As the rain and snow

“The LORD said to Moses, ‘Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh; for with a strong hand he will send them out, and with a strong hand he will drive them out of his land. I am the LORD. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by my name the LORD I did not make myself known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they lived as sojourners. Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the people of Israel whom the Egyptians hold as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant. Say therefore to the people of Israel, “I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will deliver you from slavery to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with great acts of judgment. I will take you to be my people, and I will be your God, and you shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has brought you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.”‘ Moses spoke thus to the people of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and harsh slavery.” Exodus 6:1-9

I will. I am. I appeared. I established. I have heard. I have remembered. I am the LORD. I will bring you out. I will deliver. I will redeem. I will take you to be My people and I will be your God. I am the LORD. I will bring. I will give. I am the LORD. Promise upon promise from the great I AM, the covenant God who made, called, and loved His people, were not enough to persuade them to believe and hope, because theirs was a terrible lot. The heavy misery of their oppression had broken their spirits to where no balm of benevolent promise could heal.

We tend to criticize with disbelief when observing with hindsight. Watching from up high gives a vantage point that those in the crush do not have, and it is easy to judge and referee when we have the big picture. The Israelites were so weighed down with their cruel circumstances they could not see above them. Their ears were too stopped with groaning and cries of complaint to hear the melody of promise, their vision so overwhelmed with the impossible task before them they could focus on nothing else.

And we can do the same. Hard responsibilities, ornery colleagues, physical pain, the burden of grief, can all consume our energy and deplete our ability to hear and welcome God’s good promises to us. In every circumstance, He is compassionate, enough, and working good, but we can get choked by despair and fail to take the hope He offers. (Psalm 103:8-14; Romans 8:28; 2 Corinthians 12:9; Philippians 4:19; 1 Peter 5:10)

Oh Father, no matter my circumstances, keep me clinging to Your I ams and I wills. You are worthy to be trusted and praised.

“‘Come, I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.’ But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the children of Israel out of Egypt?’ He said, ‘But I will be with you, and this shall be the sign for you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain.’ Then Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the people of Israel and say to them, “The God of your fathers has sent me to you,” and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’ God said to Moses, ‘I am who I am.’ And he said, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “I am has sent me to you.”’ God also said to Moses, ‘Say this to the people of Israel: “The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.” This is my name forever, and thus I am to be remembered throughout all generations.'” Exodus 3:10-15

“The name of the Lord is a strong tower;
    the righteous man runs into it and is safe.” Proverbs 18:10

God’s name embodies God’s person. God’s call to Moses was bundled with a promise of His presence. Moses was uncertain about his worthiness and ability to accept God’s assignment, and God’s answer to his doubt was not a what, or how, but Who– Who had called him with authority and purpose, and whose presence would see him through. As he went forth to Pharaoh, to lead Israel to deliverance from Egypt, his LORD, I AM, would be with him. Always. The name above all names would be his reason, his protection, his power, his guide, his constant companion.

And He is yours and mine today. In our inadequacy, any feelings of not measuring up, or reality of gross inability or weakness, God is with us as our identity, our banner. In fearful situations, ominous threats, uncertainty about the future, God is nigh, with and about us, our palpable friend. (Psalm 3:3) When we anticipate another’s challenge to choices we have made, criticism or question about what we are doing for God’s kingdom, God is enough, all-sufficient, and good.

“Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations. Before the mountains were brought forth, or ever you had formed the earth and the world, from everlasting to everlasting you are God.” Psalm 90:1-2

In what situations do I succumb to doubt and worry, rather than dwelling in the Almighty, resting in His strong name? Do I wear labels like ‘insufficient,’ ‘unworthy,’ ‘adrift,’ or is my life a bold proclamation of Whose I am? He who called me to be His has set His name upon me, and will never forsake His own. I am secure forever. (Deuteronomy 31:6; Isaiah 43:1)

Great I AM, keep me daily bowing before Your name, confessing Your name, and trusting in Your name. Help me live moment by moment for Your high name’s sake and glory. (Philippians 2:9-11)

