The Call of God (Hebrews 11), Part 14

Who Are You?

Growing up as a prince of Egypt had its benefits. The young Moses had been raised with every asset the household of Pharaoh could supply. But Moses could not ignore the growing sense that he was an imposter. His birthmother had told him stories that rung true. Moses was not an Egyptian. He dressed like one, he was raised like one, but he knew deep down he was not one.

As he daily saw the overt cruelty of the Egyptian taskmasters toward the Hebrew slaves, Moses felt increasing angst. If he was descended from the Hebrew patriarch Abraham, how long could he stand by and watch his people—the people of the true God—being mistreated?

“By faith,” summarizes the author of Hebrews 11, “Moses, when he had grown up, refused to be known as the son of Pharaoh’s daughter. He chose to be mistreated along with the people of God rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a short time. He regarded disgrace for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt, because he was looking ahead to his reward. By faith he left Egypt, not fearing the kings’ anger; he persevered because he saw him who is invisible” (Hebrews 11:24-27).

Moses’ identity underwent a massive paradigm shift sometime in his early adulthood. His self-awareness as a prince of Egypt, entitled to all Egypt’s treasures, power and benefits, was as secure as the shifting sands of the Nile River delta at flood-time. Moses knew something had to change. So he did what any deep-thinking, ethically-conscious responsible person would do: he ran and hid.

For forty years he hid in the hills where no one—neither Egyptian nor Hebrew—could find him. For forty years he asked himself questions like, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘How could God be letting this happen to me?’ For forty years he heard nothing but silence.

Our lives can be like Moses’. Our identities fluctuate with every passing wind of social, emotional, and even political influence. ‘Who are we deep inside?’ we wonder. And who is God who allows life’s twists and traumas to occur?

Finally Moses’ heart was ready, and God spoke to him. Moses listened, but his first reply exposed the deep ache of his lifelong question.

“Who am I…?” cried Moses, prostrate and barefoot before the strange fiery epiphany of the LORD God.

God answered simply, “I will be with you.”

Then Moses countered, “Who are you?”

“I AM WHO I AM.” Period.

God’s replies to Moses’ bold questions were bedrock answers. God knows every person’s identity is satisfied only in Him. God is the inexhaustible identity from which we must gain our own. More than that, He promises to be with us. His presence, when fully appreciated by us, meets the broad spectrum of our needs. His presence enables us to know who we are because of who He is; to both accept God’s rescue and to rescue others; to rest without angst and to work wholeheartedly and with maximum impact; to live with God in the present and to live with Him for eternity.

Moses did not become perfect. But Moses became usable. He walked back into Egypt, confronted both Pharaoh and his own Hebrew people with God’s instructions, and watched the results. To the extent that Moses obeyed God implicitly throughout the final forty years of his life, Moses more and more realized and recognized who he was, and who God is.

That’s why the author of Hebrews 11 lists Moses among those who heard God’s call and stepped out in faith. Moses recognized God. That is the invitation for each of us who find ourselves asking the same questions, ‘Who am I?’ and ‘Who are you, God?’

God’s answer to us is the same as it was to Moses.

“I will be with you,” and “I AM WHO I AM.”

Period.

(Photo Credit: By LBM1948 [CC BY-SA 4.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)%5D, from Wikimedia Commons

The Call of God (Hebrews 11), Part 13

The Trustworthy Nature of ‘Vox Dei’.

“By faith Moses’ parents hid him for three months after he was born, because they saw he was no ordinary child, and they were not afraid of the king’s edict” (Hebrews 11:23).

Taking refuge in Egypt had backfired. The famine in Canaan c.1500 B.C. was nothing compared to the cruel bondage the Hebrew people now experienced in Egypt. For four generations Pharaoh’s taskmasters had drowned out any sound of God’s call in the Israelites’ ears. The oppression had become unbearable. Then pharaoh published his decree: ‘All male Hebrew infants must be aborted—must perish in the river Nile.’

Perhaps it was the shocking nature of the edict that awoke the pregnant Jochebed and her husband Amram to the distant memory of God’s call upon their forefather and people, Israel. “All peoples on earth will be blessed through you and your offspring,” the LORD had promised. “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go, and I will bring you back to this land. I will not leave you…” God had pledged.

So when their baby was born, Jochebed and Amram saw much more than a nameless, forbidden infant slated by the Egyptians for drowning. They saw a child of promise—one of the offspring of Israel, through whom God had vowed to bless all people. Defying Pharaoh’s command by hiding the baby was the natural response for two who valued God’s call over all others’.

We don’t know if any other Hebrew parents were also listening to God in the midst of their suffering. We don’t know if they, too, clung steadfastly to God’s promises or whether they had let the memory of His call slip quietly into obscurity through carelessness, bitterness or disbelief. Those who choose to follow God’s quiet leading often walk a lonely path.

We do know how prone we are to become deaf to God’s call when things don’t go as we had hoped or planned or felt God ought to allow. We know the argument: ‘It goes against reason to listen to a God who allows suffering to come into people’s lives.’ But there is a truer argument—one that Jochebed and Amram chose to believe and act upon, one that argues ‘God’s Word is faithful, even when everything seems to point against it and Him.’

