Weekly Devotion

We have looked at people with a poor self image, that didn't believe in their abilities. We have looked at Moses, Gideon and Saul. But I would now like to shift to someone who had an okay self image, but who was looked down upon. No one gave him a chance in life and thought that he would probably never amount to anything good. That person was David. Now if we think about David today, we see a mighty king, a gifted musician, a fierce warrior, a talented writer and above all a man who was close to the heart of the Lord. But before he was anointed as king he was looked down upon and considered as the least in the family.

You all know the story of how Saul was not the king he was crowned to be. He disobeyed direct commands from the Lord and the Lord rejected him as king and decided to anoint a new king in the mean time.  He sent Samuel to Bethlehem to go to Jesse and his sons and told Samuel to anoint one of Jesse's sons as the next king. Upon arrival Samuel invited Jesse and his sons for a sacrifice and when Samuel saw Jesse's oldest son he was convinced that he must be the new king. But the Lord said:

1 Samuel 16:7 "People judge by outward appearance. But the Lord looks at a person's thoughts and intentions."

One by one Jesse's sons stepped forward, but none of them were the right one. Samuel was confused, surely this was not all his sons? Now listen to Jesse's reply when Samuel asked him whether he had another son, it is really classic to me:

1 Samuel 16:11 "There is still the youngest, but he is out in the fields watching the sheep."

Imagine that. Your own father didn't even consider you worthy enough to join your brothers when the mighty prophet Samuel came to sacrifice to the Lord. He didn't even think of calling you. He kept you out in the field to look after the sheep, while they all enjoyed the honor of dining with the most influential man in Israel, besides the king. Imagine the look on his face when Samuel anointed David as king!

Have you ever experienced this kind of disbelief in your abilities? Have you ever had someone doubt that anything good can come from you? Have you ever had the experience of being shut out, because you are not good enough? It must hurt. Especially if it comes from someone close to you. David's own father didn't think much of him and it was evident that his brothers did not think much of him either. Because later on the oldest three brothers went to the army to fight against the Philistines, and when David arrived to bring some provisions for them, they taunted him:

1 Samuel 17:28 "What are you doing here anyway? What about those few sheep you're supposed to be taking care of?"

Wow, they didn't think much of him and this comment was made after he was anointed as king. They still didn't think that he was up to the task. They only gave him few sheep to look after. They obviously didn't believe that Samuel made the right choice in choosing David. Now listen to David's reaction:

1 Samuel 17:29 "What have I done now? I was only asking a question!"

If I look at his reaction I think it is safe to assume that this was not the first time that they taunted and degraded him. They didn't look up to him as their future king at all. In fact they looked down at him and didn't consider him to be on their level.

What I am trying to get at is that even if you are hypothetically speaking 'anointed' to start with your task, people won't immediately look up to you and believe in you. They might be jealous, they might want to drag you down to their level, they might want to discourage you, they might not consider you good enough, but be like David. He didn't let that get to him. Just after this comment of his brothers he defeated Goliath and started to gain respect from his brothers. Some of them even joined his forces later on when he was hiding from Saul.

So don't listen when others try to distract you and try to be nasty. Be focused on what the Lord wants you to do. You will defeat your Goliath and you will receive the victory and gain the respect of your peers. Just keep the faith!

Lord Jesus, please help us keep the faith. Help us not to listen to negative opinions around us. But help us to focus on You. Amen

The theme so far has been that the Lord uses anyone He pleases, even ordinary people. If He has a will for your life, He will let it come to pass. Your job is only to listen and to obey. As I looked into this topic in the Bible it was interesting to note that some of the people God used had a bad self image themselves and some of the people God used had an okay image of themselves to start off with, but other people didn't think very highly of them.  Examples of people with a bad self image was Moses, Gideon and Saul and examples of people of whom society didn't think much was David, Mary, Peter etc. I decided to use a couple of examples of this.