“During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God. And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. God saw the people of Israel—and God knew.” “I sought the Lord, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears. Those who look to him are radiant, and their faces shall never be ashamed.” Exodus 2:23-25; Psalm 34:4-5

“They cried to the Lord in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way till they reached a city to dwell in. He brought them out of darkness and the shadow of death, and burst their bonds apart. He sent out his word and healed them, and delivered them from their destruction. He made the storm be still, and the waves of the sea were hushed.” “On the day I called, you answered me; my strength of soul you increased.” Psalm 107:6-7,14,20,29; 138:3

A friend told me she could not believe in a God who had allowed her to suffer so much- suicide of a loved one, chronic pain, multiple surgeries. Others question how God can be God with so much poverty, violence, suffering, dissension in the world. Yet there is the deeper and contrasting thought that we would not exercise the desperation of crying out, and the bliss of knowing God hears and answers, had we not the pain that compels us to do so. When our way is fraught with danger and heartache, our impossibilities are unyielding, God brings peace and refreshment and deliverance in ways we would not have dreamed possible, showing forth His glorious mercy and love to His own.

Invisible God is very present. Unseen God hears, and comes, to palpably comfort and bathe with relief. In our angst and sorrow and burdens too heavy to bear alone, we learn the mercy and lift and embrace of the Almighty. Job suffered the devastation of indescribable loss, physical anguish, betrayal of friends, yet knew intimately in this darkness of soul the hope and intangible, very real presence of his Redeemer. (Job 19:25-27)

“Our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,..and all ate the same spiritual food, and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ.” The baptism in our lives of heavy cloud, roaring sea, destroying fire, are our identity with Jesus; our Rock is with us in every trial to comfort and deliver. (Isaiah 43:1-2; 1 Corinthians 10:1,3-4,13)

Where am I moaning in misery, complaining God is unjust, playing the martyr? Would I turn to the living Perfecter of my faith, and trust His word and redemptive ways? (Hebrews 12:2)

Unchangeable Lord, You know every aspect of the way I take. Fulfill Your holy purposes, refine me as gold. Help me not faint in trial, but fly to You who ordain all things. Keep me trusting You when I cannot perceive You, believing You see and hear and know me, and are always working for me and for Your glory. (Job 23:8-14)

“One of the Pharisees asked him to eat with him, and he went into the Pharisee’s house and reclined at table. And behold, a woman of the city, who was a sinner, when she learned that he was reclining at table in the Pharisee’s house, brought an alabaster flask of ointment, and standing behind him at his feet, weeping, she began to wet his feet with her tears and wiped them with the hair of her head and kissed his feet and anointed them with the ointment. Now when the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, ‘If this man were a prophet, he would have known who and what sort of woman this is who is touching him, for she is a sinner.’ And Jesus answering said to him, ‘Simon, I have something to say to you.’

“’A certain moneylender had two debtors. One owed five hundred denarii, and the other fifty. When they could not pay, he cancelled the debt of both. Now which of them will love him more?’ Simon answered, ‘The one, I suppose, for whom he cancelled the larger debt.’ And he said to him, ‘You have judged rightly.’ Then turning toward the woman he said to Simon, ‘Do you see this woman? I entered your house; you gave me no water for my feet, but she has wet my feet with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You gave me no kiss, but from the time I came in she has not ceased to kiss my feet. You did not anoint my head with oil, but she has anointed my feet with ointment. Therefore I tell you, her sins, which are many, are forgiven—for she loved much. But he who is forgiven little, loves little.’” Luke 7:36-47

Simon the Pharisee was looking good, spiffed in dress and attitude, entertaining the curious, famous prophet Jesus. All was smooth and right until a street walker entered, shocking the host, puncturing the nice clean dinner party with her tawdry appearance and sin smell. Conversation halted, all eyes fixed on her as she approached Jesus, worthy only to stand behind, anoint His feet, and weep, and lavish affection on this Holy One. Ignoring the love-mercy fragrance blend of her ointment that permeated the air, all the Pharisee could do was criticize. That’s how Pharisees think and act. They look better, do better, judge better, are better.

