Welcome back.
As I said in the previous devotion,
excuses are a part of our daily living and we tend to easily make
excuses without really thinking about it. But we need to look up to
the Lord and trust Him that He knows what is best for us. If He
asks something of us, we should do it. But it is not that easy. Our
human nature tends to doubt. Tends to fear the future, and tends to
make more excuses, which was exactly what Moses did. He made
another excuse.
'They will never believe me. You
say that You are with me, but the religious leaders won't believe
me, besides Who should I say sent me?' He continued protesting. His
second excuse is another interesting thing for me. Moses realized
that he couldn't argue with the Lord when He said that He would be
with him, so Moses decided to turn the tables and point fingers at
other people. He tried to take the attention off himself and rather
shifted the blame and excuses towards others. Interesting. Isn't
that what we do as well? We use others as an excuse when
we don't really want to do something.
'Lord, I cannot do what you want me
to do, because I need to be with my children.'
'Lord, please not that, my husband
wouldn't like it.'
'Lord, I need to attend a planning
meeting at church, I cannot do what You require of me.'
'Lord, my boss would never agree to
give me extra time off to study, I am not even going to try.'
Etcetera etcetera.
Now listen to me very carefully. I
am NOT saying abandon all your responsibilities and do something
reckless. I am NOT saying abandon your children and leave them to
fend for themselves in this cruel world. No. I am only saying, do
not use them as an excuse. For example in Luke 9:59-62, Jesus asked
one man to be his disciple. He agreed, but said that he first wants
to bury his father. And what was Jesus' response?
'Let those who are spiritually dead
care for their own dead. Your duty is to go and preach the coming
of the Kingdom of God.'
Jesus then asked another man to
come and he said that he first wants to say good-bye to his family.
And Jesus answered: 'Anyone who puts a hand to the plow and then
looks back is not fit for the Kingdom of God.'
I firmly believe that Jesus didn't
mean that you must abandon your family and not care for them. He
specifically displays throughout His Word how important family is
and how important it is to raise your children for His Kingdom. I
think in these instances Jesus could see what their true intentions
were. They wanted to delay the process of doing what He requires.
They were using their family as excuses. They didn't really want to
follow Him. They were in a comfort zone and didn't really want to
make the sacrifice. Their families were just a convenient
excuse.
My wish is that the Lord will give
you the Wisdom to hear His calling and give you the strength to not
use excuses to stay where you are. Trust in Him, if He called you,
He will provide for you. He will give you the courage to continue,
the strength to move forward despite setbacks and He will provide
the resources you need at the right time. You only need to take the
first step and then trust and believe.
Lord, please help us to follow You
and to listen to Your gentle Voice calling. Help us not to make
excuses, but rather to trust in You. Lord also help us to look
after our families and help us to raise our children in Your
Wisdom. Amen