Lord, I Stand And Worship YOU

Lord, I Stand And Worship You

By Diana Sirikul

Lord, I stand and I worship You

I sing to you my praises

I lift up my voice,

I lift up my hands,

I stand and worship You

You are my God and I am Your Servant,

Your Word fills my heart, I obey Your Commands

My feet follow Your directions

My life is in Your Hands

Lord, I stand and I worship You

I sing to you my praises

I lift up my voice,

I lift up my hands,

I stand and worship You

To You, I offer my service

for You hold the love of my heart

Your love and care surrounds me

and I know You’ll never depart

Lord, I stand and I worship You

I sing to you my praises

I lift up my voice,

I lift up my hands,

I stand and worship You

I stand and worship You

Come Home My Love By Diana Sirikul

Come Home My Love

By Diana Sirikul

Come home, my love

I have a smile

To greet you and

Two arms to hold you close

I have tears that will

Wash away the hurts

And anger of the past

Two ears to listen as

You tell me of your hardships

In trying to return to me

I have a heat that

Longs to forgive the

Pain you have caused

I know you didn’t mean to hurt

I have unfailing love

That will remove the scars and

Evil memories of angry

Words and hate I have

A love that is never-ending

Love to heal you

A love to enclose you and

Surround you and protect

You and touch your heart

Come home, my love,

And stay.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P4

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P4

A Burning Bush Brings Redemption

Exodus 3:1-10

By Dennis Lee

D. God Desires To Dwell With His People

This is probably one of the central themes found throughout the Bible. The Apostle John makes sure we know this singular fact when he wrote,

And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth (Jn. 1:14 NKJV)

The word “dwelt” here means to pitch a tent. God has always wanted to pitch His tent in the midst of His people. That’s who He was in the Old Testament as found in Genesis and Exodus, and concluding in the New Testament, the new covenant He made through the death of His Son, Jesus Christ, and it will be the same until the end of time itself, and the end times as the Scripture say,

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people. God Himself will be with them and be their God (Rev. 21:3 NKJV)

God pitches His tent in our midst. But there is a condition; God demands something in return, which we looked at prior, and that is to be holy, as He Himself is holy.

One last thing before I move on, and that is the burning bush. There are all sorts of symbolism here. I kind of like what F.B. Myers took the symbolism, relating it to the words, “persecuted by not forsaken, struck down but not destroyed” (2 Cor. 4:9). He said,

“Undoubtedly it is a great truth that we may be enwrapped in the flame of acute suffering, and the fire will only consume the canker worms and caterpillars that preyed upon the verdure of our spiritual life, without scorching the tiniest twig, or consuming the most fragile blossom. The burning fiery furnace will not singe a hair on your heard, though it will free you from your fettering bonds.”

Now, fire is associated with God’s presence. Throughout Scripture, fire is the emblem of deity. When God entered His covenant with Abraham, the lamp of fire denoted God’s presence. The pledge that God would be with the Israelites throughout their wilderness wandering in the pillar of fire to light the night. And so this burning bush is symbolic of God’s presence, which is also seen in the wording, “Angel of the Lord.” Throughout the Scriptures the Angel of the Lord was identical and interchangeable with God.

But probably the most telling proof that it was none other than God who was talking from that burning bush.

I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob (Ex. 3:6a NKJV)

And finally, the words spoken by the Lord to Moses reveals that God is Personal

He calls Moses by name. He knows our name, He knows everything about us, God is personally involved in our lives. This is seen vividly in what the Lord says to Israel through the prophet Isaiah.

But now, thus says the Lord, who created you, O Jacob, And He who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine (Isa. 43:1 NKJV)

And then the Lord promises that because He knew them and formed them that when they passed through the waters, or walk through the fire, they would not be drowned or burned. Why, because His promise is that He would be there.

Now, Moses response was, “Here I am,” which in the Hebrew literally means, “Behold me.” This phrase was used often to God to indicate not just their attentiveness, but also their readiness to obey.

