“Doing Something Worthwhile”

“Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ² There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. ³ Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” ⁴ When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” ⁵ Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” ⁶ He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God. ⁷ Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, ⁸ and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ⁹ The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. ¹⁰ So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” ¹¹ But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” ¹² He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”  Exodus 3:1-12

“…what is really worth while in life? Is it only those things that make a great show? If all God’s people could learn this lesson—that it really counts just simply to live right, just simply to be an ordinary every-day Christian; it would glorify their lives, it would exalt their lives, and they would not feel discouraged.” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 63-64)

Moses, after being raised in Pharaoh’s court, flees to the land of Midian to work for his father-in-law as a shepherd. He did this work for many years. He wasn’t facing armies or defeating giants – he was simply keeping sheep. Some would say this is not great training for his next calling. But the Lord obviously thought otherwise. The Lord believed that caring for sheep – faithfully leading them, feeding them, caring for them and protecting them was actually great training for his next phase in life. It is not as if being a shepherd was not worthwhile. No matter the vocation we are called to do, we can make it meaningful for G-d and our neighbor.

Sometimes, like our friend Moses, we might find ourselves spending time in the wilderness, when it just seems that G-d allows us to be shut up in a corner, as it were. But all of the experiences we face in our lives can and will count on us if they do not count anywhere else. There is one thing and just one thing that matters above all other things in life, and that is faithfulness. No matter what your life may be now, or may have been in the past, or where you think it is moving to next, if you are just faithful it is sure to count, and to count a great deal. That is one thing that all of us can do every day: we can be faithful to the Lord.

Pastor Dave

“Encouragement – or Fear?”

“Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. ² Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, “So may the gods do to me, and more also, if I do not make your life like the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.” ³ Then he was afraid; he got up and fled for his life, and came to Beer-sheba, which belongs to Judah; he left his servant there. ⁴ But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: “It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.” ⁵ Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, “Get up and eat.” ⁶ He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. ⁷ The angel of the Lord came a second time, touched him, and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” ⁸ He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God. ⁹ At that place he came to a cave, and spent the night there. Then the word of the Lord came to him, saying, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁰ He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” ¹¹ He said, “Go out and stand on the mountain before the Lord, for the Lord is about to pass by.” Now there was a great wind, so strong that it was splitting mountains and breaking rocks in pieces before the Lord, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; ¹² and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire; and after the fire a sound of sheer silence. ¹³ When Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his mantle and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. Then there came a voice to him that said, “What are you doing here, Elijah?” ¹⁴ He answered, “I have been very zealous for the Lord, the God of hosts; for the Israelites have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life, to take it away.” ¹⁵ Then the Lord said to him, “Go, return on your way to the wilderness of Damascus; when you arrive, you shall anoint Hazael as king over Aram. ¹⁶ Also you shall anoint Jehu son of Nimshi as king over Israel; and you shall anoint Elisha son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah as prophet in your place.” 1 Kings 19:1-16

“If we approach a conflict or trial with fear and trembling and shrinking, it will very likely prove a stumbling-stone to us; but if we approach it with calm confidence in God and a settled determination to overcome, we may make it a stepping-stone upon which we may mount to higher and better things. Sometimes things that are at first very discouraging to us afterwards become sources of help and encouragement…” (C.W. Naylor, “Heart Talks”, p. 191)

Elijah, even the great prophet Elijah feels defeated – and he stands before the Lord a beaten man – or so he thinks. Just 40 days removed from defeating the priests of Baal on Mount Carmel in such dramatic fashion, he stands on a mountain allowing fear to seize him. He stands on Horeb, the mountain of G-d, feeling defeated. How quickly he went from victory, to fear – from triumph to retreat. But then, he learns another amazing lesson from the Lord. He is told to stand up, for the Lord was about to pass him by. Elijah feels a great wind, an earthquake, and a great fire, before he experiences an immense silence. He is told that the Lord was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire. Instead the Lord was in the silence.

You see, when he felt as if G-d had withdrawn, in fact the Lord was ever-present in the silence. What that silence is, is what C.W. Naylor calls “calm confidence”. We experience fear in wind storms, earthquakes and fire storms. Some might point to such events and say “that is the power of G-d”. Scripture tells us that we feel the power of G-d most in the silence – in being led to the still waters – in following the Lord who keeps us from evil. Calm-confidence does not come from the earthquakes of our lives – calm-confidence comes from the way we deal with the recovery. The Lord can take everything we face that shakes us to our very core – and give us the peace that surpasses all understanding.

Pastor Dave