Friday, October 18, 2019

focus on this

Where your focus is, your heart will follow. I have heard this before in many places, but it was highlighted this morning in my time in the opening portion of Genesis 11.

Many are familiar with the story of the Tower of Babel, how the men of the land of Shinar find the area and settled there. They begin to consult with one another rather than with the Lord. "They said to one another, 'come, let us make bricks and burn them throughly.'" (Genesis 11:3 ESV)

I imagine one guy tells another and they begin to work on their plan and others join in and no one has turned their eyes to the Lord as weeks pass. The bricks gather and the men work hard, not even realizing all their effort is in vain.

Psalm 127 reminds us, "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain. Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchman stays awake in vain."

As the piles of brick grow and their focus on self increases, the men then consult with one another again, "Come let us build ourselves a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us make a name for ourselves, lest we be dispersed over the face of the whole earth." (Genesis 11:4 ESV)

How quickly our focus turns to self. We are so full of self that we are drowning in the depression, the sadness, the pridefulness, the selfishness. Our eyes are too enamored with what we see in the mirror to turn them upward to the only One worth gazing at. We think self loathing and shame help us be humble when all the while we are still self focused. We build towers to the heavens only to be our own gods and all the while our souls are rotting away in the sin of it all.

Oh to have the heart of the psalmist! "I lift up my eyes to the hills. Where does my help come from? My help comes from the LORD, who made heaven and earth." (Psalm 121:1 ESV)

So where is your focus today? Are you navel gazing or hill gazing?

How does we turn these eyes back to the One we were made to look to? What if we literally looked up, cried out and asked Him, "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderous things out of Your law. Fix my eyes on Your ways." (Psalm 119:18, 16 ESV) He just might do as He promises and meet us where we are and give us eyes to see.

Tuesday, October 8, 2019

teaching not just telling

Recently, the passage in Exodus 4 where God is calling Moses to something beyond him, was brought to my attention. I haven't been able to stop mulling it over.  This is the place where,
after proving His Presence by showing Moses the miraculous sight of a burning bush that isn't being consumed, God gives Moses his next assignment.

"Go to Pharaoh that you may bring My people out of Egypt."

Daunting, impossible task for this has-been palace dweller turned shepherd. But God gives him a magnificent assurance. "I will be with you." God Himself was intending to go with Moses every step of the way. He is a Present God who never leaves or forsakes us. But this Truth wasn't enough for ole' Moses. He kept pressing the Lord. He kept looking at himself rather than looking at his God.

Don't we do this sometimes? Don't we spend more time navel gazing and working on the excuses of why we shouldn't and can't do the very thing God is saying: "Yep this task- this one is for you. I have done this more times than I care to remember. Always pondering if and how I can do something rather than just trusting the God Who knows me better than I know myself and calls me to a task in order to bring Him glory.

Moses tries to pre-think, something I am good at too.

"I am not eloquent (who said eloquence was required?)" Moses explains to the One who made his tongue. God reminds him of that very truth: "Yes, I know, I made you, remember?"

And then God tells Moses something that has been flashing in my mind these last couple weeks.

"Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you shall speak."(Exodus 4:12, ESV)

God did not intend to TELL Moses what to say to Pharaoh. He intended to TEACH Moses what to say. He intended to TEACH him how to lead and bring His people out of their captivity.

This is especially interesting because Moses, was in a self-made captivity of sorts when God met him in the wilderness. Moses had sinned, failed God and his people. He had murdered a man and out of fear and conviction he ran. I wonder if, in a way, he was doing what Adam did in the Garden--run and hide. Unseen among the sheep in the Judean wilderness, he likely felt he was secluded. Until the One who sees all saw him and appeared to place a calling on him far beyond his imagination.

God does that you know. He calls the messed up, broken sinner to accomplish His purposes. He calls us with a divine calling to His glory and excellence, knowing FULL WELL our failures, mistakes, sins, and short-comings.

Why? Why bother? I really think it's like He told Moses, He desires to TEACH us what to say, write, do whatever so that we, the weak and broken, display His grace and goodness in a way that draws others to Him.

So what is He calling YOU to do? What is the assignment you feel unworthy to walk in? He finds us in the very wilderness where we're trying to hide and comes with a calling so He might teach us to display His goodness and grace for all to see and glorify our Father in Heaven.