The first king of Israel was Saul. He was very handsome and stood head and shoulders above everyone else, the perfect icon of a king. He was the son of Kish, a rich influential man from the tribe of Benjamin. After reading these two sentences you would think that he would have a good self image and that he would readily accept the role of king. I mean, he was handsome, big and rich. What more could he ask for? But it was so interesting to note what he thought of himself. This is what he said after Samuel, the prophet, told him that he was the focus of all Israel's hopes:

1 Samuel 9:21 "But I'm only from Benjamin, the smallest tribe in Israel, and my family is the least important of all the families of that tribe! Why are you talking like this to me?"

Saul therefore definitely did not have a good self image. Even though he was very handsome and rich, he didn't see himself that way.

This could be true for us as well. Others might see the potential in us that we don't see. They might see what we can become. We should sometimes listen when we receive praise from others. We should never become proud (by the way that was exactly what Saul later became and it was his downfall), but a good self image is promoted throughout the Bible. After all, Jesus said that we should love our neighbors as we love ourselves. If you receive a compliment or even better, a prophecy spoken over your life, accept it graciously and don't look down on yourself like Saul did. Accept who you are and believe that you are wonderfully and lovingly made for God's purpose for your life.

Now let's continue with the story. Saul was then privately anointed by Samuel to be king over Israel. And as Saul left to go home, the Spirit of the Lord came over him and he started prophesying. He was definitely on a spiritual high and experienced the power and might of the Lord firsthand. But just a while later, Samuel gathered the whole of Israel together to anoint their new king. They cast lots between the twelve tribes and Benjamin was chosen. They cast lots again and the family of Matrites was chosen and finally Saul was chosen as the new king. And what did Saul do? What was his first reaction? He went to hide between the baggage. If it wasn't such a serious matter it would have been very funny. Here is their future leader, their military hope against their eminent enemies and he was hiding away between the baggage. He was scared to the bone. He had known this day was coming and he was even on a spiritual high for a while, but when the moment of truth arrived, he couldn't live up to the challenge. He didn't believe in himself.

The same thing could happen to us. After accepting our task from the Lord we could be fired up and ready to take the challenge head on and we could even be experiencing a spiritual high. But when push comes to shove, we could also be very scared. Scared to step up to the challenge. Scared to start. Maybe we are scared that other people might laugh at us (by the way a couple of people did scorn at Saul and didn't think he was quality material to be king), maybe we don't know how to proceed further, maybe we are scared to even try because it could be a failure. Who knows? But you certainly need to step up and try. When you know what the Lord requires of you, start preparing yourself for the day that He wants you to start. It might be sooner than you think.

Lord, please give us the courage to stand up and start when You called us to a task. Please give us the strength to boldly do what You require of us. We want to make You proud. Amen

We have learned so much from Moses' life. He was an ordinary person whose life changed dramatically when the Lord called him into service for Him. His life changed from a lowly shepherd in those days to a mighty leader for the people of the Lord. He was arguably one of the most influential and well known men of all time. He changed from someone who couldn't speak very well, to a powerful leader who made one of the best speeches in history right before his death. He changed from someone who accepted his dreary life as it was, to someone who made a profound impact on the history of the world, through presenting the ten commandments to God's people. He was truly a remarkable man. But at the end of the day, he wasn't really someone in the eyes of the world before he began. As we discussed before, he was truly a nobody. But the Lord saw potential in him. And He sees the potential in you too, believe it!

Moses is one example of someone that the Lord used, that didn't really 'make it' in the eyes of the world. There are a whole lot of examples in the Bible of people that the Lord used in a mighty way, and none of them were really the most popular on earth at that time. I would like to discuss a few of them in the next few devotions. And the main reason is that I want to encourage you to stand tall and know that even if you are a nobody in the eyes of the world, to the Lord you are a somebody. A somebody He wants to use in His eternal kingdom.

The first person I would like to discuss is Gideon. For those of you that don't know, after the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they had judges to rule over them, guide them and help them. Gideon was one of these judges. Now let me sketch the situation in which Gideon became a judge. Upon entering the Promised Land the Israelites were instructed by God to kill all the inhabitants of the land. They however failed to do that and as the time passed by, they started to relax and allowed the gods of these nations to infiltrate their beings. They even started to worship these gods. It was horrific in the eyes of the Lord and He allowed a couple of these nations to oppress the Israelites. Now in Gideon's time it was the turn of the Midianites to oppress the Israelites due to their evil deeds. The Midianites were extremely evil and the Israelites were forced to flee to the mountains. The Midianites stole all their livestock and consumed all their crops until Israel had nothing left and was reduced to starvation. It was only then that Israel realized their mistake of worshipping other gods and cried out to the Lord for help. So it was in this situation that the Lord called Gideon to free the Israelites from these evil Midianites.