Now, let’s look at God’s promise for Israel’s redemption

Read Ex. 3:7-10

Here is a picture of a redeeming God and a redemption that is complete. God would not forget the promise that He made to Abraham, and then confirmed with Isaac and Jacob. God always hears the cries of His people and remembers His covenant, His promises.

A big part of worship is a rehearsal of this very fact.

Many times He delivered them; but they rebelled in their counsel, and were brought low for their iniquity. Nevertheless He regarded their affliction, when He heard their cry; and for their sake He remembered His covenant, and relented according to the multitude of His mercies (Psm. 106: 43-45 NKJV)

It won’t be much longer in the Exodus story when God commands the sacrifice of the lamb without spot or blemish, whose blood when sprinkled on the doorposts of their houses will cause the angel of death to pass over and not claim the life of the first born. The blood of the lamb was a sign then of who they were and their faithfulness to God and to His word.

It was the blood of the covenant, the sign that God would deliver the children of Israel. Nowonder the symbolism is so great especially when we consider Jesus, whom John the Baptist called the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world (Jn. 1:29).

This is a picture of a redeeming God whose redemption is complete. Look again at verse 8

So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey (Ex. 3:8a NKJV)

Something about this verse reveals the completeness of God’s redemption. Not only does God redeem from something, Egyptian bondage, but He always redeems to something, the land flowing with milk and honey, the Promised Land.

Now, the two people God used in this redemption were Moses and Joshua. Moses delivered them out of their bondage; Joshua led them into the Promised Land. Joshua completed what Moses began.

But in Jesus, our redemption is complete. We don’t need another. We don’t need to do anything more than what was already done on the cross, neither do we need to wait for someone else to come to complete what Jesus already did.

And it isn’t insignificant that Jesus is the Greek name for the Hebrew name, Joshua, which means, God saves. Jesus does it all. He redeems us from our bondage to sin and death, and delivers us into God’s Promise Land of salvation, God’s Kingdom, both now on earth, and later in heaven. The salvation provided by Jesus is complete.

This is what Paul was getting at when he wrote,

Even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus (Eph. 2:5-6 NKJV)

And so the connection has been established once again. The picture of God’s redemption in Exodus from out of Egyptian bondage and into the Promised Land is now complete in Jesus Christ. We’ve been brought out of darkness and into the light, and out of death into life.

To illustrate this redemption, let me read for you a letter written to a pastor.

“In my forty-four-month battle with alcohol, I tried everything the medical profession thought would help. Nothing did: psychiatrists, psychologists, treatment centers, antidepressant medicines, all types of tranquilizers. But nothing did it. Then, in desperation, I sought God. God delivered me.

I mean, how wonderful is that, God delivered. But he didn’t stop there. Listen

“I promised Him, since He would not let me die, ‘God, You must have a purpose for me. If You’ll let me live a respectable life and free me from this bondage, every day You permit me to live, I’ll serve you and I’ll never rob You again.

Every day God stays at least ten paces ahead of me. I’m blessed every day in more ways than I can deserve, and nowhere can a happier man be found.”

That’s the complete salvation that God offers – out of bondage into the worship and service of the Living God. Jesus does for us what Moses and Joshua did for Israel. He delivers us out of bondage into the Promise Land.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P3

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P2

A Burning Bush Brings Redemption

Exodus 3:1-10

By Dennis Lee

C. The Presence of God is Holy Ground

Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground (Ex. 3:5 NKJV)

First, what we need to understand about this ground is that in and of itself it isn’t holy, rather it is holy because the presence of God is there. Far too often we get caught up in meaningless worship because we are placing the emphasis on the place rather than upon the Person in whom we are to be lifting up. But when two or more are gathered in Jesus’ name, then Jesus is there, as Jesus is here right now, and so in like manner, the ground upon which we are standing is Holy ground.

Further, what this says is that God is not some chum you see on the street. He is the Almighty Creator of Heaven and Earth, and needs to be addressed and approached that way.

I like the phrase that is found in C.S. Lewis’ tale, “The Lion, the Witch, & the Wardrobe.” Lucy is asking the beavers about Aslan and if he was a man.

