God Calls Moses

September 5, 2010

Background Scripture: Exodus 3
Lesson Passage: Exodus 3:1 – 6, 13 – 15

Today’s lesson is an excellent example of God calling a person into service or ministry. It seems to all start with a yearning. Moses had experienced a yearning to be among his brethren, the Jewish people. Although Moses was living an affluent life in Pharaoh’s palace, he longed to be among the Jews who were slaves in Egypt. Moses envisioned himself as a protector of the Jews and a peacemaker in their midst. Moses soon learned one of the realities of being a leader of people. The Jews readily accepted his physical protection but utterly rejected the notion of him being their judge and counselor. Moses attempted to use his own strength and wisdom to gain leadership over the Jews that he might provide care for them. This failed and eventually led to him living in exile in the desert for forty years as a result of his efforts.

Our lesson opens today with Moses living the desert life and caring for his father-in-law’s flock. This would turn out to be no ordinary day in the desert for Moses. This day, Moses would have an encounter with God that changed him for the remainder of his life. In this passage of scripture God formally introduces himself to Moses. Moreover, God informs Moses that he is now ready to prepare Moses to go and lead Israel out of Egyptian bondage. What Moses had yearned for forty years earlier, God was now about to bring to pass. What Moses learned he could not accomplish in his own strength, God would bring about with absolute power.

What can we learn from Moses’ call by God? First, a yearning is not “necessarily” a call of God. It may truly be what God has placed in our hearts but it may also be that we have not yet been prepared to be formally called. A calling of God does not depend on the strength or abilities of the one who is called. Neither talent nor desire is a match for the forces of evil one will encounter as one goes about his God-assigned ministry. The yearning is at best an indicator of the need to seek God’s face for directions. Secondly, although we may have failed miserably in trying to undertake a mission for God without God’s help, it does not mean that God is not willing to use us for his purpose. However, God will use us as he sees fit and not as we so desire. We must learn to love God and his ways and not hope that God will come around and eventually listen to us and give us the power to do what we want to do the way we want to do it. Even after forty years, God had not forgotten what was in Moses’ heart in the beginning. It was Moses who needed to come around to do things God’s way and in the power of God. Paul said that the gifts and calling of God are without repentance. Moses is a good example of that fact. After Moses left the security of the palace and became a nomadic shepherd caring for another man’s flock, then he was prepared and God called Moses.

Robert C. Hudson
August 20, 2010

Upheld by God

August 29, 2010

Background Scripture: Acts 28; Philippians 4:15 – 23
Lesson Passage: Acts 28:16 – 25a, 28 – 31

What is the source of your strength? When the chips are down and you really need a breakthrough, what is your first option—rather than your last resort? Those are value seeking questions. The “true” answers speak to the values that we hold dear to us. I say “true” answers as opposed to the “expected” answers or the answers that we are comfortable giving even if they don’t truly reflect our thinking or behavior. In our lesson today, Paul offers his “true” answer to those questions. The answer he gives was not derived out of a profound theological thesis that Paul developed while contemplating scriptures but rather it is a testimony of the trials and tests that God put Paul through until he had no other place to turn first. All of Paul’s options were gradually taken away or surrendered as a result of the hardships Paul suffered in his ministry for Jesus Christ. This was a true fulfillment of the words Jesus spoke to Paul (then Saul) on the road to Damascus. Jesus told Paul that it was hard for him to kick against the pricks. This warning did not prevent Paul, just as it does not prevent us, from kicking anyway until he finally surrendered to the will of God. It is this surrendered state we find the apostle in as we follow his journey in the account recorded towards the close of the book of Acts. This is not a state of being beaten down as much as it is a state of contentment to trust in the word of Christ in spite of circumstances that seem to be to the contrary.

The historic account in Acts detail the treacherous journey Paul and the Roman soldiers traveled to escort Paul from Jerusalem to Rome. This journey included a wintry weather shipwreck in which the ship and all of its cargo, except the people, were destroyed and loss at sea. Wintry weather made for unbearable conditions for the sea-soaked group as they clung to pieces of debris in the troubled waters while they made their way to shore. Kindling a fire should have brought relief but even that led to yet another hardship for Paul. He was bitten by a poisonous snake while placing some sticks on the fire. So why is Paul content? Before all of this transpired, Paul had been told one night by Jesus that he had to appear in Rome to bear witness of him. So in spite of the calamities he endured, he had the assurance of Jesus’ word that he would arrive safely in Rome to bear witness of Christ. Jesus had assured Paul of the destination, Rome. He did not tell him what all would transpire between Jerusalem and Rome. But it was Paul’s assurance of the destination that he could base his faith on. Come what may, Paul was assured that he would arrive in Rome and therefore he would be able to shake his problems off along the way. With that, Paul simply shook the snake off of his hand into the fire. Those that saw it were frightened that Paul did not die of the snakebite but Paul had faith that nothing was going to prevent him from accomplishing God’s work for him. Whatever circumstances arose, Paul knew he would be upheld by God. As Paul prepared the final salutation in his letter to the Philippians, he could say with confidence “My God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” because Paul had experienced God’s benevolence for himself.

Robert C. Hudson
August 16, 2010