And that is what Satan cunningly plans for us.  He does not want us to know who we are and Whose we are.  He does not want us to tap into the riches of God’s ways.  And he certainly does not want us to invest our riches in the lives of those around us, reaping a tremendous gain for the Kingdom of God.  In fact, as long as he can keep us living with a slave mentality, we cannot reach our full royal status.  Unless we encounter face to face the glory and love of the Lord, we will never be able to become all that God created us to be.  But once we truly encounter Him, we will never be the same.  However, we need to sharpen our memories because we quickly forget Him, His love, His power, His almighty dependability.  Worship helps us remember.

Moses then settled in Midian among a group of shepherds.  The Midianites were descendants of Midian, a son of Abraham and his concubine Keturah (Genesis 25:1-2). In the tradition of those days, shepherds were on the low rung of the social ladder.  They were looked down upon and snubbed.  So, Moses fell from a princely status and settled for mediocrity.  He was content to leave his past behind him.  He did not want to face his past, thus he stayed in that level of mediocrity.

Let me pause for a moment to say that I’m not knocking shepherds.  God chose this same type of mediocre shepherd to be the first to hear the joyful proclamation of the birth of Christ, and Jesus himself was called the Great Shepherd.  Once again, this is evidence that God loves the common man and adores the ordinary.  But He does not want us to stay ordinary. He wants to call us out of the ordinary and into His extraordinary plan.  He does not want us to stay in the life of mediocrity.  He has so much more for us than that.  I am not referring to temporary earthy treasures, which moth and rust will destroy.  I am referring to heavenly treasures—the pearl of great price, as the Bible puts it.  I am talking about experiencing the kingdom of God on earth.  And there is nothing mediocre about that.  Some may be thinking that the kingdom of God will only be experienced in heaven.  But why would Jesus have taught His disciples to pray, “Your kingdom come, Your will be done in earth, as it is in heaven” (Matt. 6:10) if we could not experience to some degree the kingdom of God here on earth?  Today, remember who you are and Whose you are.

Today’s reading includes Exodus 2:11-3:22, Matthew 17:10-27, Psalm 22:1-18, and Proverbs 5:7-14.

In yesterday’s reading, another main character entered the stage, one who may be the most recognizable names of all the names in the Bible (except for Jesus, of course!)  Everyone has heard of Moses.  But the story of Moses is more than just staffs and plagues and parted seas.  Moses was a real man, an ordinary man called by an extraordinary God. We don’t hear a lot of information about Moses’ parents, but we know that they were both from the tribe of Levi.  Who were the Levites?  They were the priests of the Lord; the ones who served as a liaison between God and man.

So, Moses was a Levite, which makes a lot of sense when we think of the details of his story.  He was used of God to be a liaison between God and His people. When we think of Moses, we think of the chosen one; the great and mighty.  When we think of Moses, we think of the anointed one of God, used as a mighty instrument—a small reflection of what was to come through Jesus, the One who frees all men from the eternal slavery of sin and death.  But Moses was used of God in spite of himself.

Let’s look at who Moses was leading up to his mighty days:

• He did have a special anointing, even as a child. The Bible says that his parents “saw that he was a special child…”  Yet, he was still born a slave with a death sentence on his tiny head. It would be literally impossible for greatness to occur in his life.  Yet, as Jesus told us in Mark 10:27, “With man this is impossible, but with God, all things are possible.”
• As an act of faith by his parents, he was delivered from a sure death sentence. The vehicle of deliverance was an ordinary basket used by slaves for ordinary tasks.  God can and will use the ordinary to deliver the extraordinary.
• As the Lord intended, this ordinary basket caught the eye of royalty. The princess ordered the basket to be snatched from the river, and a slave child was discovered.  What could the princess be thinking to want to save a slave child, especially in light of all of the killings that were going on at the time—killings ordered by her own family!  Do you not see a parallel of the prompting that resulted in the action?  It was God who prompted her to retrieve that slave basket, for God, too, saw more than just an ordinary slave basket.  God saw inside the basket.  God saw more than a slave child.  God saw His anointed chosen one.

Do you realize that no matter what ordinary wrappings that you have, God sees you as a chosen one? “You did not choose me, I chose you and appointed you to go and bear fruit—fruit that will last” (John 15:16).  He chose you for a special appointment, just as he chose Moses for his special appointment.  Will you accept the appointment and choose your “chosen-ness”?  And then God says to go and bear fruit: the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self-control.  And only with the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit will it be healthy fruit that will last.

