Bible League: Living His Word Then the LORD asked him, "What is that in your hand?" "A shepherd's staff," Moses replied.— Exodus 4:2 NLT Like Moses, you have a call from God on your life. For Christians, there's nothing unusual about that. We all have callings from God. They may not be as prominent as Moses' calling, but they're callings nonetheless. God is Lord over all things and every area of life. He has need of servants to advance His Kingdom in each and every area. He calls you to a part of that. Your job is not to question God's call or to complain about it, but to fulfill it. That means you shouldn't react the way Moses did when he was called. After forty years of doing nothing more than tending sheep in the desert, he didn't think he was good enough for the job God called him to do. He didn't think he could get Pharaoh to release the people of Israel from bondage. He said, "Who am I to appear before Pharaoh? Who am I to lead the people of Israel out of Egypt?" (Exodus 3:11). He also didn't think that the people of Israel would believe that he had been called by God. He said, "What if they won't believe me or listen to me? What if they say, 'The LORD never appeared to you.'?" (Exodus 4:1). From Moses' story, we learn that God is not sending you out to fulfill the call on your own. He will go with you and help you. He can make use of what you are and what you have to get the job done. He was able to turn the lowly shepherd staff that Moses held in his hand into the mighty "staff of God" that turned into a snake and that parted the Red Sea (Exodus 4:20). He's able to turn the mundane things you have into mighty tools and instruments of His redemptive purposes as well. If you think you're not good enough for the call or that you don't have the necessary resources for it, then don't forget Moses' story. Don't forget that God is more than able to use you, such as you are, to fulfill His call on your life. Bible in a Year Old Testament ReadingEzekiel 22, 23 Ezekiel 22 -- A Catalogue of Sins in Jerusalem NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Ezekiel 23 -- Oholah and Oholibah's Sin and Judgment NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB New Testament Reading James 2 James 2 -- The Sin of Favoritism; Faith and Deeds NIV NLT ESV NAS GWT KJV ASV ERV DRB Reading Plan Courtesy of Christian Classics Etherial Library. Tyndale Life Application Daily Devotion Since everything God created is good, we should not reject any of it but receive it with thanks. For we know it is made acceptable by the word of God and prayer.Insight In opposition to the false teachers, Paul affirmed that everything God created is good. We should ask for God's blessing on his created gifts that give us pleasure and thank him for them. This doesn't mean that we should abuse what God has made (for example, gluttony abuses God's gift of good food, lust abuses God's gift of love, and murder abuses God's gift of life). Challenge Instead of abusing, we should enjoy these gifts by using them to serve and honor God. Have you thanked God for the good gifts he has given? Are you using the gifts in ways pleasing to you and to God? Morning and Evening by Spurgeon Proverbs 30:26 The conies are but a feeble folk, yet make they their houses in the rocks.Conscious of their own natural defencelessness, the conies resort to burrows in the rocks, and are secure from their enemies. My heart, be willing to gather a lesson from these feeble folk. Thou art as weak and as exposed to peril as the timid cony; be as wise to seek a shelter. My best security is within the munitions of an immutable Jehovah, where his unalterable promises stand like giant walls of rock. It will be well with thee, my heart, if thou canst always hide thyself in the bulwarks of his glorious attributes, all of which are guarantees of safety for those who put their trust in him. Blessed be the name of the Lord, I have so done, and have found myself like David in Adullam, safe from the cruelty of my enemy; I have not now to find out the blessedness of the man who puts his trust in the Lord, for long ago, when Satan and my sins pursued me, I fled to the cleft of the rock Christ Jesus, and in his riven side I found a delightful resting-place. My heart, run to him anew tonight, whatever thy present grief may be; Jesus feels for thee; Jesus consoles thee; Jesus will help thee. No monarch in his impregnable fortress is more secure than the cony in his rocky burrow. The master of ten thousand chariots is not one whit better protected than the little dweller in the mountain's cleft. In Jesus the weak are strong, and the defenceless safe; they could not be more strong if they were giants, or more safe if they were in heaven. Faith gives to men on earth the protection of the God of heaven. More they cannot need, and need not wish. The conies cannot build a castle, but they avail themselves of what is there already: I cannot make myself a refuge, but Jesus has provided it, his Father has given it, his Spirit has revealed it, and lo, again tonight I enter it, and am safe from every foe. Daily Light on the Daily Path 1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,Deuteronomy 6:4 "Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! Galatians 3:20 Now a mediator is not for one party only; whereas God is only one. Psalm 106:6,7,23 We have sinned like our fathers, We have committed iniquity, we have behaved wickedly. • Our fathers in Egypt did not understand Your wonders; They did not remember Your abundant kindnesses, But rebelled by the sea, at the Red Sea. • Therefore He said that He would destroy them, Had not Moses His chosen one stood in the breach before Him, To turn away His wrath from destroying them. Hebrews 3:1-3 Therefore, holy brethren, partakers of a heavenly calling, consider Jesus, the Apostle and High Priest of our confession; • He was faithful to Him who appointed Him, as Moses also was in all His house. • For He has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses, by just so much as the builder of the house has more honor than the house. Hebrews 8:6,12 But now He has obtained a more excellent ministry, by as much as He is also the mediator of a better covenant, which has been enacted on better promises. • "FOR I WILL BE MERCIFUL TO THEIR INIQUITIES, AND I WILL REMEMBER THEIR SINS NO MORE." New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, Calif. All rights reserved. For Permission to Quote Information visit http://www.lockman.org. |
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