You Are Not Able to Do it Alone

Scripture: Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. But Moses' hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side. So his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. Exodus 17:11-12
You and the people with you will certainly wear yourselves out, for the thing is too heavy for you. You are not able to do it alone. Exodus 18:18

Observation: Moses adjusts to the responsibility of leadership. Through two chapters God tries to show Moses a powerful leadership lesson: You cannot do this alone.

Application: I actually see two aspects here. First, like Moses on the mountain at Rephidim, I will only prevail as my hands are lifted in prayer. And I must have Aaron and Hur by my side. I need a team praying for me. Second, like Moses learned from his father-in-law, I cannot lead the people by myself. I cannot get involved in every dispute, complaint, or issue. It will wear me out. I must develop and trust others to carry out the mission.

Prayer: God, protect me from leading alone. Raise up men who can commit to holding up my arms in prayer. Raise up able people, people who fear God, who are trustworthy, to help me carry out the task of shepherding.

When Their Issue Isn't Me

Scripture: Your grumbling is not against us but against the Lord. Exodus 16:8

Observation: The people have been delivered from Egypt, only to wander in the desert, hungry. They grumble that they have been brought out from captivity only to die of hunger. In response, God speaks to Moses to inform him of a plan of provision-he will provide a daily portion of manna for the people to eat.

Application: As a leader, I can easily fall into the temptation to try to solve everyone’s problems. To think my job is to fix people’s expectations. To listen to every complaint and immediately hop to it, to fix their situation so they no longer have any issues. But the reality is, often their issue is not with me, but with God. Sure, there are often legitimate issues that I can and should be a part of resolving. But often, people are complaining because of unmet expectations, which have nothing to do with me or what we are doing, but with them and the Lord. Recently I had a situation where a person vented about something. But it became clear that this was not the issue. This person was unhappy about where they were in life and how they felt others (and ultimately God) had not kept their part of the deal.
If I try to swallow every complaint, I will die, for my stomach was not built to do so. I need the wisdom of God to deal with what I can do, but to also know when and how to turn their complaint in to a discipleship moment, to turn them back to God and help them engage one on one with Him. Because we often complain to others when the real discussion should be with God.

Prayer: God, as I take on this new role, help me filter complaints and “ought-tos” through your word and Spirit. Let me own what is mine, and also deflect what is not back to You. Show me how to use even complaints to disciple and redirect people towards a kingdom mindset.

A Shared Sacrifice

Scripture: And if the household is too small for a lamb, then he and his nearest neighbor shall take according to the number of persons; according to what each can eat you shall make your count for the lamb. Exodus 13:4

Observation: God is giving His people instructions for the Passover. As part of this ceremony, households were to select their best lamb and sacrifice it for the meal. Here, tucked away in a detail, we find instructions for those households that are too small, too poor to own a lamb. In this case, they are to partner with a neighbor to share a lamb.

Application: God is so gracious to think of this. Certainly there would have been many homes where a lamb was a luxury. I can imagine the stress and fear that could arise as families felt excluded from worship because they did not have the requisite offering. Yet God comes up with a plan to provide. Instead of lowering the requirement (use a goat instead), he shares the load. He calls neighbors to partner in worship. Worship and ceremony here become a shared experience. A shared sacrifice. I think the application for me is not only God’s gracious provision for the poor, but his desire that we see worship as a communal act. We are not coming to God merely as individuals, or as family, but as The Family, God’s family.

Prayer: God, help me see the communal nature of worship and model it and lead our people in this. Pray especially for Scott, our worship pastor, as you have called him to lead us in worship. Give him insight and expectation of what you want to accomplish in and through us in worship.

But For This Purpose

Scripture: Thus says the Lord, the God of the Hebrews, “Let my people go, that they may serve me.” Exodus 9:13
But for this purpose I have raised you up, to show you my power, so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth. Exodus 9:16

Observation: God declares his purpose for people. His purpose in rescuing his people is that they might serve him. His purpose in placing Pharaoh in power is so that God’s name may be proclaimed. For both the faithful and faithless, God has a plan. He uses all for his purposes.