Now when the Lord called Gideon to lead the Israelites in a revolt against the Midianites, Gideon was at the bottom of a winepress, secretly threshing wheat in order to hide the grain from the Midianites. He was the least in his entire family and probably got all the jobs that nobody else wanted to do. He was at the bottom of his life both literally and figuratively, with no hope of going back up.

And see now how wonderful the Lord greets him:

"Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!" Judges 6:12.

Gideon must have had the fright of his life. Here he was hiding away from the Midianites, probably scared to death, feeling worthless and without any hope. And here he is called a Mighty Hero. And to top it off, the Lord then goes on to tell him to go and rescue Israel from the Midianites.

He was flabbergasted and immediately looked at the physical circumstances around him. He was the least in his entire family and his family in turn was the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh. In other words he was the weakest of the weak, the most worthless of them all. He instantly doubted himself and protested with the Lord that he couldn't be the right one (sounds just like Moses, doesn't it?). But the Lord stood firm and called him into battle.

Now we can learn something here. The Lord called him a mighty hero, something Gideon would indeed become later on, but the point is before he was one, the Lord spoke life over him. He declared him a mighty hero long before he was one, long before anyone believed in him. The Lord looks at us and sees the potential we have. He saw the potential in Gideon and He sees the potential in you too. You have the ability to become much more than you ever dreamed of. The Lord sees possibilities beyond comprehension. Don't ever look down on yourself. Don't think that you are a nobody and that you will never amount to anything good. That is nonsense. The Lord sees potential and He will open the doors for you. Never listen to your thoughts like:

"Nobody would ever listen to me."

"Nobody ever sees me, I will never amount to anything good."

"I am the embarrassment of my family."

"I am the least educated of my entire family."

"I have wasted my life, there is nothing left."

There are only new beginnings that await you. The Lord has only new beginnings in mind. Remember that Gideon was standing in the bottom of a winepress when the Lord called him, and he amounted to a great warrior. You could too.

Lord, help us to see our own potential. Help us to know where You want to lead us. You see us as we can become, help us to see that too. Amen

The Lord wants you to follow His Voice and to do what He requires of you. But it might be very difficult. It might not be the life you envisioned for yourself. We discussed the life of Paul in the previous devotion, but I would like to continue now and look at the life of David, a man after God's heart.

You all know the story of how Saul (Israel's first king) got jealous of David and realized that the Lord was with him now, and subsequently tried to kill poor David. David had to flee for his life. He fled to King Achish of Gath, but when the king's officers began complaining to the king about David being there, David pretended to be insane. The king dismissed him from his sight and David fled to the cave of Adullam. Soon his brothers, relatives and men who were outcasts of the society for some or other reason, joined David there and he became the leader of them all. He also asked the king of Moab for royal protection for his parents, which the king agreed to do. Then as you continue to read in 1 Samuel, Saul was constantly on David's trial. Wherever David went, Saul followed with the intention of killing him. David had to find refuge in the wilderness and finally settled in the strongholds (caves) of En-gedi. David twice had the opportunity to kill Saul, but he didn't, he chose to wait on God. Finally David fled to the Philistines and lived there among them in Ziklag. One day the Philistines were going into battle against the Israelites. David wanted to join them, but the King of the Philistines wouldn't let him. David and his men returned to Ziklag and found their home burned to the ground by the Amalekites. All their women and children were carried away. David's men were so grief stricken that they wanted to stone him. But the Lord was by David's side and gave him the courage to persuade his men to follow the Amalekites and regain everything that was stolen from them. They did indeed recover everything as well as some extra plunder from other battles the Amalekites had fought. I can go on and on with the story of David, but in short he suffered a lot before he became king.

