WALKING BY FAITH

I wanted to post the thoughts I spoke of yesterday from Exodus before the day goes by and other things get in the way. I hope you enjoy them.


We have just finished studying Genesis for several months and moved on to Exodus. In chapter 3 it intrigued me to read the conversation between God and Moses at the burning bush. This was Moses' first real encounter with God. God calls Moses and invites him to partner with Him in the release of the Hebrew slaves. Moses raises questions about why God would want to use him. God replies that it will be that after they are out of Egypt that they will worship on "this" mountain, the mountain being the one where Moses now stood speaking with God and that this will be a sign that it was God who sent him. This is in verse 12. I realized that what the Lord was actually requiring of Moses was to step out in faith. He was basically saying that the confirmation to this plan would come AFTER Moses carried out the instructions!!! He would have to do what God said, lead all those people out of Egypt and into the desert and then the confirmation would come that he had heard from God. How often do we ask God for confirmation on something when He really expects us to take a step of faith and see the confirmation follow? Like Moses, we wonder, 'is that God talking to me?' The Lord really wants our faith to kick in first and then when it's all done, we'll realize it was Him! I think that happens often. We are to walk by faith and not by sight. I find myself often waiting for circumstances to align or someone to give me a word of prophecy or confirmation before I step out on a project.

Read on in your Bible and see what happens in chapter 4! God continues to give Moses instructions and Moses continues to come up with "what if's?" God meets his faith at its current level by giving him several signs to perform. He finally ended up angering the Lord with his excuse, "I am slow of speech," (or the equivalent thereof--I can't talk well, etc.) Then the Lord tells him that his brother Aaron will be his spokesman and that the Lord will be with BOTH their mouths. Aaron needed the Lord just like Moses (to speak through him), but Moses couldn't believe at that point that God could use him that way! It is interesting to me that the Lord also told Moses to speak to Aaron--Moses would have to do the very thing that he claimed he was poor at doing--speak! And what would he have to speak? He would be telling his brother that he had had an encounter with God and then giving him the plan and all the instructions from thereon. This is exactly the same thing that he would have had to"speak" to the children of Israel. Moses has to speak it out anyway in order to get the plan done!

I hope you will take time to study these two chapters. It is a bit difficult to explain, but it looks to me like God is willing to meet us wherever we are at in order to accomplish His purposes. His first plan and will was not accepted by Moses without all kinds of questions, but the Lord eventually allowed Moses to work in another manner that met his level of faith.

What's the lesson in all of this? I think Moses showed more faith than I would have at a first encounter with God. But now, I want to be the kind of person that develops and exercises my faith to meet the Lord and do His perfect will the first time He asks. Thank God for those who went before us, like Moses, from whose lives we can glean all kinds of encouragement. God will use us wherever we are, but why not meet Him at the highest and best place of His choosing? Of course, Moses ended up being a great leader of Israel, mightily used of God. This too should be an encouragement to us that we may be timid in our faith at the onset of a venture, but the Lord will work with us to get the job done.

What's new in the garden? Lemon lilies. They are starring in the show right now! They are a pale, but vibrant yellow, if you can imagine that. It's hard to describe. Their color is almost "electric." They really illuminate the garden in the spots where they bloom. I divided several of them last year and dispersed them throughout. I think I will do that again this year since their color is such a great addition to the current scheme. A great way to do that is to tie a bread tie around the stalks of flowers you want to divide. After the blooms are gone, many look the same and it's easy to forget. There are also burgundy gaillardias and bright blue globe thistles, all varieties of wildly colored lilies, bee balm and many, many self-sown nigellas (love-in-a-mist). It's a very bright show out there right now! Some delphiniums are ready to make a second debut. Exciting! Blessings, LORI