“Aslan a man! Certainly not…Aslan is a lion – the Lion, the great Lion.”

Lucy replied, “Ooh! I thought he as a man. Is he – quite safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.”

“That you will, dearie, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Beaver; “If there’s anyone who can appear before Aslan without their knees knocking, they’re either braver than most or else just silly.”

“Then He isn’t safe,” said Lucy.

“Safe?” said Mr. Beaver; “don’t you hear what Mrs. Beaver tells you? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he’s good. He’s the King, I tell you.”

God is holy, and as the Apostle Peter tells us,

But as He who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, because it is written, "Be holy, for I am holy." (1 Pet. 1:15-16 NKJV, cf. Lev. 11:44)

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P2

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 P2

A Burning Bush Brings Redemption

Exodus 3:1-10

By Dennis Lee

B. God has to Get Our Attention

So he looked, and behold, the bush was burning with fire, but the bush was not consumed (Ex. 3:2b NKJV)

God has to get our attention before He can present Himself to us. Here Moses is walking along an old familiar path. But as he glances up he sees a strange sight on the mountain. A bush was burning and it wasn’t consumed. He watched what he thought was a simple brush fire, but it didn’t burn up, and so God got Moses’ attention. Note what it goes on to say,

Then Moses said, "I will now turn aside and see this great sight, why the bush does not burn (Ex. 3:3 NKJV)

God had gotten Moses attention, and now he could present Himself and talk with Moses.

So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called to him from the midst of the bush and said, "Moses, Moses!" And he said, "Here I am (Ex. 3:4 NKJV)

God needs to get our attention so that He can talk to us. Hopefully this is something we open ourselves up to on a daily basis in our time of prayer and in God’s word. Now the one thing that I have learned is that when God wants your attention, He’ll get your attention. He got Moses’ attention. A burning bush that doesn’t burn up – that’s a show stopper. But God also does so through not only good fortune or tragedy, but He also uses every day things that come at us seemingly out of nowhere.

A call on the phone from someone you haven’t heard from in a long time. But it can also be in a song that we hear on the radio or over our I-pods. A lyric you’ve heard a hundred times before but now it opens up something new and wonderful. What God does is that He presents Himself in the good time and in the bad times of life, but also in just ordinary life.

And to do it, He in some way, shape, or form gets our attention.

But let’s not miss the thought that comes out of this reality, and that is that many people today just aren’t interested enough to stop and seek the meaning behind what is going on in their lives. Many people ignore God and the things of God because they are just too busy and too wrapped up in their own lives to worry about anything but themselves.

Most people aren’t like Moses, they’re not willing to stop and seek the spiritual meaning behind life’s fortunes and tragedies. But if they truly will seek God and the meaning and purpose He has for their lives, then they will hear Him speak, much like Moses heard God speak.

Seek the Lord while He may be found, call upon Him while He is near (Isa. 55:6 NKJV)

But from there you will seek the Lord your God, and you will find Him if you seek Him with all your heart and with all your soul (Deut. 4:29 NKJV)

God isn’t far, in fact He is near to each one of us, if we would just seek Him and call, then He will answer and deliver us from the sin that has us so bound.

Exiting Egypt Chapter 3 Part1

Exiting Egypt

A Burning Bush Brings Redemption

Exodus 3:1-10

By Dennis Lee

Moses is an old man at this point. Eighty years old to be exact. He killed an Egyptian 40 years earlier and has suffered the consequences, banishment from Egypt and his people, and death if he returns.

But the years have passed and whatever stirrings that once existed before are now more than likely a buried memory. He’s settled down to a shepherd’s life in Midian, content with being a part of Jethro’s family.

Now, normally we don’t look for 80 year olds to lead revolutions, or to get a new life. Even Nicodemus asked Jesus, “Can a man be born again when he is old?” (Jn. 3:4).

But God has not forgotten Moses. There is a telling phrase in verse 8 where God says, “I have come down.” This is probably the defining verse concerning the character of God. God doesn’t sit up placidly in heaven listening to harp music, oblivious to history and the plight of His people. Rather He is actively involved even though the children of Israel, and you and I today may not see it, as we saw last week as we talked about the providence of God, that is, the power of God sustaining and guiding human destiny.

