Chimpanzee Christians

Posted on November 18, 2020 by russellmckinney

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3, N.K.J.V.)

Not everyone who carries the name “Christian” carries the name legitimately. While reports of how many professing “Christians” there are in the world consistently put the number at over 2 billion, that astoundingly high number cuts directly against two important facts. Fact #1: If there were truly 2 billion Christians in the world, the world wouldn’t be nearly as spiritually, morally, and ethically bankrupt as it is now. And fact #2: Jesus said the gate that leads to life (eternal life, spiritual life, salvation) is narrow, and there are few who find it (Matthew 7:14).

Take my country, America, for example. Since abortion became legal here in 1973, we have aborted over 60 million babies in the wombs. Of course, those are just the deaths that have been reported. With abortion oftentimes being a cash transaction, who could even begin to say how many babies have been killed “off the books”? This all happens in a country, mind you, that is supposedly a “Christian” nation, where virtually all of our Presidents and well over 90% of our Congressman since the birth of our nation have claimed to be Christians. Furthermore, the Supreme Court of our land, which was the Court that made abortion legal, has consistently been stocked since its inception with judges whose religious affiliation was listed as “Christian.” Obviously, something doesn’t add up in all this.

With so many people talking about love these days, let me share with you a simplistic thought about what real love looks like. In Romans 13:8-10, the apostle Paul, writing under the inspiration of God, points out that the saying, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself” by its very definition incorporates the commandment “You shall not murder.” That makes perfect sense to me. Does it to you? I mean, if we are going to talk about all the unloved in America, shouldn’t we start with the more than 60 million babies who never got the chance to draw their first breath before their hearts were purposely stopped? I guess their problem was, they weren’t consider to be anybody’s “neighbors,” right? Seriously, if all the professing “Christians” in America can’t even get in line with God’s thinking on abortion, how can we possibly hope to get in line with His thinking on anything else?

You see, the real problem, the source problem from which our other problems flow, is this: The number of authentically born-again Christians in America is profoundly lower than the number of professing Christians. Sure, we’ve got purportedly “Christian” people running around all over the place, but that’s not the same thing as having saved people running around all over the place. It’s not. It’s just not.

As for the demographics on these fake Christians — and in most cases these people are honestly deluded themselves as to their actual standing with God — we’re talking about people who are White, Black, Hispanic, Latino, Native American, Asian American, and any other ethnicity that could be put on the list. They are registered Republicans, Democrats, and Independents. They are rich, poor, and middle class. They are old, young, and middle-aged. They are conservative and liberal. Actually, the only thing they have in common is the fact that they are all religiously lost.

Harry Ironside, who was one of the greatest preachers America ever produced, spoke of such people in his book, Changed By Beholding. Ingeniously, he illustrated the situation by comparing a chimpanzee to a human. His illustration is so perfect that I wouldn’t even begin to try to add anything to it. So, I’ll just offer it as the close to this post. Ironside wrote:

“A great many people make the mistake of trying to live the life before they receive the life. The hardest thing I know is to try to live the Christian life when you do not have it to live. There must be a Christian life first before you can exemplify and manifest it.

To try to live a Christian life when you have never been born again is just as hopeless as for a chimpanzee to try and live a human life. I have seen some chimpanzees that could copy things people do in a remarkable way. At a zoo in Philadelphia, they once said to me, ‘Come along and see a couple of your ancestors.’ I went along; there were two trained chimpanzees who had learned to mimic human beings to a remarkable degree. They wore clothes, sat at a table, ate, and drank, and in a clumsy way handled a knife and fork. When they got all through, they settled back and put cigarettes in their mouths, and a keeper lit them, and they looked to me exactly like a lot of our own people do when smoking cigarettes…

But although those chimps could do all those things, they did not know anything about real human life. They did not know anything of the principles controlling men and women. They were simply imitators. Many people imitate Christians and try to behave like them. They do not know anything of the power of the Christian life. They have never been born again. ‘Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God’ (John 3:3).”

Posted in Abortion, Discernment, Government, Leadership, Politics, Salvation | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

When Corruption Puts on Incorruption

Posted on November 16, 2020 by russellmckinney

Tom Wallace, the well known Independent Baptist pastor/evangelist, is now 90 years old. Five years ago, when he was a mere 85, he published Morning Devotions. For the September 25th devotion, he wrote a little piece entitled “This Stuff Has Got To Stop.” Let me share it with you:

Have you noticed stairs are getting steeper? Groceries are heavier. And, everything is farther away. I am dumbfounded to discover how long our street has become!