Application: I think loss of purpose is a modern-day plague that affects us all. It affects those far from God in that they live lives unaware of the purpose for which they have been created. It affects even believers who tend to forget why they were rescued. Believers can easily think they were rescued for some future purpose—Heaven. Or they were rescued to be free from a past consequence—their sin. But it is easy to forget we are saved to serve. We are rescued to follow and obey God. When we see this, it helps us put the purpose of evil in context. Instead of shaking our fists at Heaven and asking why an evil like Pharaoh has power in this world, we can see that ultimately, Pharaoh is a pawn of God, moved around His chessboard for the purpose of proclaiming God’s name. Because of Pharaoh’s evil, the power of God to rescue is a bell that still sounds to this day. Without the evil, there could be no deliverance.

Prayer: God, help me remember my purpose. You saved me to serve. You use even evil to proclaim your name. Help me remind my kids of this, myself of this, my church of this. God has a purpose for Pulpit Rock—he saved us to serve His purpose now. Thanks for your sovereignty. It has always been a rock I come back to again and again when the world spins.

Frontier Justice and the Sacred

Scripture: On the third day, when they were sore, two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brothers, took their swords and came against the city while it felt secure and killed all the males. Genesis 34:25

Observation: Shechem rapes Dinah, Jacob’s daughter. Her brothers ride to mete out some frontier justice, but Shechem’s dad makes them an offer: let’s have a treaty and join forces. Jacob’s sons agree, but only if all of the males are circumcised. They agree, only to discover this was a trap. 3 days into the recovery from surgery, Shechem’s men awake to find swords at their throats.

Application: I remember the first time I read this story. I thought it was a pretty savvy strategy. Talk about kicking your enemy when he is down. Today as I reread it, I was floored by the stench of this chapter. It just made me sick. There is sin compounded by sin. Rape, vengeance, murder, deceit, greed. And not only are these things present, one thing is absent: God. There is no mention of God in this chapter. Not in the plans of Jacob’s sons, certainly not in the actions of Shechem and his men, and not even in Jacob’s rebuke to his sons. Jacob seems more concerned about future attacks than what God thinks about all of this. In fact, the only time any type of spiritual reference is made in all of this is the act of circumcision. Circumcision, an outward symbol of an inward commitment to God, is used instead to perpetuate evil. This is sacrilege. Imagine using baptism to drown someone, or poisoning the Lord’s supper.
I keep thinking about this passage and I think the message for me is: Don’t misuse the sacred for your own purposes. Shechem misused the sacredness of Dinah’s dignity. Jacob’s sons misused the sacredness of a promise, and the sacredness of a spiritual rite. I encounter the sacred everyday—humans made in His image—and I have an opportunity to treat them with respect, or misuse them. For example, if I look on a woman in such a way to satisfy my desires, then am I not also abusing the sacredness? She is no longer a person, but an object for my own purposes.

Prayer: God, help me see ways in which I misuse the sacred for my own purposes. Especially the people I meet and see—help me treat them with the respect for your sacred design that seems so absent from this passage.

Waking up with Leah

Scripture: And in the morning, behold, it was Leah! And Jacob said to Laban, “What is this you have done to me? Did I not serve with you for Rachel? Why then have you deceived me?” Genesis 29:25

Observation: After working seven years to earn the money to marry Rachel, Jacob wakes up from his wedding night to discover that his father-in-law has deceived him. He has substituted Leah the older sister for Rachel the younger. Maybe this was to insure the older sister married first, maybe it was to swindle another 7 years out of Jacob. Jacob, stunned, asks Laban why. But what is ironic is that Jacob’s whole life has been about deceit. Years before, Jacob swindled his older brother out of the birthright he was due. What goes around comes around. Later, Laban tries to cheat Jacob out of the rightful wages he has earned, and Jacob, in turn, cheats the cheater to make sure he gets his pay. Overall, these two chapters are sad stretches of lies, deceit, mistrust, dishonor, loneliness, barrenness. No one comes out clean from this mudfight.