Please allow me to quickly sum it up in my own words. He had to flee his home and leave his wife behind, his father in law wanted to kill him, he lost his best friend, he had to pretend to be insane, he had to live in the wilderness and constantly flee for his life, he had to get protection for his parents otherwise they would have been killed too, he had to go and live amongst his enemy, he had to endure the heartbreak of losing everything he had in Ziklag, even his own men wanted to kill him etc etc. It was one heartbreaking story after another. But look at what David's response towards the Lord was during these times. For example, he wrote Psalm 34:8-10 after he had to pretend that he was insane in front of King Achish:

"Taste and see that the Lord is good. Oh the joys of those who trust in Him! Let the Lord's people show Him reverence, for those who honor Him will have all they need. Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the Lord will never lack any good thing."

And look at one of the psalms he wrote whilst he was being hunted by Saul:

Psalm 57:7-9 "My heart is confident in you o God; no wonder I can sing Your praises! Wake up my soul! Wake up, O harp and lyre! I will waken the dawn with my song. I will thank You, Lord, in front of all the people. I will sing Your praises among the nations."

Wonderful isn't it. He also knew the secret to happiness. He also knew that tough times will come, but that the Lord will always be there for him. And look where he ended up. He was the best king Israel ever had. He was called a man after the Lord's heart. And the same applies to you. Tough times will come, it will not always be easy to follow the Lord's plan for your life. But you can also be a person after the Lord's heart. You can also be a person the Lord can be proud of.

Let's say you are called to work in your profession and do it in a godly manner. There will come times where you can become frustrated and want to swear at others, there will come times when you are tempted to have another drink with your colleagues instead of going home, there will be times where you want to lie your way out of a situation, there will be times when you want to gossip and gang up on someone you don't like. But stand strong and live a godly life. Your example may change lives and win people for the Kingdom of the Lord. Maybe you are called to be a housewife and look after the kids. It can be a very difficult thing to do. There will be times when people would look down on you for not working, there will be times when your kids will drive you up the wall, there would be times when you want to scream and just leave and there will also be times when you feel exhausted and emotionally drained. But don't despair, you are busy with the most important work in life. You are preparing your kids to go into the world and be godly men and women, the most amazing thing anyone can be.

Whatever it is you are called for, know that there will be difficult times, but know that there will be good times too. And most importantly know that it will all be worth it. Know that the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords is proud of you.

Lord Jesus help us in the difficult times to look up to You and gain our strength from You. We cannot do anything without Your guidance and support. Amen

I would like to continue with the same theme that it might not be easy once you start with what you believe the Lord asked you to start with. The excitement of starting the life that the Lord has planned for you could be very thrilling and something that will make you feel as if you have been asleep all these years! Every cell in your being would be alive and ready for the challenge. But remember to stay realistic. Don't think that you will only have smooth sailing from now on.

It is almost like a marriage. A lot of couples think that the hard work is finished when they get married. They think that now that they have the girl, they can live happily ever after. Well, that may be true, but there is a lot of hard work that lies ahead before you can live happily ever after. You need to keep the passion and the love alive. The Devil loves it when marriages and families fall apart and therefore you will receive a lot of resistance when you try to make your marriage work. But if you do persist, you will prevail and have love forever. And it is the same with your purpose in life. You need to persist and continue with what the Lord wants you to do. It will not always be easy, but you need to keep the passion alive and you need to keep your head down and continue with the Lord's plan. You won't be sorry! But to get to that point is not always that easy.

Look at Paul's life for example. Since receiving the call of the Lord, he has experienced a lot of hardship. He was a devoted Pharisee when the Lord called him to win souls for Him in the Kingdom of God. And once his previous 'colleagues' (as you might call them) realized that he was not like them anymore, they tried to kill him. He had to flee for his life and he was sent back to his hometown of Tarsus, where he stayed for several years before Barnabas fetched him there and took him to Antioch where his ministry started. Now I'll need to write down the whole book of Acts further if I would like to tell you everything Paul went through, but I believe that you can go and read it in detail yourself. What I actually just want to say is that Paul's life was in danger several times, he was beaten several times, stoned, imprisoned, basically homeless, unmarried, without children, shipwrecked, he had a thorn in his flesh etc etc. If we honestly look at his life I don't think that any of us would willingly choose his life. I think we would say that it is not humanly possible for anyone to survive all these things. But Paul did, and not only did he survive, he rejoiced in the Lord! He was someone who knew the true secret to life. Listen to what he wrote to the Philippians from his prison in Rome:

Philippians 4:11-13 "…for I learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need."