Yes, people can do good things that help our society.  Humanitarian and social efforts can produce good changes.  But true, lasting fruit can only be produced when someone starts to realize and act like a chosen one who has accepted an appointment.  With that first step, with that surrender of our own will and feeble efforts, God is pleased.  And when God is pleased, great things begin to happen!  We step aside, and He steps in.  He uses our ordinary status and brings about His extraordinary work.  Today, choose your chosen-ness!

Today’s reading includes Genesis 50:1-Exodus 2:10, Matthew 16:13-17:9, Psalm 21:1-13, Proverbs 5:1-6.

In today’s reading we find the conclusion of the story of Joseph, and it is wrapped up in forgiveness and blessing.  Joseph confirms to his brothers that what they had meant for evil, God had meant for good and for the salvation of many.  What wise words; what wise attitudes!  This brought peace and blessing to the entire family. So Joseph and his brothers continued to live in Egypt with their families. With Pharaoh’s approval, they were given the best of the land in Egypt and there they lived and worked and thrived.  They indeed were fruitful and multiplied.  But as is often the case in life, the good times brought with them bad times.  Joseph died at the age of 110, and lived to see 3 generations of Ephraim’s children.  (Notice the number 3!)  He also lived to see birth of Manasseh’s son, Makir, whom he claimed as his own. We find out in Numbers 26:29 that Makir was father to Gilead. It is unclear whether the land of Gilead was named for this son, or whether the son was named for this land.  However, eventually the tribe of Manasseh possessed the southern part of the land of Gilead.  In the land of Gilead, comes a rare perfume which was used medicinally.  It was figuratively known as a universal cure and was called the Balm of Gilead.  It was this balm that Jeremiah spoke of as he mourned for his sinful, troubled people.

Is there no medicine in Gilead?

    Is there no physician there?

Why is there no healing

    for the wounds of my people?

And in Jeremiah 46 we find a message given by God through Jeremiah concerning Egypt.

Go up to Gilead to get medicine,

    O virgin daughter of Egypt!

But your many treatments

    will bring you no healing.

Our own efforts at healing our souls and our situations is futile without God. Only He can heal our deepest wounds.

Today, the Balm of Gilead is symbolic of the saving grace of Jesus.  An old African American spiritual includes these lyrics:

There is a balm in Gilead

To make the wounded whole;

There is a balm in Gilead

To heal the sin sick soul.

When J. C. Philpot preached on Jeremiah 8:22 in 1852, he pointed out that God’s grace is always greater than our sin:

“There is more in the balm to heal than there is in guilt to wound; for there is more in grace to save than there is in sin to destroy.”

Praise God for Jesus, the true Balm of Gilead!  Joseph experienced a measure of healing from his emotional wounds, but found that healing in his faith in God.  On his deathbed, Joseph spoke prophetic words to his brothers:

24 “Soon I will die,” Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.”

                                                                        Genesis 50:24-25

And this oath was never forgotten, as we see in Exodus 13:19:

Moses took the bones of Joseph with him because Joseph had made the Israelites swear an oath. He had said, “God will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up with you from this place.”

As time went on, rulers changed, and the favor of Joseph was eventually forgotten.  Jealousy and suspicion set in.  The Israelites had grown to such numbers that the Egyptians began to feel threatened.  And so it was that the land of plenty and provision became for them a prison.  They became slaves in Egypt and this slavery would last for 400 years, just as God had told Abram in Genesis 15.

13 Then the Lord said to Abram, “You can be sure that your descendants will be strangers in a foreign land, where they will be oppressed as slaves for 400 years. 14 But I will punish the nation that enslaves them, and in the end they will come away with great wealth.

                                                                        Genesis 15:13-15

In the next few days our scripture reading will reveal the culmination of what God told Abram would happen to the Israelites.  But it is important to note that this foreboding information came just before the great covenant made between God and Abram.  God told Abram what would happen but he assured him with His Covenant that he would take care of him and his people and never leave them.

Scholars disagree about whether those 400 years of slavery were actually spent in Egypt, or if the clock started counting during Abram’s time, however, we can be sure that slavery felt endless to the Israelites.  But throughout their years of slavery, they were not forgotten, nor abandoned.  A plan of deliverance was already in place.  And so it is in our own lives.  No matter the situation we are never forgotten nor abandoned.  And, Jesus our great Deliverer, our Balm of Gilead, is freely available to us all.