05.04.19 - week 2
god had a land prepared for the people,
but he needed to prepare the people for the land.
a few weeks ago, i was preaching for a new friend, he picked a sermon of mine from last year and asked me to preach it. this was unusual, as typically when invited to speak, the answer to ‘what should I speak on’ is ‘whatever god puts on your heart.’ so i settled in to study the content of exodus 17 as requested. i hadn’t thought of this flannel graph classic in a long time. the story is about a great military battle won by the nation of israel.
they didn’t win through raw military strength, rather the victory was through the miraculous, moses lifted hands. god revealed a clear ‘how’ to moses and victory was certain if he simply followed instructions. in a beautiful picture, as moses became tired, his friends held him up.
exodus 17.12b - so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun
it got me thinking, so often our temptations aren’t things we might do, but rather obediences we might stop.
tired of your job, that you don’t like and have been doing for years to provide
praying for an unsaved family member, 100 times you have prayed since you last saw even an ounce of positive movement
parenting in the home and many days you wonder if the extra effort is worth it
been doing it God’s way while waiting for a marriage partner, 1st time or again, and it seems like the people doing it the world’s way are getting ahead.
in a marriage where there is lots of duty and not lots of fun, and occasionally you find yourself wondering what it’s like out there.
there’s endless temptation to give up. to throw in the towel and promise ourselves to do better in the next job/relationship/financial situation. often the most powerful thing you can do today is to simply keep walking 1 more step down the path of obedience you have been on. like moses did, keep your hands steady and trust that god is working even while you wait.
Cup of Leadership
binary thinking is usually lazy thinking. often because we believe in a set of certain truths (risen - inerrant - coming again), we allow ourselves the luxury of applying the same pattern of thinking to the ideas/people/circumstances in our lives. almost nothing is just 1 thing. a friend can be truthful + helpful + hurtful all in the same sentence. a trial can be a harsh consequence + sovereignly useful at the same time. a spouse can be generous with finances and withholding of time. and etc;.
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we aren’t helping ourselves by rushing to label things with certainty. it prevents us from learning from success + properly processing life.
Book Review
recommended by a treasured friend, i found wealth in the pages of this book. it’s radical in its call to let go of the things we hold onto. it pushed me to see how often my keeping of a ‘record of rights’ perpetuates holding a harmful ‘record of wrongs.’ i was deeply moved to keep doing the deep work of carving every unloving thought out of my life. whether this is a season of mountain high or valley low, this book will help you.
3 Things I Really Liked This Week
1. this song is astonishing. it describes the unchanging nature of god in such a lovely + personal way, ‘in the highlands and the heartache all the same’
2. my boys can’t enough of this song … i must say its simple pop at its best
3. i have been reading a preview copy of my (insane) friend nathan finochio’s book, you will love it. pre-order here.