Wow, isn't it just amazing! This man truly knew the secret of this life. He truly knew how to life even though he had nothing! And what was his advise to people?

Philippians 4:4 "Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again - rejoice!"

And I can just encore that. The joy of the Lord is our strength! And yes, there might be times when you don't feel like rejoicing or praising the Lord, but then think of Paul. He had absolutely no reason to rejoice, but yet he was singing songs of praise to the Lord while sitting in prison. What an amazing testimony. He knew the true meaning of life and today he is one of the most inspirational people of all time. We can look up to him and read his letters and know that even if times get tough, we need to persist, the true treasure is awaiting us in heaven.

Lord Jesus, it is very difficult for us to rejoice when things are not going the way we thought it would. But please give us the courage to rejoice, despite gloomy circumstances, because we know that is where our strength lies. We love You. Amen

We ended off last time where Moses was down and out. I think that must have been the lowest point in his life. He left his comfort zone in the wilderness in order to follow the ways of the Lord. But since accepting and acting on the call on his life, he has been ridiculed and scorned by Pharaoh, he has caused his own people to be worse off than before, which in turn caused them to not even listen to him. In fact they didn't want anything to do with him anymore. The only companion he had was his brother. He must have felt like an absolute failure. Two thirds of his life was over and he was still a nobody. He was probably experiencing the worst mid life crisis imaginable.

But you all know the story. Even though Moses complained, even though Moses felt down, even though Moses was basically alone, he continued with what the Lord said. He complained and he moaned, but every time the Lord sent him back to Pharaoh, he went.

The first time he went, he was discouraged because Pharaoh treated him very badly. The second time he went, the magicians of Pharaoh could also do the miracle he was doing. They also turned their staffs into snakes. The third time, the magicians could also turn water into blood. The fourth time they could also let frogs appear, it was only the fifth time that Moses went to Pharaoh, that they couldn't imitate the miracles he performed on behalf of the Lord.

Now again, that must have been a bit discouraging. Here the evil magicians of Pharaoh could also do what he was doing. He must have felt good that the Lord was using him in this mighty way, but it must have been a bit disheartening to see others doing exactly the same thing. Now it might be the same for you as well once you start with your task. You might look around you and see a lot of people doing exactly the same thing that you are doing. In this case it was ungodly magicians, but in your case it might be godly people. For instance, let's say that you want to serve the Lord by writing a Christian book. Now you look around you and see hundreds, no I lie thousands if not millions of other writers doing the same thing. Or you might feel the Lord leads you to start a charity organization and then you look around you and see numerous others doing exactly the same thing. Or you might have the calling to be at home with your children and you immediately feel inferior to the other mothers doing the job so much better than you. You might even feel that you are not good enough and that it might be better that the kinder garden teacher rather raise your children as she might do it so much better than you. Or you might feel the Lord leads you to use your singing talent for example and you instantly look around you and see all the wonderful, great singers the Lord are using already. And we can start to feel discouraged and feel that we are not special in what we are planning to do and give up even before starting.

I feel like that as well. I write Christian books and want to do Christian motivational speaking. But everywhere I look, I simply see successful people doing exactly that. They all look to me much better than I can ever dream to be, they look so blessed and their ministries are all growing at a rapid speed. I even wonder if there would be anyone left to buy my books and come and listen to me! And do you know what verse the Lord pressed on my heart?

Matthew 9:37 'Jesus said to His disciples: "The harvest is so great, but the workers are so few."

And I knew, if the Lord gives you something to do, do it, even if a million others are doing the exact same thing. He has called you to do it and if He calls you and you obey, there is a place for you, even if you think there is enough 'workers' already. A whole harvest is waiting for you!