For you see, God heard the groaning of the people, remembered His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, looked upon their plight and knew exactly what they were going through. And so He came down and here He confronts Moses, because now was the time for their deliverance.

Read Ex. 3:1-6

The meaning of the burning bush story is that miracles happen, and God speaks to His people and to their situations. And what we see from this story are several lessons.

A. God Appears in the Ordinary

Now Moses was tending the flock of Jethro his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the desert, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God (Ex. 3:1 NKJV)

Nothing real exciting is going on in Moses’ life. He’s simply doing what he had been doing for these past 40 years. He’s going about his daily work routine, nothing out of the ordinary, when God appeared.

Edmund Burke, an 18^th century philosopher stated, “History is full of momentous trifles.” What insight. History is shot full of ordinary everyday events that turn momentous, and that have extraordinary meaning.

Back in 1837, a farmer fired upon British soldiers and Old North Bridge in Concord, and it because known as “The shot that was heard around the world.” He was no different than anyone else defending their home, but it then became the rallying cry for the American Minute Men during the American Revolutionary War.

Or then there was James Wilson Marshall at Sutter’s Mill in California back on Jan. 24, 1848 when he discovered a gold nugget. He was going about his everyday routine when he found tye nugget, and the California Gold Rush was on.

And so it was with Moses. Life as a shepherd had become routine. He was leading his flock to the back of the desert, something he had done hundreds of time before when all of a sudden God appears.

And the Angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire from the midst of a bush (Ex. 3:2a NKJV)

God appeared in the ordinary. God appeared in the ordinary routine of Moses’ life, and through the ordinary throne bush in that region. But through the everyday drag of life Moses maintain his trust and faith in God, and the lesson in this is that we need to be faithful, even though we may not see God working in our now.

We need to be faithful because God, as we have seen in our past studies, and will continue to see throughout our study in Exodus, is that God is a covenant keeping God, and He will keep His promises. As it states, “God came down,” and God will come to you in whatever it is that you are going through, and it will generally be like Moses, when you least expect it in the ordinary routine of the day.

Exiting Egypt Chapter Two P4

Exiting Egypt: Chapter Two –

When We’re Most Like God

By Dennis Lee Part 4

Now comes that portion of Scripture that brought me to the title of today’s message, ‘When We’re Most Like God.”

Read Exodus 2:23-25

There was a man who worked downtown in a large city. Everyday he rode the commuter train from his suburban home to the inner city, and everyday he would look out the window as it went through an impoverished area of the city, past decaying tenements, dilapidated public housing, and dingy streets.

Everyday, as he looked out the window of the train he would also see the bleak faces of those who lived in that part of town. He could see the unemployed gathered around a fire in a vacant lot, hoping for someone to come by to pick them up for some day labor. He would also see the kids as they skipped school to play on run-down basketball courts.

While at work he would often catch himself staring off into space thinking about what he continued to see out his train window. It became something that haunted his dreams at night. And so he decided that something needed to be done, and so what he did was pull down the shades of the train so he wouldn’t have to look out on such a depressing environment. He thinks he’s at peace, but is he? If he is, a terrible price will have to be paid.

Now, keep that picture in your mind as we look at what God would want to tell us in these last verses. Here is a description of God that defines the very nature and character of God, and it is wrapped up in the four action words that God takes.

But before we get to these four words, I want us to notice one more thing, and that is from the time of Moses’ exile in Midian to the time of his return to Egypt was forty years (Acts 7:30). What was God doing during that time?

Well, the Pharaoh that had so oppressed the Israelites died, paving the way for Moses’ return. Further, the people were now more than ever before ready to get out. But more than anything, God was preparing Moses for the great work he was about to do.

The silence of God doesn’t mean that God is unconcerned or inactive. Instead God is at work on our behalf, which is something Moses learned when God confronted him in the burning bush.