People are less considerate now. They speak in whispers all the time! I also think they are much younger than I was at the same age.

On the other hand, people my own age are so much older than I am. I ran into an old friend the other day and she has aged so much that she didn’t even recognize me. I glanced at my own reflection in the mirror this morning. Well, REALLY NOW — even mirrors are not made the way they used to be!

Another thing, everyone drives so fast these days! You’re risking life and limb if you happen to pull onto the freeway in front of them. All I can say is, their brakes must wear out awfully fast.

Clothing manufacturers are less civilized these days. Why else would they suddenly start labeling a size 10 or 12 as 18 or 20? Do they think no one notices these things no longer fit around the waist, hips, and thighs?

The people who make bathroom scales are pulling the same prank, but in reverse. Do they think I actually “believe” the number I see on that dial? HA! I would never let myself weigh that much! I’d like to call up someone in authority to report what’s going on — but the telephone company is in on the conspiracy too: they’ve printed the phone books in such small type that no one could ever find a number in there!

We are under attack! Unless something drastic happens, pretty soon everyone will have to suffer these awful indignities.

I’m 54 years old myself now and can already attest to the accuracy of Tom Wallace’s observations. That’s why I, as a Christian, am looking forward to that future moment when this decaying body of mine will be metamorphosized into a glorious new one fit for eternity. This split second in time has popularly come to be called “The Rapture.” 1 Thessalonians 4:16-18 says of this event:

For the Lord Himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of an archangel, and with the trumpet of God. And the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And thus we shall always be with the Lord. Therefore comfort one another with these words. (N.K.J.V.)

These verses tell me that if I have physically died before the Rapture takes place, my body’s metamorphism will coincide with a resurrection. On the other hand, if I am still alive on this earth at that point, this metamorphism won’t require a resurrection. Either way, though, the metamorphism is going to take place.

How can we be so sure? It’s because, as the apostle Paul so eloquently points out in 1 Corinthians 15:50-53, a body of flesh, blood, and corruption simply cannot inherit the kingdom of God. He writes:

Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; nor does corruption inherit incorruption. Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed — in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. (N.K.J.V.)

The apostle John also wrote about The Rapture. In 1 John 3:2, he described it this way:

Beloved, now we are the children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is. (N.K.J.V.)

Think about that, Christian. It hasn’t yet been revealed what we shall be. No, our true unveiling won’t occur until that moment when Jesus is revealed and we become like Him. And what does “like Him” mean? Well, it certainly doesn’t mean that we will become divine like Him. What it must mean, then, is that we will receive glorified bodies on par with the one He received when He arose from the dead. Every Christian should be looking forward to this moment, but until it happens we are left to become all too familiar with the accuracy of Tom Wallace’s all-too-real devotion.

Posted in Aging, Christ's Return, Elderly, Eternity, Heaven, Human Life, Personal, Prophecy, Resurrection, Reward | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Praising God for Past Deliverances Build Our Faith for Future Ones?

Posted on November 13, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #12, last one)

As God brought the walled-up waters of the Red Sea back together to drown the Egyptian army, He also slammed the door shut on the Israelites ever returning to Egypt. Their departure from their enslavement was now complete, and a new day had dawned for their nation. So, if the Israelites were ever going to sing God’s praises, now was the time to do it.

Fortunately, as we might expect from a group of people who had just witnessed a jaw-dropping miracle that saved them, the Israelites were in a praising mood. Exodus 15:1-19 gives us the record of how Moses served as the worship leader for the praise service, and Exodus 15:20-21 gives us the record of how his sister Miriam led the women in an echo time of praise. Exodus 15:1 says of this praise service: “Then Moses and the children of Israel sang this song to the Lord…”

Moses wrote the words for the song (surely with some divine inspiration) very shortly after the Red Sea event. As for the echo time of praise led by Miriam and conducted by all the Israelite women, it involved Miriam singing alone and playing the timbrel while the rest of the women played timbrels and danced. Since the opening words of the Miriam song are virtually identical to the opening words of the Moses song — “Sing to the Lord, For He has triumphed gloriously! The horse and its rider He has thrown into the sea!” — it is reasonable to assume that Miriam repeated the entirety of the Moses song even though scripture only mentions her singing the song’s opening section.

