Tag Archives: trust

Trusting the Great I AM

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“The Israelites groaned in their slavery and cried out, and their cry for help because of their slavery went up to God. …So God looked on the Israelites and was concerned about them.”

Meanwhile…

“When the Lord saw that Moses had gone over to the burning bush, God called to him from within the bush, ‘Moses! Moses!. …Moses hid his face, because he was afraid to look at God. The Lord said, ‘I have seen the misery of my people… and I am concerned about their suffering. …I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring my people the Israelites out of Egypt.

“But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh…

“Suppose I go and say to them,’The God of your fathers has sent me to you’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ Then what shall I tell them?

“God said… ‘I AM WHO I AM. This is what you are to say…

“The elders of Israel will listen to you. …But I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless a mighty hand compels him. So I will… strike the Egyptians with all the wonders that I will perform among them. After that, he will let you go.’

“Moses answered, ‘What if they do not believe me? …Lord, I have never been eloquent… I am slow of speech and tongue.’

“‘…go; I will help you and teach you what to say.’

“‘But Moses said, “O Lord, please send someone else to do it.’

“Then the Lord’s anger burned against Moses and he said, ‘What about Aaron…your brother? I know he can speak well. …He will speak to the Lord for you.

“…When you return to Egypt… say to Pharaoh, ‘This is that the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son, and I told you, ‘Let my son go, so he may worship me.’”

And so…

“…when [the Israelites] heard that the Lord was concerned about them… they bowed down and worshiped.” ***

So many people – so often – say God doesn’t care. As I was reading through these chapters this morning, God’s concern for us is painted all over the pages. In chapter two, he hears the Israelites cry for freedom.

He hears their cry for release of the oppression put upon them from the Egyptians.

He hears their cry to be free from bondage.

And, He’s concerned.

So – He develops a plan.

Moses, once a prince in a palace, through various and assorted circumstances, becomes a sheep herder in the dry, hot desert. While wandering with these wooly rams and ewes, he comes upon a bush that is on fire. He watches. And he watches. And it doesn’t burn up.

“Dude, this is totally illogical,” he cries out. “Simply illogical.” After all, how often do you see bushes that are burning in the desert and refuse to burn out? It’s not like there’s an overabundance of bushes in the desert to begin with and this specific one drew him nearer.

As Moses approaches, God calls to him. “Moses! Moses!” And Moses says, “Here I am.”

Then God stops him. “Don’t come any closer. Take off your sandals, for the place you are standing is holy ground.” At that moment, Moses hides his face, because he is afraid to look at God.

Then the conversation begins. God has an agenda. He has allowed Moses to live the first forty years as a prince of Pharaoh’s palace; the next forty as a shepherd in the desert; and now, God has called him to be the deliverer, the savior – so to speak – of the Israelites. And what is Moses’ response? I’m a nobody. What if they don’t believe me? Can’t you send someone else to do it?

Uh, no Moses. This is the plan – God is sending you.

Moses finally got his way, but not before ‘…the Lord’s anger burned against Moses.’

Can you imagine going from hearing the voice of God, standing before God and then – experiencing His anger? Like Moses, we so often oppose God’s plan – His will – with our ‘what if(s)’, ‘but(s)’, and our ‘are you sure(s)’, that we end up disobeying, ignoring, and distrusting Him.

If we truly believe that God is who He says he is, “I AM WHO I AM”, that should leave us desiring to obey and be submissive to His will. Seeking to trust Him completely. Seeking to be attentive to what He is saying to us. His “I AM WHO I AM” should be so important to us that we remember Him from generation to generation, as He requested, as “I AM”.

However, we get lax in our relationship with Him and forget just how who He is. Moses was afraid to look at Him. Moses felt inadequate before God, not thinking perhaps that if God called him to a task, surely God would equip him. Even having taken off his shoes after being told he stood on holy ground, Moses couldn’t wrap his mind around the truth that the One he was conversing with was the great “I AM”. The One who hung the stars in the heavens. The One who created every drop of water, every grain of sand. And because of his inability to trust God, God’s anger burned.