Simply do what Moses did. Just keep on doing what the Lord asks of you. Moses went back and back and back to Pharaoh. He didn't know when it would end and when (if ever) Pharaoh would finally relent and let them go, but he kept on doing what was required of him. And by the ninth plague he was considered a very great man and respected by Pharaoh's officials and Egyptians. What an amazing turn of events, he went from an insignificant despised shepherd to probably the most respected man in Egypt in a very short time, simply because he listened and moved at the mighty voice of the Lord. Are you ready to move?

Lord, help us not to look at what You are doing with other people, but rather to focus on what You want us to do with our lives. Help us to continue in Your Wisdom and with Your plan for our lives. Amen

Welcome back. We are going to continue with our discussion of the previous devotion. As we discussed, don't be surprised when you encounter difficulties when you start out with your new God given task. We can learn so much from Moses when he started out to rescue the Israelites. The new God-given path that Moses embarked upon was not so easy. In fact it was very difficult. Not only did Pharaoh ridicule and mock Moses and basically threw them out of his court, he even went so far as to punish the Israelites by increasing their workload. He ordered that the Israelites should get the straw that they use to make the bricks themselves, instead of getting it from the Egyptians as they were used to. This caused the Israelites to scramble for straw and still try to make the same quota of bricks each day. Naturally they couldn't do it and then the slave drivers became brutal and treated them with utter contempt. The Israelite foreman immediately rushed to Pharaoh to complain, but he simply brushed them off and ordered them back to work. They knew it was because of Moses that they were given a bigger load to bear and therefore the natural thing to do now was to complain to Moses.  They were very upset with him and even asked the Lord to judge him for what he has done to them. And what did Moses do? He in turn complained to the Lord. He wanted to give up. "Why did you send me?" he asked.

The Lord graciously answered that He would display His power and His might and that He would make the Israelites His own special people. He didn't give up on Moses and even told him to go back to the Israelites and tell them that. And it is wonderful for me to see that Moses did just that. Even though he was discouraged, even though he was down and out, he listened and went back to his people. And as we might expect they didn't listen to him. They were too discouraged by the physical abuse they were suffering. And again what did Moses do? He complained to the Lord again. He even started with his old excuses again that he was not a good orator. He was truly disheartened and wanted to give up. Everything was against him. He was a nobody, with no money, no nice clothes, no friends, Pharaoh was treating him like a worthless slave and to top it all off his very own people hated him and wanted nothing to do with him. What a hopeless situation.

What we therefore can see is that things got much worse when Moses started. Not only did Pharaoh and all the Egyptians hate him, his very one people were turning against him as well. They were even begging him to leave. I am sure this was not what he expected. I mean he didn't know at that stage that there was going to be 10 plagues and that he will successfully lead the Israelites out of Egypt. He didn't know that he was going to be a hero. All he could see from where he was at that moment was that Pharaoh was not relenting (and he didn't know if he ever will), and his own people hated him. His whole mission looked hopeless. What a devastating situation. He therefore turned to God again and complained to Him, wondering why he ever left his home to follow the Lord. Why did he ever listen?

Now this may also happen to you. You might be on a spiritual high after accepting the Lord's calling on your life. You might be very excited to start (and you should be), but don't be surprised when everything is not going smoothly at the beginning. Don't be surprised when things take a turn for the worse. It can easily happen. But whatever you do, don't run back to where you came from. If the Lord has called you, don't despair and look at things from a human perspective. Don't look at the 'giants' all around you. Trust in His guidance, if He has called you, He will let things run its course until the timing is right to fulfill your purpose. Just don't give up. You can talk to the Lord as Moses did, you can even complain to Him, but whatever you do, don't give up. Look up, but don't give up!

I cannot even begin to tell you about everything that went wrong since I received the calling from the Lord to write this devotion as well as my books (maybe I will write about it someday). Numerous things went wrong, one after the other! I even kept track of it in a diary. And naturally I started doubting that I heard the Lord correctly. I started doubting in His calling for me. I became very discouraged and wanted to give up. I complained to the Lord and I asked Him to take all this hindrances away from me. But you know what, even though the circumstances were bleak and unpromising, the Lord didn't take the hindrances away, but He gave me the strength to continue. Whenever I despaired He gave me rest and before I knew it I was busy again with what He wanted me to do. I couldn't help it. Before I knew what I was doing I was writing again. And step by step I grew closer to what His calling for me is. I haven't nearly reached it yet, but step by step I look up to Him and know that my victory will come. Hindrances will always be there, but the Lord also. He will help me past them all, to go where I need to be.