But when Jesus enters in, all that better gets pushed aside. He knows how we think and checks our horrid pride. He values honest humility, He loves the loving, He forgives the repentant. He mercifully exposes our self-righteousness because He wants to clothe us in His righteousness, but we must be willing to undress and change our superior self-promoting garb.

What condescending attitudes toward others do we carry, and let influence how we treat those unlike us? Where are we dismissing another due to poor choices, or conditions where they had no choice at all, because we are trying to preserve face or a sense of worth in comparison? Would we allow Jesus to perform a mindset makeover?

Father, with Your mindset, by Your Spirit, and for Your sake, may I do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but everything with humility and selfless love. (Philippians 2:1-8)

“Afterward Moses and Aaron went and said to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, “Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.”’ But Pharaoh said, ‘Who is the LORD, that I should obey his voice and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and moreover, I will not let Israel go.’ Then they said, ‘The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God, lest he fall upon us with pestilence or with the sword.’ But the king of Egypt said to them, ‘Moses and Aaron, why do you take the people away from their work? Get back to your burdens. Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens!’ The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people and their foremen, ‘You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as in the past; let them go and gather straw for themselves. But the number of bricks that they made in the past you shall impose on them, you shall by no means reduce it, for they are idle. Therefore they cry, “Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.” Let heavier work be laid on the men that they may labor at it and pay no regard to lying words.’

“Then Moses turned to the LORD and said, ‘O LORD,.. why did you ever send me?  For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people, and you have not delivered your people at all.’” Exodus 5:1-9,22-23

“Jesus answered her, ‘If you knew who it is that is saying to you, “Give me a drink,” you would have asked him, and he would have given you living water.’” John 4:10

All of life- how we see it and live it- hinges on whether we know the God who orchestrates it. Pharaoh knew only himself as god, so hearing the request attributed to the LORD, the God of Israel, was both a threat to his authority and a bother to his plans. Why on earth would he stop his building industry to allow his slaves to go perform some religious rite with a deity in which he did not believe? His perspective was as temporal as his domain. If only he knew… that this God was eternal, a God of His word and all power, that this God was LORD of kingdoms and history, that He would bring destructive plagues and great ruin on Pharaoh and Egypt, and indeed deliver His people.

Moses knew this God, so when Pharaoh turned cruel and unreasonable, Moses cried out to his LORD with his desperate complaint. He knew the One who issued the warning was the One who would fulfill His promise.

Do we really know God? If so, what evidence is there in the way we react to His promises, His commands, and life’s hardships?

LORD of all, tie my will, emotion, obedience, even complaint, securely to You, to Your greatness, authority, and glory. May the way I live prove I know You.

“For although there may be so-called gods in heaven or on earth—as indeed there are many ‘gods’ and many ‘lords’—  yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist. However, not all possess this knowledge. But some, through former association with idols, eat food as really offered to an idol, and their conscience, being weak, is defiled. Food will not commend us to God. We are no worse off if we do not eat, and no better off if we do. But take care that this right of yours does not somehow become a stumbling block to the weak. For if anyone sees you who have knowledge eating in an idol’s temple, will he not be encouraged, if his conscience is weak, to eat food offered to idols?  And so by your knowledge this weak person is destroyed, the brother for whom Christ died.  Thus, sinning against your brothers and wounding their conscience when it is weak, you sin against Christ.” 1 Corinthians 8:5-12

The Corinthians were tangled up in how to exercise their freedom in Christ, wanting to enjoy eating meat that had been offered to idols because they no longer held to idolatrous practices and superstitions. But Paul turns their yen for justifying pleasures and satisfying wants to their higher purpose: They existed for God, and through Jesus Christ. If all of life is filtered through this divine framework, their first love for Him, and ensuing love for others, would filter their decisions about indulgences.

