Wednesday, October 11, 2017

Get into the Game

Submitted by Tommy Galik
And now the cry of the Israelites has reached me and I have seen the way the Egyptians are oppressing them.   So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.  Exodus 3:9-10

Joseph, a Hebrew, was sold into slavery by his brothers. He rose quickly to power in Egypt. After his death, the new Pharaoh became afraid that the Hebrews would turn against Egypt if a war broke out. They made the Hebrews slaves and treated them in an inhumane way. The people cried out to God for deliverance and God answered their prayers. God needed a man who would accept this challenge to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites so that they could head to the Promised Land that God promised them.

God chose Moses to be the general in charge of confronting Pharaoh to release the people. Moses was reluctant to accept God’s call. He doubted his ability to speak before the king or that the people would accept a man who was brought up in the court of Pharaoh. He was afraid that he could not communicate God’s message. He lacked confidence in himself and was afraid to represent God before Pharaoh. He didn’t believe he possessed the leadership skills necessary to lead a large group of people who didn’t trust or even know him. He didn’t see or couldn’t see the hand of God working to prepare him to be an ambassador to one of the most powerful men at the time.

After Moses presented a few feeble excuses to God on why he couldn’t serve God, God gave Aaron, Moses brother, to be his spoken before Pharaoh. God wanted Moses to be the leader and He found a way to accommodate Moses and have his leader. Moses saw himself as a speck of dust that was insignificant before the god like Pharaoh. Moses was only concerned about his personal life rather than the lives of his people.

Moses gives us a glimpse of his humanness. Moses was flesh and blood like us. He was afraid of Pharaoh and the possible punishments that Pharaoh could inflict on him. He didn’t want to suffer physical or emotional pain. He wanted to enjoy life and his family without unnecessary stress to complicate his life.

We are like Moses many times. Our humanness seeks to overthrow our spirituality. It seeks to reduce us to a helpless, unconfident servant of God. Our humanness will try to defeat us as we serve God… and the good news is that God has the power and is willing to help us to overcome it. The key is get in the game, try, and trust God to help you find a way to overcome it. God gave Aaron to Moses to fulfilled his responsibility. God will find a way to help you serve him. One of the most important thing you can do is to accept your humanness – that you are going to make mistakes, fall on your face, and disappoint yourself. Most people will forgive our failures but can we forgives ourselves for not trying to serve God or walking with God in a faith relationship. It is better to try and fail than to play it safe. Spiritual growth will not occur unless we try and fail. We learn from our failures but if we fail to try to serve, we don’t learn anything about the power of God to help us in our services.


So now, go. I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.  Exodus 3:10

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