Acting on this premise positioned Jochebed and Amram to make a creative decision. They hid their baby in the one place no soldier could ever look: the bathing pool of Pharaoh’s daughter. Washing led to finding, and—for the soft-hearted princess—finding led to adopting, naming and raising the baby Moses in the very household of the infanticidal Pharaoh. The word of Egypt’s most powerful leader was indeed no match for the call and purpose of God.

“ ‘Vox temporis’ (the voice of the times),” quotes Os Guinness of Thomas Oden, “is no more trustworthy than ‘vox populi’ (the voice of the people) when set against ‘vox dei’ (the voice of God).” Trustworthy, life-giving, loving and faithful is the call of God on every life, on yours and mine as it was on Moses’. The Scriptures are full of that call. The determining question is, will we be deaf and blind to it, following the edicts of the status quo, or will we step out in faith that God’s Word and call give life?

God’s Word over and over again reiterates the refrain that our lives are not ordinary; we are called by God to live extraordinary lives, lives led by God.

“Nothing will change your life,” observes author Tim Keller, “like hearing the voice of God through the Scripture(s).” Hear vox dei and live.

(Photo Credit: Retrieved from https://www.oneforisrael.org/bible-based-teaching-from-israel/the-mysterious-case-of-moses-parents/)

 

Twenty-eight Days with Jesus; Day 2

No Surprises.

We all love a good surprise: a twenty dollar bill discovered in the pocket of a long-unused item of clothing, an unexpected gift of something we truly need, a raise in pay, a sunny day when the forecast is for rain. When our dreams become reality and we must reorient ourselves to the happy truth—that’s a good surprise.

But equally possible are the bad surprises: unexpected expenses, sudden inconveniences, and unannounced visits of one’s least favourite relatives; vehicles needing repairs, bodies needing repairs and relationships needing repairs. When our nightmares become reality and we must adjust to the unhappy situation—those are bad surprises.

As Matthew narrates the second chapter of his biography of the life of Jesus, something becomes exceedingly clear: Jesus’ life was neither an accident, a whim, nor a surprise. God had been planning this event for a very long time.

To Mary and Joseph, though, the earthly parents who were tasked with raising Jesus like any other child, it was a rocky beginning. Everything seemed to be going wrong. Having to travel during Mary’s final days of pregnancy due to a governmental decree of census-taking had forced the couple to be in the unlikely town of Bethlehem when the baby Jesus was born—far from the comforts of home and family. Not long after, the young trio was constrained to flee the country due to the sweeping infanticide decreed by Herod the Great, tetrarch of Galilee. Again, Mary and Joseph must have been troubled over the surprising circumstances that seemed to war against a quiet, peaceful existence. Finally, as recorded in the second chapter of the gospel of Matthew, the young couple and baby detoured from returning to Judea because of a third dictator, and chose instead the small town of Nazareth in which to settle. It had been a tumultuous beginning for the infant Jesus. Life had been full of menacing surprises already. Mary and Joseph must have wondered, ‘where is God in the midst of all this?’

But Matthew, like any good biographer, had time to dig deeper and discover some interesting information that fills in a few more details for us—details that Mary and Joseph may not have noticed initially.

“But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,” Matthew quotes the prophet Micah of the 8^th century B.C., “ are by no means least among the rulers of Judah; for out of you will come a ruler who will be the shepherd of my people Israel.” The all-knowing God had seen the future events that would cause His Son’s birth to occur in Bethlehem, and had left the clue for generations to ponder.

“Out of Egypt,” Matthew proceeds to quote Hosea, another ancient prophet and mouthpiece of God, “I called my son.” Again, surprising circumstances in Mary, Joseph and Jesus’ life, like their escape from Herod, refugee status in Egypt, and return to Israel, were no surprise to God; they were seen, contemplated, and used by God to realize purposes that only God knew were necessary.

Matthew then gives us the third and final evidence for his premise that nothing is a surprise to the All-knowing One: Matthew tells us the prophet Isaiah, speaking of the awaited Messiah, observes, “He will be called a Nazarene.”

The truth suggested by this evidence is that God is not surprised by either the worst or the best of events that come into people’s lives. He sees all of time in His ever-present state. Matthew’s disclosures lead us to understand something of great importance, of great relevance for our own lives. Just as the Father was not surprised by difficult circumstances that would threaten His own incarnate Son from the earliest days of His journey on earth as a human, He is not surprised by events that surprise us. He knows the difficult situations this troubled world will bring upon us at times. He sees the sorrows and tragedies we face. And in His great wisdom, He chooses to use those difficulties to make us new people, stronger people; people with character traits more like His Son Jesus.

Listen to what a later Biblical writer explains, “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. For those God foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the likeness of his Son, that he might be the first-born among many brothers” (Romans 8:28).

The lesson for us is clear: Since nothing surprises God, we can rest in knowing there are no ‘worst case scenarios’ for us. Our purpose is simply to love Him and entrust ourselves to Him in every situation, and leave the good outcomes to Him. Ever-present with us, God will be faithful to give us the strength to face life’s surprises with courage and peace. He did it for Jesus and He will do it for us. Count on it.

(Photo Credit: [[File:UAE Beware of road surprises – Flickr – woody1778a.jpg|thumb|UAE Beware of road surprises – Flickr – woody1778a]])