Yet – God still used him. He had to have a sidekick – his brother – but God still used him and continued to use him.

Moses went to the elders (as God had commanded), told them what was going to happen and they bowed down and worshiped the Lord. The great “I AM” had seen their misery and heard their cries because of their slavery and now they worshiped the God of their fathers and they had hope restored. A hope of being delivered from the Egyptians.

Did God care? Of course He did. Does He care now, when we are a people so selfish and sinful? Of course He does. He hears our cries – when we voice them. He is concerned when we are oppressed. And – He desires our worship. Most of all – He desires our worship.

So often we rely on signs to tell us of God’s power and God’s worth instead of relying on the fact that He is sovereign and can be trusted. Instead, shouldn’t our response then be – to worship the great “I AM” and to bow low before Him? Surely, it should be.

From my heart,
Sherri

***New International Bible, excerpts taken from the book of Exodus, chapters 2-3.

Which Will You Choose?

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Trust is work. It does not come easy. Whoever tries to convince you otherwise has little faith and I believe that wholeheartedly.

To live a life of gratitude, of thankfulness and joy – those are the conduits that produce trust. But – not just any trust. A trust in a loving, sovereign God who has never failed. To say He never will fail is right and good, but we cannot put our trust in a God who never will fail unless we have first seen that He never has failed. We must utilize a trust that is deliberate and focused on this loving God that turns evil into good. A God that paints a rainbow in a dark, cloudy, drippy sky and calls it a promise. A God that painfully watches His son nailed to a cross and calls it redemption for an undeserving people.

Yet, why is our first and foremost, our fastest reaction – worry? Fear? Is it something we have learned in the classroom of Life-Lessons On Trust and yet because we somehow missed the first class, and to trust first never seemed to make sense? Why have we so easily learned the sin of stress over the treasure of trust? And someone tell me – why is it so doggone easy to fret and choose failure over faith?

I sit at the airport and watch the planes take off and land and I wonder – how many people on Flight 93 on September 11th, 2001, were fretting when Todd Beamer stated, “Let’s roll!”? They had a mission. They could have been filled with fear and yet, I honestly believe they were filled with courage in those final moments. There is no room for fear in courage and they were filled with a courage that charged against the demons of darkness that desperately tried to steal their faith and keep them huddling in their fear. Instead, they gripped that fear by the horns, cast it furlong into a field of thistles and thorns and millions called it good while at the same time mourning those who trusted in a higher and a greater cause.

Imagine a faith – a supernatural courage that can come from a life who is trusting in a superior, infinite, and sovereign God who has spent an eternity blessing His children (even though they have lived oblivious to that goodness). Imagine what can happen when they begin to catch a glimpse of the small. The once mundane that now has become magnificent. No – miraculous. Imagine when they don’t merely notice, but voice their thankfulness – their gratitude for the gifts they now receive.

It is when we begin to search for the little things that we begin to see the little things are not so very little. What once I walked past in ignorance (yes, ignorance) – the delicateness of nature, the complexities of creation, and the exquisiteness of life itself – it now shouts out in celebration of its very wonder. Why? Because I have begun to look for not just the little things in life that hold that incredible wonder, but all things. And… give thanks.

Could it be that when we look for all things in which to express gratitude that we find a plethora of ‘things’ in which to give thanks, we begin to develop a life of thanksgiving? For, it is in that very smallness that thanksgiving breeds joy and joy reels in anxiety and worry. The smallness dissipates doubt. It casts light upon the darkness and whispers ‘Live in this moment.’ It speaks, ‘Choose joy.’

Truth is the beginning of trust. They are built upon the same principal – putting faith in a loving God. A loving God who has proven He is trustworthy. He has proven it with a rainbow, a burning bush, a cross. When we can see those things – really see them – then we can and will unabashedly give thanks. And thanksgiving will produce joy.

That’s the truth. And the truth sets people free. Free to see. Free to live the way we were meant to live. Without fear. Full of joy.