But back to our four words, the first,

God Hears

Their cry came up to God because of the bondage. So God heard their groaning (Ex. 2:23b-24a)

Now, this wasn’t some articulate prayer on the part of the people, rather it was more like groaning that may not be able to be put into words. It was misery blended with some anguish with pain mixed in because of their oppression.

Have you ever just groaned over the pain that you are experiencing in life, something that no words could or ever would adequately describe? Well that was what it was like many times over for these Jews.

Well, the beauty of this passage is that God hears our hearts, not so much of what comes out of our mouths, but what comes out of our hearts. F.B. Myers said that tears have a voice that only God can interpret.

God Remembers

And God remembered His covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob (Ex. 2:24b)

What we see throughout the Bible is a God who remembers and keeps His word and His covenants. God is faithful, even though God’s people may not be.

God Sees

And God looked upon the children of Israel (Ex. 2:25a)

It says in Psalm 34: 5 is that the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and that His ears are open to their cry. Now, the Hebrew word for “looked upon” has the deeper sense of knowing, that not only does God see, but knows.

In fact, this is at the heart of one of God’s names, Jahovah Jireh, or the Lord our Provider. In the Hebrew this title literally means, “The Lord will see,” and because he then sees, according to Abraham, God will provide, as He saw Abraham’s faith and therefore provided a ram for the sacrifice.

God Knows

And God acknowledged them (Ex. 2:25b)

Now, the Hebrew word here for acknowledge is the word “yada” which means to know in an intimate sense. It is used of a husband and wife. It is also used in our statement of faith from Proverbs where it says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths”

(Prov. 3:5-6).

We are not to just acknowledge God as our understanding of the word goes, but we are to know Him on an intimate basis, only then will we know His voice and guidance.

Why go through all this if my premise is when we are most like God? You see, God sees, knows, hears, and remembers His promises to us. But how about us?

Go back to Moses life, when he saw, he didn’t hide himself from the problem, instead he remembered that he was one of them, he was a child of God, and that He was a human being that was made in the image and likeness of God, and when he saw injustice and harm done to that likeness through brutality, he had to act, he had to do something about it.

Moses was now grown, as we are grown, and when we are most like God is when we act most like God, when we see, hear, remember and know, and then act.

In 1984, bishop Leontine Kelly, the fist black woman and the third woman to be elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church. She tells a story of growing up when her father, a Methodist preacher was given a beautiful church in Cincinnati. It had been an all white church, but the neighborhood had changed where it had become a mostly black congregation.

The church had beautiful polished wood and a huge crystal chandelier. But not only was the church impressive, but so was the parsonage. Now the parsonage had a cellar that was a dark and dingy place.

One day her brothers were down in the cellar playing when they found a hole behind the furnace that seemed to lead to a tunnel. When they told her she told her father. After seeing the hole, he took them over to the church next door and found behind the furnace some old boards, and behind those boards they discovered other tunnels.

That night, Kelly’s father sat his children down and told them the story, and she never forgot what her father said,

“Children, I want you to remember this day as long as you live. We’ve found a station on the Underground Railroad. The greatness of this church is not its gothic architecture, its beautiful furniture, or its crystal chandelier. The greatness of this church is below us. We are on hallowed ground. These people dared to risk their lives to become involved and care about the poor, the frightened runaway slaves, and that was a mark of their greatness.”

And with that we hear the words of Jesus saying,

Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I was in prison and you came to Me.' Then the righteous will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see You sick, or in prison, and come to You?' And the King will answer and say to them, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.' (Mt. 25:34-40 NKJV)

Exiting Egypt Chapter Two Part 3

Exiting Egypt: Chapter Two –

When We’re Most Like God

By Dennis Lee Part 3

Read Ex. 2:11-15a

Let’s continue on

Moses is now a grown man, but notice something about his upbringing. It says that when he was grown he went out and looked upon his brethren’s burdens. Guess what, he hadn’t looked on them before. He had the ease and comfort in the palace and was blinded to the suffering of the Jews.

The shade of his heart was pulled down so as not to be touched by their oppression. That’s an easy thing to do. It’s easy to pull the shade down over our hearts so that we won’t see the oppression and suffering going on around the world.