Who is the real God of my life? How does my behavior prove what I believe? There are many little-g gods vying for my allegiance, and when I give them lip-service, I dally in their worldly wares and ways of thinking. When I serve little-l lords, my fealty is for self and life revolves around my desires, because that’s what lower-case divinities do. They invert rightful reverence and elevate man and his feelings above holy God and truth. But to love God first, I turn from the meat market, from selecting my tasty treats, to considering how I can best honor and build up others. I am happily willing to forego my preference for another’s good.

“The most important is, ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.” Mark 12:29-31

In truth, there is but one big-G God. Does my life give such evidence? I exist through His life and power, and for His glory. Are my daily choices so aligned and yielded? In what areas do I need reminding that I am not my own, but belong to Him? Would I do others the grace of reminding them too? (1 Corinthians 6:19-20; Colossians 1:16)

Good Father, by whom and for whom I was made, may I use my freedom never to indulge self, but always and only to honor You, and to serve and encourage others for Your sake. (Galatians 5:16)

 

“Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him… When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, ‘It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.’ So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, ‘Your father gave this command before he died: “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.’ Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, ‘Behold, we are your servants.’ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. So do not fear; I will provide for you and your little ones.’ Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. 

“So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. And Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’” Genesis 50:1,15-22,24

When God owns a heart, it knows no guile. Joseph had every earthly reason to be bitter, to get even, to take revenge on his brothers for their mistreatment, but his heart was fixed with his God, who had full residence there. Even had his brothers not sought his forgiveness, he had already settled in his mind that he was God’s and God was Lord and always worked good. He wept at their thinking he held a grudge because he had long ago forgiven them and accepted God’s providential plan. (Romans 8:28; Ephesians 4:32)

Trusting God’s sovereignty leaves no room for self-pity or bitterness. When the heart is bound up securely with the King, the rude, strong winds of circumstance, unfair treatment, injustice, and cruelty may whip and lash, but they hold no sway. A heart wholly surrendered to God yields authentic kindness and selfless service to those who have done it wrong, because those wrongs have been borne and carried away by the Savior.

When God owns a heart, there is no time for petty, or large, grievances. There is no room for resentment, no space to tuck away and stack up wrongs, or hoard rights. When God owns a heart, He fills every recess with holy passion and hope for restoration, with pure and overflowing love and compassion. He takes over our feelings of being put upon, and merit. He transforms our disappointments into thankfulness. He is all in all, He in us and we in Him, and we are freed to live and love as He does.

What crannies of my heart need cleaning? Would I let go of nagging sins that muddy my view of God’s overarching goodness in every circumstance?

Father God, take up residence in my heart and claim ownership of my every affection, emotion, attitude. Fill me to overflow with Your loving grace to others.

“Then Jacob called his sons and said, ‘Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, O sons... Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples…’

“’Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.’ When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.” Genesis 49:1-2,8,10,22-26,33

This is a touching scene, the elderly and flawed father at his last. Trickery, favoritism, tenacity, a lifetime of lessons through struggle, injustice, and the grace of God, were bound in this patriarch on his deathbed. He called his sons, representing the twelve tribes of God’s Israel, to hear his parting words, and spoke over them truth and blessing. His words conveyed vision for the future and understanding of who they were and what they had endured. He reminded them who their God was and how He helped and loved them, and he bathed them in the sweet benevolence of their Lord as a final goodbye. His pronouncement in the cold chill of imminent death covered them with the grace of warm light .

With those we love, there are many ways to leave an impression, a variety of messages we convey with goodbye. This passage reminds us to be thoughtful and immerse our minds in the Almighty as we offer parting gifts– for they can be true gifts that lift the sights, bolster with security, arm with truth, and adorn with love and grace. Are we choosing words that reinforce our worry and doubt (and are really about us), or the greatness and security of God’s care and promises (and exalt Him)? How different are “Drive carefully,” and “Be safe” from “Go in grace, you are loved, God is able” and “The Lord bless and keep you”? (Numbers 6:24-26; Ephesians 6:23-24; 2 Timothy 4:22; 2 Peter 3:18; Jude 24-25)

Will we take every opportunity to anoint others with genuine blessings of divine truth that build godly hope and confidence, Bible promises that reinforce the soul, reminders of God’s delight and singing that feed happiness? We must know Christ and His word to pass Him on. What are we doing to store us blessings we can impart? (Zephaniah 3:17)

Father, make me a conduit of Your blessing, to point others to You.