Application: Why Jacob asks why, I want to say, “You got what you gave, buddy.” I have always believed that how we deal with and treat others is how we can expect to be dealt with. If I cheat and use deceit, then at some point, that will come back to bite me, as it did Jacob. If I am speak behind other’s backs, at some point, they will speak behind mine. Some may call this karma; I call it reaping what you have sown.
One of the most challenging aspects of a leader is to have people deal with you in a dishonoring way. They say things that are not true, they mistreat you. After a long time of living in good faith which each other, it is like a switch is thrown and you wake up with Leah instead of Rachel. Maybe, like Laban, they have a reason for the way they are acting that seems to make it all right. (Especially if they are believers, then they have a verse that endorses them!) In dealing with a situation like this right now, I want to be careful to not be Jacob to their Laban. This means I deal honestly, and firmly. I don’t continue to build on a foundation of deceit. I am learning that leaders are under attack, and we have to be used to that, and accept that as part of leadership, and learn to lead without giving in to callousness, or weakness, but to boldly love and lead in the manner of God.

Prayer: God, I need your wisdom today to learn how to respond to those who mistreat me.

Negotiating with God

Scripture: Abraham answered and said, “Behold, I have undertaken to speak to the Lord, I who am but dust and ashes.” Genesis 18:27

Observation: God announces his intention to destroy the wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. Abraham speaks up and gets God to agree that if God can find 50 righteous people in the city, he will spare the whole city. Abraham then gets God to drop that number from 50 to 10 righteous people who can save the city. What gave Abraham the idea that he could negotiate with God? Why did the all-powerful God of the universe listen to the dust and ashes of a man like Abraham? Maybe what was driving Abraham to speak so boldly was the fact that God had already commissioned him to be a blessing to the world. If these cities were destroyed, how could Abraham bless them? Also, by destroying these cities, God would be killing many righteous people along with the wicked. Abraham was concerned for God’s character and reputation and sense of justice.

Application: This text puzzles me with questions about prayer and sovereignty. I also wonder why Abraham stopped at ten. Maybe he felt he could “press his luck” only so far. Maybe there was something in God’s tone that signaled negotiations were at an end. It kind of reminds me of when my kids negotiate with me for dessert. The difference here is that Abraham was negotiating not for his own benefit, but as his role as blesser of the world. Abraham is standing in between the power of God and the destruction of a city. The sense of responsibility to his mission and his desire to see God act justly towards the wicked and righteous gave him boldness.
Question: What do I feel so strongly about from God’s word that I would be willing to undertake to speak to the Lord about it? What would I be willing to press my luck with God over? How far can I press my luck before the proverbial lightning bolt falls? It seems God is not angered by Abraham’s boldness, as Abraham is acting not for selfish gain, but for the good of God. Could this principle guide me to test my motives before I open negotiations?

Prayer: God, give me bold humility in my dealings with you. Who knows that you were planning this all along and part of your plan was to get Abraham to engage with you in prayer? What is it in my life you wish me to wrestle with you over? Please continue to grow me in the area of prayer, and in this area of bold approach.

Laughing At God

Scripture: Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed and said to himself, “Shall a child be born to a man who is a hundred years old? Shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?” Genesis 17:17

Observation: God comes to Abraham when he is 99 years old, and tells him that he and Sarah will have a son. His response is to laugh. How can two century-old people have a kid? Physically this is impossible. Abraham is also to call his son Isaac, which means, “he laughs.” Yet less than a year later, God has the last laugh as Isaac is born. Abraham laughs because what God is proposing is so preposterous. Yet behind this laughter does not seem to be sarcasm or derision. There is an element of joy, of amazement, of wonder. God does not berate Abraham for his laughter, but even names his son after it. It seems to be a joyous moment of wild and unruly expectation.