And yet we see it all the time on the TV or over the Internet, so what gives. The shade these days have to do with our being so jaded by all of it we see. We feel that we really can’t do anything about it, and further, it isn’t on our front door step, it’s held at a distance, we may see it, but we cannot smell the squalor and stench of death, nor feel the sting of the whip, or the penetration of the bullet, so we go unaffected.

But going back to our earlier study of Moses rescue, there’s one who saw, and had compassion. It was Pharaoh’s daughter. It says she heard the baby crying, saw his precarious position, knew her father’s edict, but her compassion overrode everything else.

It is this that is needed today. We need to empathize. We need to identify with the suffering that is going on around the world, and the suffering that is going on in our own backyard. The Bible tells us that is what we need to be about, as it tells us to not only laugh with those who laugh, but mourn and weep with those who are doing the same.

And so Moses finally identified and did something about it. A little misguided to say the least, but it was the heart that was necessary. Jesus said,

Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me (Mt. 25:40 NKJV)

What is important about what we see is that Moses identified with his people, even though he grew up with the Egyptians.

And we cannot miss the irony here. After helping one out of the jam he was in, when he tried to intervene in the life of two Hebrews, instead of welcoming him, one of them rebuked him. He said, “Do you intend to kill me as you did the Egyptian?” In today’s terminology he told Moses, “Who died and made you boss?”

I feel as if Moses lived in Mesquite. Everyone knows what happens yesterday today. Or, like the church. I found it quite revealing that in my old church, on Tuesday when I heard the report about the condition of the building we were in, that is, it was badly invested and we needed to move out, and that I had tents coming in for Sunday service, when I announced it at Wednesday evening, everyone already knew it.

And it says that Moses feared for his life, because if they knew it, it wouldn’t be long before the Pharaoh hears of it, and puts him to death for helping the very people he’s trying to keep down.

So Moses flees into the wilderness to escape the wrath of Pharaoh.

Read Exodus 2: 15b-22

Moses was a man who just couldn’t help sticking his nose in and seeking justice for those who have been wronged. This time it was to come to the aide of the daughters of the priest of Midian.

Now, the Mideonites were what you might call distant relatives of the Hebrews. Midian in Genesis 25:2 is described as the son of Abraham by his second wife, Keturah. Seeing that Moses married into the family of the priest, he probably received instruction and insight then into the nature and character of God during this time of exile.

Now, it states that this priest of the Mideonites name was Reuel, yet in 3:1 it says that his name was Jethro, which is the name that most of us know him by. Why the difference? I’m not sure, except what is brought out by the Jewish historian Josephus, who said that Reuel was his real name while Jethro was his official name as priest.

The country, Midian, where Moses fled was along the Arabian Peninsula off the eastern shore of the Gulf of Aqabah. It’s terrain, scattered oasis and water sources served Moses well has he learned it all and helped him lead the Jews across similar terrain while they spent 40 years in the wilderness.

And so, Jethro gave to Moses his daughter Zipporah, who bore a son and Moses called his son Gershom, which means “stranger there,” because as Moses said, “I have been a stranger in a foreign land.”

And that is exactly how we should feel in this world we are living in right now, because this is not our home, and by faith we should be looking to our real home, heaven. The Bible says that we are ambassadors. Ambassadors are those who live on foreign soil representing their home country. And so, we are strangers in this world we live in, and as such we then need to be ambassadors, representing the government of God to this godless world.

But you know, as I read this I was also thinking that Moses felt like this because Midian was not the place that He needed to be. That he needed to be with His people, the Jews, and that living outside of community, even though the people around are good and decent, they were not his people.

And when we live outside of Christian community, this is how we should feel, like strangers. We need to start living as a community, not exclusive, but inclusive, inviting everyone we know to join in that community of believers.

Exiting Egypt Chapter Two Part 2

Exiting Egypt: Chapter Two –

When We’re Most Like God

By Dennis Lee Part 2

We Need to Trust in God

We can trust God to guide us through this life, even though we may not see it at the time in the circumstances that we face. That is exactly what Moses’ mother had to do to resist the temptation to fear given Pharaoh’s command.