Despite the fact that God had struck Egypt with ten awesome plagues as part of Israel’s exodus, Moses’ song of praise fixates on the parting of the Red Sea and doesn’t even mention any of the plagues. He sings lines such as (all from the N.K.J.V.):

  • “Pharaoh’s chariots and his army He has cast into the sea; His chosen captains also are drowned in the Red Sea.” (v.4)
  • “The depths have covered them; They sank to the bottom like a stone.” (v.5)
  • “And with the blast of Your nostrils The waters were gathered together; The floods stood upright like a heap; The depths congealed in the heart of the sea.” (v.8)
  • “You blew with Your wind. The sea covered them. They sank like lead in the mighty waters.” (v.10)

It seems that the miracle at the Red Sea stirred something deep inside the Israelites, something none of the plagues had stirred. The Israelites had heard about the deaths of Egypt’s firstborns as part of the tenth plague, but those deaths hadn’t inspired them nearly as much as them watching those waters of the Red Sea roll over Egypt’s soldiers, chariots, and horses. Perhaps it was the intensely visual aspect of that particular miracle, or perhaps it was just simply the “end game” finality of it, but something about that miracle evoked a time of national praise from the people.

It should be noted, however, that Moses’ song of praise didn’t just look back to God drowning the Egyptians in the Red Sea. It also looked ahead to what God was going to do to the races whom Israel would defeat in conquering the promised land of Canaan. Moses sung:

“The people will hear and be afraid; Sorrow will take hold of the inhabitants of Philistia. Then the chiefs of Edom will be dismayed; The mighty men of Moab, Trembling will take hold of them; All the inhabitants of Canaan will melt away. Fear and dread will fall on them; By the greatness of Your arm They will be as still as a stone, Till Your people pass over, O Lord, Till the people pass over Whom You have purchased. You will bring them in and plant them In the mountain of Your inheritance, In the place, O Lord, which You have made For your own dwelling, The sanctuary, O Lord, which Your hands have established. The Lord shall reign forever and ever.” (Exodus 15:14-18, N.K.J.V.)

Moses looking to the future in this way teaches us an incredibly important lesson about praise. That lesson is: Singing God’s praises for what He has done for us in the past gives us confidence in what He is going to do for us in the future. You see, in Moses’ way of looking at things, it was inconceivable that the God who had just drowned Pharaoh’s army in the Red Sea wouldn’t be able to also defeat the armies of Philistia, Edom, Moab, and any of the other races the Israelites might encounter as part of claiming Canaan. That’s why he scarcely takes the time to mention these future wars — it is as if their outcomes are foregone conclusions — before he starts talking about God planting the Israelites in the land. Again, this is the effect true praise has. It builds within us faith in God’s future accomplishments by using the foundation of His past accomplishments.

It is with this in mind that I want to ask you to do something. As we come to the close of this series, please make a concerted effort to think back upon all the times that God has delivered you in the past. Whatever the deliverance was, if it marked you enough to still be quick to come to your mind, pause to consider it yet again. Then, once you have that memory in place, take the time to thank God for that deliverance. You say, “But Russell, He’s delivered me so many times, thanking Him that way would take hours.” Great! I assure you those hours will be ones well spent. And what you’ll find when you come out of all your praising is that your faith in the future will be reenergized. As a matter of fact, you will be able to look to the future with not only optimism but also EXPECTANCY. Like Moses and those Israelites, you’ll be able to see your Canaan in the waters of your Red Sea, but the lens you’ll have to look through is the lens of praise.

Posted in Music, Praise, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Thankfulness, Worship | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Can God Make a Way Where There Seems to Be No Way?

Posted on November 11, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #11)

In the previous post, I explained that God’s route for Israel’s exodus from Egypt was not the commonsensical route that anybody would have expected them to take. Rather than have the Israelites head northeast along the shores of the Mediterranean Sea, He had them head southeast toward Mount Sinai. Why did God do this?

His reasons were three-fold. First, He didn’t want the just-released Israelites to have to quickly go from slaves to soldiers when they would inevitably encounter the Philistines who lived along the Mediterranean coast. Second, Mount Sinai was where He had spoken to Moses at the burning bush and promised him, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12, N.K.J.V.). Third, even though the Israelites didn’t know it yet, God planned for them to remain encamped at Mount Sinai for well over a year as they received His law and built the Tabernacle, that movable site of worship that would serve them so well in the centuries before Solomon would build the Jerusalem Temple.