 

“So Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, ‘My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in the land of Goshen.’ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, ‘How many are the days of the years of your life?’ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my sojourning are 130 years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their sojourning.’ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.” Genesis 47:1,7-10

“We are strangers before you and sojourners, as all our fathers were. Our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no abiding.” 1 Chronicles 29:15

“These all died in faith, not having received the things promised, but having seen them and greeted them from afar, and having acknowledged that they were strangers and exiles on the earth.” Hebrews 11:13

The patriarch Jacob, third generation nomad in Canaan, had borne 12 sons who would lead the tribes of the nation Israel. When he traveled during a famine to Egypt, and Pharaoh asked his age, he described his years as a sojourning… a wandering, a temporary stay without settling on the land of earth. The measure of his days was one of faith that they would last forever. His was a heavenly home, and every day here was a step toward that place of eternal promise.

What is the measure of a life? It can be counted in the steps we walk in faith, the days we live by faith, the graces we extend and the love we share because of the saving faith we have received from God. Our living here is a sojourning, a series of temporary stops to sweeten relationships, provide meaningful industry, serve the needy, nourish the hungry with truth that satisfies. We are led and fed so we can lead and feed, making a difference for life now and life to come.

As the Lord Jesus both leads and follows, hemming me in behind and before with His powerful presence, what am I doing and giving for His sake? How is my faith in forever evidenced in the here and now of His kingdom? How well does the joy set before me inspire present joy within and spilling over? (Psalm 139:5; Hebrews 12:3)

“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures.
He leads me in paths of righteousness
for his name’s sake.

“It has been reported to me that there is quarreling among you, my brothers. Each one of you says, ‘I follow Paul,’ or ‘I follow Apollos,’ or ‘I follow Cephas,’ or ‘I follow Christ.’ Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified for you? Or were you baptized in the name of Paul? For since, in the wisdom of God, the world did not know God through wisdom, it pleased God through the folly of what we preach to save those who believe. We preach Christ crucified,.. to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God and the wisdom of God. And because of him you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification and redemption, so that, as it is written, ‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’  

“I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God… What then is Apollos? What is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, as the Lord assigned to each. I planted, Apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth… For we are God’s fellow workers. You are God’s field, God’s building.” 1 Corinthians 1:11-13,21,23-24,30-31; 2:2-5; 3:5-7,9

There are some people who seem to be covered with glue, and others who like to stick. Followers cling to the ‘famous’ like barnacles, in devoted allegiance, proud of their belonging and dependent on their identity as fans. ‘I go to X’s bible study,’ ‘I read X every morning and he/she says..,’ ‘We go to X’s church,’ and ‘Do you follow X?’ Paul here calls the Corinthian church to set aside aligning with names and individuals, and unify in the mission and Person of the gospel. Those who preach are all merely planters and waterers, servants of the Most High who has charge over the work and results.

In God’s kingdom, everything is about Him. He chooses instruments who are willing and available, not necessarily with outstanding natural wisdom or talent, so that He is the One seen and heard and receiving the glory. Paul reminds us to look to Jesus Christ, listen to Him, follow His wisdom, fix our devotion and allegiance with Him, not His servants. Paul and Apollos were merely planters and waterers, each investing at his appointed time in their lives, each giving out the truth when called to preach or teach or encourage.

It is the same with you and me. From either vantage point, we must beware. Are we wanting any limelight or credit for God’s work done through us? It is His Spirit’s wisdom and power that brings growth. Are we prone to suck like leaches onto certain denominational tag-lines, teachers, or authors as ultimate authorities? It is the Lord Who is supreme.

Father, may I so plant and water and know Christ among others, that they see and believe and glorify You.