Lord Jesus, please help us not to give up. Help us to look up to You and trust You with our lives. Only You would be able to guide us. Amen

Moses started to move and was obedient to the Lord and His calling. He returned to Egypt to start with his formidable task of freeing his people from the evil pharaoh. Now one might expect it to be smooth sailing from thereon. The Lord was by his side and he was obedient to his calling. Therefore he most probably expected that the people would listen to him and that Pharaoh would just let them go. Afterall, the Lord of the Universe was by his side and promised him that he would lead the Israelites out of Egypt.

Now as you all know the story it wasn't smooth sailing. It was not easy at all. His brother Aaron came to help him, but even with his help it was difficult. In the first place it took some convincing in order to let the Israelite leaders accept Moses and accept that he was indeed sent from God. (I wonder sometime if some of them didn't grumble that the Lord didn't choose them. They were after all already the leaders of the people. Why didn't He choose one of them? But let's leave it at that for now.) Now after convincing the leaders, Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh. That must have been nerve racking, I am sure. The last time Moses was at the palace they were trying to murder him. And now he was back there, asking for something that would definitely not please Pharaoh. He must have been very intimidated by the splendor of the palace and Pharaoh and his army. Moses most probably still had his shepherd clothes on and must have looked like a beggar compared to the luxury and fine linen of Pharaoh and his family. He must have truly felt out of place. Plus he could have been killed in an instant if Pharaoh wanted to. He could have clicked his fingers and Moses and Aaron would have been history.

But still they continued and presented their case to Pharaoh. They were then ridiculed and treated with no respect. He even asked Moses: "Who do you think you are? Get back to work!" Now that is very interesting to me, because that was exactly what Moses asked the Lord when He called him. As you remember Moses told the Lord that he was a nobody and he couldn't do this task. He wasn't an influential or even religious leader, he was truly a nobody from the wilderness. Who was he really?

Just pause for a second and imagine yourself in Moses' shoes. Here you are in the danger area of the enemy, looking much less intimidating than your opponent, and even worse than that, you don't really believe in yourself. You are only there to please the Lord. It must have been truly hair raising. I wonder how quickly some of us would have turned our back on the mission and headed back home right there and then?

Now isn't that exactly how the devil works? He tried to discourage Moses again. Moses finally listened to the Lord and did what He required of him and the devil hated it! So when Moses started with his task he was immediately confronted with his weakness, his bad self image again. The devil knew that Moses battled to believe in himself and felt inferior and knew he could use it against him. He used Pharaoh to make Moses feel like a nobody all over again. He tried to break his resolve.

What I am really trying to say is, don't be surprised when you start out with your God given task, that you will be confronted with your weaknesses again. Don't be surprised when people don't believe in you and even mock you. Don't be surprised when they try to discourage you and tell you that what you are trying to do is not going to work. Don't be surprised if you receive resistance where you want to go. All you need to do is look up to the Lord, and not at your weaknesses. Don't listen to fragile human opinions. I almost want to say, keep your eyes closed and push forward. Just keep on moving, step by step you will get there. Do what you can do and leave the rest to God. Don't look at the end goal, just concentrate on what the Lord expects of you now. Like Moses, he had to go to Pharaoh and present their case. That was it for now. The Lord didn't require of him to look at the end goal of rescuing the Israelites. No, the Lord only wanted him to be obedient and go to Pharaoh. Step by step the Lord will lead you there. The Lord will bring the victory, simply trust in Him.

Lord Jesus, we trust that You will bring the victory in our lives. Please give us the strength to move forward, give us the wisdom to know when to listen to advice and when to discard comments given. Thank you Lord. Amen

Now before we continue with Moses' story, sit back for a moment and think of the times where you had excuses when something was required of you. Think back to that time and imagine how different things could have been if you didn't make the excuses, but rather trusted in the Lord for a better life, a better future. Take a moment to ponder the thought and write it down somewhere, who knows, maybe the Lord will send another opportunity your way soon.