Application: One of the things that has driven me over the last year to really hear from God in his word is this: I want to laugh at God. Not out of disrespect or unbelief. But I want to hear God divulge his plans to me, plans to prosper me and not to harm me, plans to give me hope and a future. I want God to tell me things I cannot believe, and I cannot help but laugh at. Then to follow him in obedience and see him bring that to pass. I long for God to have the last laugh with me as he does the impossible.

Prayer: God, I still seek you. You are telling me things that, frankly, I find funny. But I am laughing in hope, in the nervous anticipation of what might be. Help me recover a sense of wonder and joy as I meet with you. Don’t let me take my job and life so seriously that I miss out on your sense of divine humor.

Expecting to Catch Fish

Scripture: And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Luke 5:5

Observation: Simon Peter and his friends were fishermen. They knew how to fish. They had years of experience. They knew the currents, they knew the seasons. They knew how to do their jobs well. Along comes Jesus who tells them to go to a certain spot and let their nets down and they will catch fish. I am sure the fishermen were tired—they had worked all night. I am sure they were discouraged—they caught nothing. I am sure they believed there were not any fish to be caught in the spot Jesus pointed them to—if there were, these experienced fishermen would have caught some. They had no reason to expect to catch one fish…except Jesus’ words. They obeyed, they dropped their nets, and they caught so many fish their nets broke.

Application: When God shows up, he restores our expectations. When I look at a situation and think, “I am tired, I am discouraged, nothing will happen,” then I am looking like a fisherman and not a disciple. I don’t expect because I don’t have the faith to see that God can reverse trends and directions. I am sure there were no fish to be caught that day. But God did in a moment what a night of work could not.
God wants to reach people for Christ at Pulpit Rock. In some ways, we are like those weary fishermen. We have worked hard, we have been discouraged by a lack of fish, and we have lost expectation that there is anything to be done. But God has been showing up, calling us to go out and drop our nets. He is doing more than helping us change some lives. He is restoring our expectations. Our expectation that on our own, there are no fish. But with God, all things are possible.

Prayer: God, this restoration of expectation is the clearest call I have heard in awhile. It is your call for Pulpit Rock (and me) in 2010. I do not know how to do it. You have to show up and speak. You have to point to the deep and say “Drop your nets there.” You have to lead me and our people to say, “But at your word, I will.” O God, please do this and our mouths will be filled with laughter.

The Shedding of Blood and the Image of God

Scripture: Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed, for God made man in his own image. Genesis 9:6

Observation: God outlines his new rules to Noah and his family, after the world-cleansing flood. He says that now, killing animals for the purpose of food is okay, but to remember that an animal’s life is still sacred. In fact, consuming the animal’s blood was off-limits, to remind people that this animal’s life belongs to and came from God. In contrast to this, the killing of humans is not acceptable. Why the difference? Because people are made in God’s image; animals are not. People are the image bearers of God and therefore to take their life is a crime against God and his image. God says he will require punishment from those who murder.

Application: So this morning I am listening to the news and find that now that the health care bill is looking like it will pass, its architects are being more open about what is truly inside. And the senate’s bill clearly provides federal subsidies to private health plans that cover elective abortions. In other words, my own government will require me to participate in paying for the murder of unborn children. I wonder how this prohibition from Genesis 9 comes into play now? As a nation, are we inviting the judgment of God upon our country because of our decision not only to permit murder, but to pay for it as well? Today I will contact our state senator and urge him to not pass a bill that forces me to participate in funding the shedding of blood.

Prayer: God, forgive us as a nation for our growing disregard for you and your word. I pray today that the health care bill provisions that mandate us paying for abortion would not pass. Please give wisdom and fear of God to our government officials as they work through this bill. And help me to seriously value all human life, and see it as made in your image.