Coffee With The Lord

Ever had a really hard assignment (and this ol’ prof is not just talking about school assignments)? I mean work assignments or tasks, family issues to be resolved, relational assignments… and I could go on. Reflecting on your own personal resources and skill, the challenges of the task, the timeframe staring you in the face, the adversaries, and the prospect of success or failure, just flat out scared you to death!

Well, this morning I read of a challenge like that faced by Moses (and his brother Aaron) in the Bible… the passage? Exodus 6:26 – 7:6.

“It was this Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, ‘Bring the Israelites out of Egypt by their divisions.’ They were the ones who spoke to pharaoh, king of Egypt, about bringing the Israelites out of Egypt – this same Moses and Aaron!” (6:26-27)

Moses argued that he was not an adequate spokesperson… So God graciously provided Aaron. God warned Moses of Pharaoh’s hard heart and predicted that he would not listen. But God assured Moses that he would work signs and wonders and would deliver the children of Israel by “great acts of judgment! When completed, the Lord predicted, “The Egyptians would know that He was the Lord!”

Moses accepted the difficult (even the seemingly impossible) assignment and “DID JUST AS THE LORD COMMANDED HIM!”

What a pattern for us when we are faced with difficult things that are IN THE WILL OF GOD… Here’s what Apostle Paul declared in the midst of a difficult “assignment” (If you doubt it was an assignment read Philippians 1:12-18, especially these words in verse 16: “I am put here for the defense of the gospel.”) What was Paul’s overall declaration? “I can do all things through Him that strengthened/enables me!” (From Philippians 4:12-13)

Oh Lord, help me to live by that conviction and with that level of obedience!

My Faith Conviction about Origins…

In a wonderful passage that addresses the coming of “The Lord’s Servant” – Jesus, the Messiah, you find this inspired declaration about how everything around us came to be – Isaiah 42 verse 5.

In a time that worships “science” and for the most part bows before human theories of origins, I embrace the plain reading of the inspired Genesis 1 record, and find in verse 5 of this passage a refreshing inspired summary of what it reveals…

“Thus says God, the Lord, who created the heavens and stretched them out, Who spread out the earth and what comes from it, Who gives breath to the people on it and the spirit to those who walk in it!”

It happened by “chance!” or “It just happened to turn out that way!” How many times have I heard those explanations for things that had “the finger of God” written all over them!

Really?! I read a passage this morning during my time of “Coffee with the Lord that flies in the face of that thinking and repudiates it! Exodus 2:1-10 – The birth, preservation, and Divine purpose for Moses! You should read it for yourself in the Bible!

Think about it… Brutal taskmasters of God’s people, Israel… Determined plans by an evil leader to destroy all the male babies… Midwives who defied them and feared God… An innovative “mother of faith”… A caring, courageous sister… a timely scheduled bath by a king’s daughter… Eyes that were drawn to a little, handmade “ark” in some bulrushes among the reeds of the Nile … And GOD preserved, and providentially provided for the deliverer of His people!

Listen, God has a thousand ways to fulfill His will when we can’t think of one!!! I don’t believe “HAPPENSTANCE” is a word that should be in any Christian’s vocabulary.