Now, let's continue, as we discussed, excuses form so part of our daily life that we simply continue using them. We don't really think about them as it comes quite naturally for most of us. If we don't want to do something, we immediately use an excuse. But at some point we either need to leave the excuses and start moving or we need to ignore the Lord's calling on our lives.

Let's continue with the story of Moses and see how it unfolds. We already discussed Moses' first two excuses, but Moses had another excuse up his sleeve after the first two failed. He turned the tables back on himself and looked at his frail human body and immediately said that he is not a good speaker. He can't possibly lead a nation of plus minus two million people. His voice was simply not up to the task. He would never be able to do it.

Now let's stop the story there once again and look at our own lives. Do we not do the exact same thing? We look at our frail human bodies and instantly come up with a convenient excuse.

'I am not fit enough to be able to do this task.'

'My health is not good, the Lord cannot possibly expect this of me.'

'I am not as talented as other people, the Lord must be mistaking me with someone else.'

'I simply cannot go without enough sleep.'

'I am not a natural leader. How can the Lord expect me to lead this gathering?'

Etcetera, etcetera.

And here comes the answer of the Lord:

"Who makes mouths?" The Lord asked him. "Who makes people so that they can speak  or not speak, hear or not hear, see or not see? Is it not I, the Lord? Now go, and do as I have told you. I will help you speak well, and I will tell you what to say." Exodus 4:11,12.

And He wants to say that to you today. He made you and He knows you inside out. Nobody knows you better than He does, you don't even know yourself that well. And He is telling you today, that whatever your weakness is, He can turn it into a strength for His Kingdom. He will use you to glorify His Name. You only need to listen and obey and leave the rest of the 'worrying' to Him. He will work mightily through you, you just simply need to stop making excuses! If He wants you to do something, the supernatural will happen and you will be able to cope. The fact that you have a weakness is great, because then nobody will ever be able to give you the glory, no, all the glory will go to Him where it belongs! You will easily live out your purpose with Him working through you.

Now Moses listened to what the Lord had to say, but in desperation he still didn't want to go and begged the Lord to send someone else! That is very interesting to me, yet it shouldn't be, because we as humans desperately try to get out of situations that make us feel uncomfortable too. Situations where we feel we are out of our depth. Moses must have felt that this task was totally out of his league. He was just a shepherd boy in a foreign land, looking after sheep which wasn't even his own. In today's terms he would probably have been a foreigner in a country, maybe a guard looking after someone else's possessions and here comes the Lord and tells him that he was to become the mayor of a big city of 2 million people and not only that, he should radically change the whole direction the city was going in. Daunting task? I think so. Would we have felt inferior and totally unqualified? Of course. We would have instantly thought of a hundred other people that would do the task much better than we ever could. Even if we are unhappy with our lives like we have established Moses was, but still the change is too big and the odds are against us. It is a formidable task. And therefore we try to steer God away from us and point out to Him that other people would be much better for the task. We try to hide and hope that He would find someone else. We beg Him to leave us alone.

Now what is wonderful to me is that after this, Moses' excuses stopped right here. Moses started to move. After his excuses failed he didn't delay. He immediately went to his father in law and told him that he wanted to return to Egypt. He received his blessing to go and instantly went back to Egypt. Amazing. Imagine if he didn't move, where would he have been? I would definitely not be writing about him today and no one would have known about him. He would have died in the wilderness as someone who could have been great and declined the one exceptional offer made to him. He would have died wondering what could have been. He would most probably have seen the Israelites moving out of Egypt, and he would have wondered how wonderful it must have been to lead a mighty nation such as this alongside the Almighty God. He would have been sorry that he didn't listen. But luckily for him it didn't happen, Moses moved and that has made the world of difference in his life.

Therefore I am looking at you today and asking you, no begging you, to not let that chance pass you by. Do not let the offer go. Stop your excuses and look up to the Lord and say 'Yes, I don't feel as if I can, but with You alongside me, I know anything is possible.' Take the bold step, it will be worth it! He has chosen you, because He knows you can. Go on, make Him proud.

Lord Jesus, give us the courage and the boldness to take the first step. We know that is all you ask of us. You will provide the rest of the way. Thank you, we love You. Amen   

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