- Sherri

Five Fabulous Facts for January 22, 2010

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Rose close up 2Physically, we are all getting a day closer to our end.

Emotionally, we cower at the thought.

Mentally there are days we cannot deal with it.

Often frantically, we strive to find a way to overcome.

Spiritually, if we hope and have trusted in a God who loves us and saved us, the above can cease to be important yet remain real.

Thank you Jesus, for your saving grace which has overcome our deepest fears, our greatest needs, and our longing for more, for in You and You alone, we have everything we’ll ever need. Teach us to trust You in and for all things.

“Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you.  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am…”  – - John 14:1-3

Moments Made for Worshipping

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my-favorite

This is a moment made for worshipping.

What if the moment is filled with heartache? What if we’ve forgotten how?

This is still a moment made for worshipping.

We can easily forget how to look up – up toward God Almighty. And if we’ve forgotten how, then we need a refresher course on who God is. He is the God of swaddling clothes. He knows how to wrap us up – His children – in such a way that we are comforted and cared for. And, when we are wrapped, we know what protection and love and grace is all about.

Oh, to become like little children who allow themselves to be comforted in the arms of God!

In the moments when I tell myself — and honestly believe that I can’t do this thing called life much longer – I listen to this song (words have been slightly altered) –

Monday morning – hiding again.

Somewhere in the distance I remember yesterday

Singing hallelujah, full of wonder.

But right now I’m just wondering –

Why don’t I feel anything at all?

It’s not about feelings, is it? Where did we ever get the idea, after all, that life was a bucket filled with everything we could ever dream of? Where was the birth certificate that says, “Endless bliss and contentment, from here on out kid.” Yet, we feel it should be. Somewhere amongst the bliss and contentment that others are enjoying, our bucket appears empty and we feel cheated. No one feels like worshipping when they feel jipped.

Every little girl has heard of Cinderella in some shape or form and dreamt the dream of being a princess. Entertained the crown, the carefree lifestyle – the lie. Little girls that I’ve known, don’t grow up and ride off into the sunset. Little girls grow up to be single moms and working wives, battered and bruised, unappreciated and unloved. They come from broken homes without examples of unconditional love and scattered instead with love that has boundaries, intruders that steal their innocence and surrounded by walls made of steel. They come from homes that don’t believe in happily ever afters but hang on to Santa and the Easter bunny instead, where happiness is seen twice a year. They come from homes that have replaced hope for hangovers and morals for immorality. And all the while, in the midst of these moments that can bring us to despair, they are the moments made for worshipping.

Why a moment made for worshipping if all we seem to feel is pain and all we seem to look upon is heartache? Because – God hasn’t changed and He never will. He was there for Moses and parted the waters, leaving an almighty and angry God to deal with the bad boys on God’s terms. He was there for David to take Goliath down with one of five stones, strategically placed in his noggin. He was there for Peter when he walked on the water. But like Peter, we forget He’s there and look down and begin to understand what if feels like to be drowning. We forget who God is and that He longs to save us – as many times as it takes.

We desperately need saving so often – don’t we?

How do we worship in those times? In the times when the tears won’t turn off? In the times when we are overwhelmed with life’s burdens? We worship with those steady tears and by bringing our bags full of burdens to the throne of God. We remember that our tears are precious to the Lord, who told us He stores them in a bottle. He knows every moment that we have been hurt. We worship because He loves us – in tears of pain or in tears of joy. We worship by laying our burdens at his feet – saying without speaking that we trust Him to take it. We believe that He will do what He says. In that – He is glorified.

A moment made for worshipping. It’s easy on Sundays. It’s the Mondays we need to put on the hard hats and remind ourselves to stay focused – to keep our eyes on Him in order to keep us from sinking. When Peter tried to go solo, he started going under.

We can’t go it alone. We need His strength, His power, His grace and His mercy to sustain us. We especially know that, when life is painful. That makes those moments in life, moments made for worshipping. Moments when we realize we can’t, and that He is, He does, and He will.

-Sherri

[1] Steven Curtis Chapman, A Moment Made for Worshipping, from the album ‘All About Love’