On their way toward Mount Sinai, God told Moses to have the Israelites camp at a specific site along the shoreline of the Red Sea (Exodus 14:1-2). Camping at that site would make the Israelites totally vulnerable to attack because it would pin them up against the waters of the sea where they would have no path of escape. Was God crazy for leading His chosen people to such a bottleneck? To the contrary, it was all part of His plan. He told Moses, “For Pharaoh will say of the children of Israel, ‘They are bewildered by the land; the wilderness has closed them in.’ Then I will harden Pharaoh’s heart, so that he will pursue them; and I will gain honor over Pharaoh and over all his army, that the Egyptians may know that I am the Lord” (Exodus 14:3-4, N.K.J.V.).

Once the location of Israel’s encampment got back to Pharaoh, he became emboldened to act. Some time had now passed since the night of the tenth plague, things had settled down in Egypt, and he and his fellow Egyptians had come to regret letting the Israelites leave. So, he climbed into his personal chariot and led 600 other chariots, as well as untold numbers of horsemen, in a hot campaign to reclaim the Israelites (Exodus 14:5-9). When they came upon the Israelites, who were still encamped at the Red Sea, the specter of Pharaoh and his mighty army struck great fear into the Israelites (Exodus 14:10).

As would be their consistent pattern in years to come, the Israelites immediately turned upon Moses and blamed him for what they felt was going to be their certain doom. They said to him, “Was it because there were no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? It would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in this wilderness” (Exodus 14:11-12). Moses, to his eternal credit, remained calm and didn’t respond in anger to the rebuke. He simply said, “Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the Lord, which He will accomplish for you today. For the Egyptians whom you see today, you shall see again no more forever. The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace.” (Exodus 14:13-14). That’s faith. That’s leadership.

The rest of the story played out to the tune of the following sequence:

  • God promised Moses that the waters of the sea would be divided and the Israelites would cross through the midst of the sea on dry ground. (Exodus 14:16)
  • The Angel of God (Jesus in preincarnate form), who was inside the pillar of cloud, moved from standing ahead of the Israelites to standing behind them. (Exodus 14:19)
  • The presence of the Angel/cloud served to keep the Israelites and the Egyptians separated for the rest of that day and all of that night. The Israelites didn’t even know when the night began because their side of the Angel/cloud remained in light the entire time while the Egyptians’ side sank into darkness. (Exodus 14:20)
  • Moses stretched out his rod over the sea, as God had previously told him to do (Exodus 14:16), and the Lord caused a strong easterly wind to start blowing. The strong wind blew all night long, and the end result was that the waters of the Red Sea were walled up on both sides thus creating a path of dry land right through the middle. (Exodus 14:21)
  • The Israelites marched into the path and walked it completely through the Red Sea until they reached the opposite shore. (Exodus 14:22)
  • The Angel/cloud allowed the Egyptians, chariots and horsemen alike, to head into the dry path themselves. Once all the Egyptians were inside the Sea, the Angel of the Lord slowed down the Egyptian chariots by causing them to have difficulty with their wheels. (Exodus 14:24-25)
  • When Egypt’s soldiers saw the trouble the chariots were having, they panicked and said, “Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fights for them against the Egyptians.” But it was too late as God told Moses, who was standing on the opposite shore, to stretch out his hand (rod) over the sea again and bring the waters back together so that the sea could reclaim its full depth. (Exodus 14:25-28)
  • The Egyptian army — men, chariots, and horses — was drowned by the crushing waters as those waters fell upon them like awesome waterfalls. As the Israelites stood on the opposite shore, they watched as some of the drowned corpses of the Egyptians started washing up on that shore. (Exodus 14:30-31)

One of the questions that commentators and Bible scholars debate is whether or not Pharaoh himself was part of the drowning in the Red Sea. If you’ve ever seen the famous Cecil B. DeMille movie “The Ten Commandments,” you know that the Pharaoh of that movie survives by remaining on the shore while his troops move into the Red Sea. Some students of the Bible have disputed that part of the movie, but others say that DeMille probably got that part right.

In Exodus 14:28, the Bible says: “Then the waters returned and covered the chariots, the horsemen, and all the army of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them. Not so much as one of them remained” (N.K.J.V.). Notice that the wording there doesn’t specifically name Pharaoh. Furthermore, it also leaves open the possibility that some of Egypt’s army didn’t actually enter into the Red Sea in pursuit of the Israelites.

Also, the debate about the actual identity of the Pharaoh comes into play here. For example, if the Pharaoh was Amenhotep II, historical records indicate that he did not die by being drowned in the Red Sea. Unfortunately, however, even solid, reputable, conservative scholars aren’t all in agreement on which Pharaoh was the Pharaoh of the Exodus. That’s actually a big part of the whole debate.

