Thursday, April 10

Swindoll devotional from a friend....Moses...

Yesterday Jim Hutson taught about "Moses, the delivering Hero" - thanks Jim! I ran into this devotional today and I thought I would pass it along since it supports what Jim taught.

I pray it blesses you.
Joe

"Exodus 14:15-22 (New International Version)
15 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Why are you crying out to me? Tell the Israelites to move on. 16 Raise your staff and stretch out your hand over the sea to divide the water so that the Israelites can go through the sea on dry ground. 17 I will harden the hearts of the Egyptians so that they will go in after them. And I will gain glory through Pharaoh and all his army, through his chariots and his horsemen. 18 The Egyptians will know that I am the LORD when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen."
19 Then the angel of God, who had been traveling in front of Israel's army, withdrew and went behind them. The pillar of cloud also moved from in front and stood behind them, 20 coming between the armies of Egypt and Israel. Throughout the night the cloud brought darkness to the one side and light to the other side; so neither went near the other all night long.
21 Then Moses stretched out his hand over the sea, and all that night the LORD drove the sea back with a strong east wind and turned it into dry land. The waters were divided, 22 and the Israelites went through the sea on dry ground, with a wall of water on their right and on their left.

"THE HIGHWAY TO THE PROMISED LAND
by Charles R. Swindoll
Read Exodus 14:15--22
Had we been in charge of the Red Sea project, we would have handled it differently. Our group of engineers would have pushed back that water a week in advance. We would have installed great, massive fans to dry out the land. We would have erected huge neon signs. Somebody would have brought in concession stands to handle the hot dogs and drinks. You see, when people do it, the project takes on all the trademarks of market-driven hotshots. The supernatural is easily eclipsed by human ingenuity.
That's not God's plan. When He wants you cornered, outnumbered. And there are no signs. There is no slick ad campaign. There are no great human resources to trust in. There's just an uncrossable Red Sea and an encroaching army of impossibilities. So you wait. And time passes. He will fight His way at His time. Bite your nails all you want to---He's in no hurry.
Do you feel cornered right now? Up against it? Overwhelmed? Listen, child of God, your predicament is by His design. It takes those dark and dreary streets of heartache and those dead-end feelings of intimidation to prepare you for the glorious days of deliverance.
Perhaps you're a single adult. Those can be frustrating, hard years and lonely times. More than anything you'd like to find a spouse.
Or maybe you're married. You can be so involved in making a living that you fail to make a life, and then the time is gone.
Or perhaps you feel backed into some physical cul-de-sac, where you've languished for weeks, months, maybe years . . . still in that wheelchair.
Listen carefully. Read this slowly. Coming to the Red Sea is just as much a part of His plan as crossing it. It may well be that the Lord is breaking a habit born in Egypt, a habit that has no business living in Canaan. Those habits are tough to break. The tears flow as God works in His time. But in the burning of those tears, God becomes very significant and real. And we realize, at last, that a predicament in God's hands finally leads to a highway to the Promised Land."
"knowing that the proving of your faith works endurance" James 1:3 (DB).

"Christianity teaches men to be joyful under troubles: such exercises are sent from God's love; and trials in the way of duty will brighten our graces now, and our crown at last. Let us take care, in times of trial, that patience, and not passion, is set to work in us: whatever is said or done, let patience have the saying and doing of it. When the work of patience is complete, it will furnish all that is necessary for our Christian race and warfare." Matthew Henry says in his commentary on the section of verses (1-11) in James.

With the ravages of tribulation and trials that are being brought to bear upon the faithful in America today, it is far too easy and far too common to wave the white flag in defeat and only wish for a better, more compatiable means in which to survive in this world. We don't want to engage in relationships, because relationships are the bane of happiness, it would seem. We don't want to engage in a slower lifestyle because we must achieve this 'american dream' of financial wealth and independence. We don't want to do what is hard, because life is hard enough.
And we pray for those things, sometimes subconciously and sometimes deliberately. God, we feel, should fix what we deem is broken because we have served and served well. Too often, though, we see the wicked obtaining the very things we feel we should have due to us.

A man who extorts money from his fellow citizens to cover infidelity continues to fill a position of authority. Someone who calls themselves a Christian, yet we know of unchristian lifestyles they are engaged in, continues to stand upon the leadership of a church without condemnation or rebuking. And, we delight in the fall of the apparently mighty when they run smack into the wall of their own sin. We point, murmur, and gossip about who is doing what to whom and when and why, because we aren't getting what seems to be a satisfying life by doing what they aren't.

When we put our faith first and foremost, depending on it more than our stuff, our finances, or our very happiness, we immediately run afoul of the world doctrine of instant and justified fulfillment. But, as Matthew Henry points out, "A mind that has single and prevailing regard to its spiritual and eternal interest, and that keeps steady in its purposes for God, will grow wise by afflictions, will continue fervent in devotion, and rise above trials and oppositions."

There isn't an instant removal of the affliction, but rather a rising above it. We learn how to remove the sting of painful engagement or to endure within it. We come face to face with our own failings within those trials and gain the wisdom to correct them. We remove the ability of our circumstances to control us and live the way God calls us to live despite them. And then, Satan rages and frets against us to no avail, because he knows we have the strength that defies his own wishes. He knows that he has lost yet another soul to the Ultimate Victor, a prelude to the end which he would deny, even to himself.

We should each make a point in our storms to ask for deliverance, yes, but deliverance not at the expense of the wisdom of seeing God's glory and strength. Humbly submitting ourselves to the King, despite the circumstances, teaches us a happiness that will live in any field, any condition, and any place that this world may bring us.

For those things that beset us, trouble us, and sadden us are but "perishing enjoyments" compared to our eternal destination and reward.