There will always be those lurking fears of “what if” that keep us from doing what we have already determined is right.

We Need to Wait on God

We need to wait on God to do His work when we’ve done everything that we have been called to do. Moses’ mom did everything she could, and then she waited on God. Nothing is more difficult than to wait. But to wait in faith believing, that is the secret.

As parents, we have been called upon to train up our children, they are God’s gift to us so that we can train them up in His ways and according to how God created them. We need to do everything we can, but then like Moses’ mom, let them go, place them in God’s hands, and then wait in faith believing God and His promises.

And besides, when they reach that age, we really have no legal control over them, and we can’t hover over them any longer as when they were youngsters. And so they are going to make their own decisions and make their own path in life, and so we need to trust them to God.

Can we trust in God and wait upon Him. We need not only the readiness but also the willingness.

And so we are to put our trust in God and wait upon Him with this knowledge that

God is in Control

That little basket that Moses’ mom put him into, wasn’t a frail ark made out of reeds. Rather it is a mighty vessel of God’s purpose.

Every act and circumstance serves God’s ultimate purpose. The reeds held firm the basket from being carried away by the mighty river. Pharaoh’s daughter came just at the right hour. Moses’ cry came just at the right time for Pharaoh’s daughter to hear. Moses’ sister had just the right words to bring Moses back home to his mother. And the palace safely kept and trained Moses for the next part of God’s plan.

These and hundred’s of other little things combined to bring Moses to that point for God to use Him to deliver His people from their bondages. God was always in control, and God’s purpose was being worked out, even though nobody else could see the much larger picture.

And so, no matter what circumstances come up against us, and no matter what Satan might throw against, God’s purpose and will is going to be accomplished, and by faith, we must believe. And so, can you trust in God and believe enough in His good purposes to wait?

Now, before we get out of this section, there are some real ironies that exist here that I would hate not to bring up.

• Pharaoh’s chosen instrument of destruction for all male babies, the Nile, turns into the means of Moses’ salvation.

• Moses’ mom follows Pharaoh’s instructions, but puts her own twist to them. Instead of tossing him into the Nile, she builds a little ark and sets him inside.

• A member of Pharaoh’s own family saves the very person who would lead Israel out of Egypt and destroy the dynasty.

• Moses mom ends up being paid to do what she most wanted to do in the beginning, and is being funded from Pharaoh’s own budget.

• Moses learns from inside Pharaoh’s own courts what he needs to learn to lead the Jews out of Egypt.

• Pharaoh’s daughter names Moses, giving him a name that betrays much more than she realized, giving him a name that describes what God has in store for His people.

• To the name Moses she states, “Because I drew him out of the water.” Yet, in the Hebrew, it comes from the root meaning “to draw out.” So in the Hebrew Moses would mean, “One who draws out,” which then would have been a prophetic word pointing to his future work, and that is to be the one who brings the children of Israel out of their bondages to the Empire of the Nile.

And so, as we look at this first part of the story there is a lot to tell, and it has a lot more to say than what we imagine. But for me, the greatest is that God’s plan for the future of the children of Israel rested upon the shoulders of one of its own, a helpless babe lying in a fragile basket.

Doesn’t that closely resemble another such story of God’s plan for the future of humanity, and how our future rests upon the shoulders of God turned man as a helpless babe lying in a manger.

Exiting Egypt Chapter Two Part 1

Exiting Egypt: Chapter Two –

When We’re Most Like God

By Dennis Lee Part 1

At this time of Israel’s history, hope and despair are in conflict. Israel was moaning under Egyptian oppression, when God’s providence took shape in the form of a baby. Now, this sounds familiar, doesn’t it? Sounds like when Israel was under Roman rule and was crying out for a Savior, and God came down in human form as a baby wrapped in swaddling clothes lying in a manger.

But we’re talking about the book of Exodus, and so this baby was Moses, not Jesus. But as we said in the beginning, that Moses is to Exodus as Jesus was to the Gospels, and that we’ll see quite a few similarities as we go through our study.

Moses’ birth, like that of Jesus’, is a moment in the history of the world when the light of dawn begins its struggle with night right before the dawning of the day. Israel was in deep despair, afflicted and oppressed under the whips of the Egyptians, and into this dark despair a goodly child was born, and God’s unseen hand of providence began guiding his life.

Now, this word providence means the power of God sustaining and guiding human destiny. What I find fascinating about the account of Moses’ formative years, that is, his childhood years that God is never mentioned in the narrative, but throughout we see His hand directing Moses’ life.

Let’s take a look

Read Ex. 2:1-10

The birth of any child is a miracle, but there are special cases when the miracle of birth coincides with a miracle that God is about ready to impact the world, and such as the case with the birth of Moses.

Considered the anxiety that surrounded Moses’ birth. The Egyptian government had put out an edict that all male babies born to the Hebrew slaves were to be drowned in the Nile River. So, when Moses was delivered, his parents knew that a death sentence hovered over his head, and so, determined that their son was not going to die, they hid him out until they could hide him no longer.

Now, do you see any similarities to Jesus? Herod had put out an edict that all male children up to two years in age in Bethlehem were to be put to death. And so God intervened and removed Jesus from harms way, informing Joseph in a dream of the need to take Jesus into Egypt.

If you hadn’t noticed, the text never identifies the names of the major characters of this story with the exception of Pharaoh’s daughter calling the child’s name, Moses. Other than that, it doesn’t name Moses’ father, mother, or sister, which later we know as being Amram, Jochebed (6:20), and Miriam. It also doesn’t mention Moses’ brother at all, whose name we know as being Aaron. Not even Pharaoh or his daughter are named.

So, what does that mean. Does this say anything to us in our study? And what I believe is that it was deliberate so that the light will shine on the primary actor in this whole drama – God. And when you think about it, that is the way it is in life, with all the anonymous people that come in and out of our lives, but make an impact in one way or another.

And the point here is that they don’t have to be named. They don’t have to be identified, because we know that it was the Lord who used them for a time and a season to work something into or out of our lives.

It’s not about the construction company who built the building, or the person or persons who gave the money for the church to be built. It is the fact that God used these individuals or companies to further His kingdom here on earth. Look at what is written on John Wesley’s monument in Westminster Abbey: “God buries the workman and carries on His work.”

Now, this doesn’t mean that we are unimportant in the grand scheme of things. John Wesley helped to form what is now called the Methodist denomination. You see, while we may be anonymous to others, we’re not anonymous to God, He knows us. He knows all about us. He created us in His image and according to His likeness, and as believers in Christ, we are a integral part of His New Covenant of redemption. The anonymous part is that we don’t know how God is going to use us, but when we obey, then He uses our faithfulness for His Kingdom purposes: Anonymous to others, but not to God.

Let’s zoom in on Moses’ mother. She was a slave. She had to work in the brickyards or labor inthe fields all day. It’s hard for us to even imagine what it must have been like to live in that kind of setting and be subjected to that kind of oppression.

It was tough. It was oppressive. It was beyond our imagination to know or even understand what went on in the heart and mind of Moses’ mother during those months prior to his birth, not knowing and then knowing that if it was a boy that a sentence of death hung over his life.

And then, once he was born, she hid him for three months, but unable to hide him any longer she made a small little ark and laid him in it, and then set it reeds along the riverbank.

It is obvious that we see the natural love of a mother for her child, but we see something more, and that is the faint whisper of God’s providence. She didn’t know then that God was doing something special through her act of faith, committing her child into His hands.

And now consider that the writer of Hebrews catalogues as two of his faith recipients; Moses mom and dad. Those two anonymous parents are now brought into the floodlight of God because they, by faith, chose to hide Moses and not fear the king’s death edict.

But her faith in God went further than merely hiding him out. When she could hide him no longer she built a mini ark and then in an ultimate act of faith, put Moses inside, waiting for God’s provincial hand of guidance.

And so, what lessons can we take with us from Moses’ parents for our lives? What lessons can we take knowing the providence of God in this world we live in?