Those who believe that Pharaoh did drown in the Red Sea point to Psalm 136:15, which says that God “…overthrew Pharaoh and his army in the Red Sea” (N.K.J.V.). That verse is basically just a repeating of Exodus 14:27, which says “…So the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea.” At first blush, Psalm 136:15 might seem to make a slam-dunk case that Pharaoh did drown, but the interpretation isn’t so simple. I say that because the Hebrew word translated as “overthrew” in both Psalm 136:15 and Exodus 14:27 is naar, and that word literally means “shook off.” You see, saying that God “shook off” Pharaoh and his army might equate to Him killing Pharaoh by way of drowning him, but it doesn’t absolutely have to equate to that.

Another passage that gets kicked around in an attempt to answer the question is Exodus 15:19. That verse says in the classic King James version: “For the horse of Pharaoh went in with his chariots and his horsemen into the sea, and the Lord brought again the waters of the sea upon them…” Many point to the use of that singular word “horse” and say, “That proves that Pharaoh went into the sea and drown there.” Here again, though, the interpretation isn’t so simple. This time the problem is that all the modern translations, including the New King James, use the plural word “horses” rather than the singular word “horse.” The plural, of course, opens the door for a completely different conclusion.

But that’s enough of all that. Regardless of whether or not Pharaoh himself drowned in the Red Sea, the question before us right now is: “Can God make a way where there seems to be no way?” And the answer to that is an emphatic, “YES!!!” Any God who can create a dry path for the Israelites to use to walk through the heart of the Red Sea can certainly create a path of deliverance for you, too. Keep this in mind the next time you find yourself trapped in a situation that seems to hold no way of escape. Just look to God and say, “Lord, right now I feel like the Israelites standing on the shore of the Red Sea with Pharaoh’s army bearing down upon them. You helped them, so I’m asking you right now to help me.” Pray that prayer in faith, and then don’t be surprised when you start feeling God’s wind upon your face and seeing His path.

Posted in Adversity, Comfort, Courage, Depression, Disappointment, Doubt, Encouragement, God's Omnipotence, God's Omniscience, God's Provision, God's Sovereignty, Needs, Perseverance, Prayer, Prayer Requests, Problems, Restoration, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Lead Us Along Routes That Don’t Make Sense?

Posted on November 9, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #10)

God had to use unprecedented plagues, ten of them, to get Pharaoh to release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. At last, however, Pharaoh did relent. The Israelites’ departure from Egypt was sudden and swift, a monumental undertaking that required over two million people to be put on the move literally overnight.

As Pharaoh grieved for his dead firstborn son in the middle of the night, he had Moses and Aaron brought to him. He told them, “Rise, go out from among my people, both you and the children of Israel. And go, serve the Lord as you have said. Also take your flocks and your herds, as you have said, and be gone; and bless me also” (Exodus 12:31-32, N.K.J.V.). His request for Moses and Aaron to bless him evidenced just how broken he now was. His fellow Egyptians, for their part, felt the same way. They begged the Israelites to leave in haste for fear that Israel’s God would kill every last Egyptian before He was finished (Exodus 12:33).

The Israelites left but not before they asked the Egyptians to give them clothing, articles of silver, and articles of gold (Exodus 12:35). We might think the Egyptians would have resented such a request, but by that point they were willing to give the Israelites anything to get them to leave (Exodus 12:36). As a matter of fact, this plundering had been a part of God’s plan all along. Even before Moses had returned to Egypt, God had told him not only to have the Israelites make the request but also that the Egyptians would comply with it (Exodus 3:21-22). Just prior to the tenth plague, God had even reaffirmed His word regarding the plundering (Exodus 11:1-2). Going back even further, centuries earlier He had told Abraham that his descendants would be afflicted in a foreign land for 400 years and afterward come out with great possessions (Genesis 15:12-14).

And so, the Israelites marched out of Egypt. There were approximately 600,000 adult men, which commentators reckon as over two million people when wives and children are added to the total (Exodus 12:37; Numbers 1:44-46)). A “mixed multitude” left with the Israelites as well (Exodus 12:38). These were people from other races, perhaps even some Egyptians, who chose to align themselves with Israel rather Egypt.

And how did God lead the Israelites as they made their way each day and night? The Bible says He went before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night (Exodus 13:21-22). Wherever the pillar went, they followed. Whenever it stopped, they stopped. The strange thing, though, about that whole process is that God did not lead the Israelites along the most logical route, the route any ancient g.p.s. system would have told them to take to get from Egypt to Canaan. That logical route would have taken them northeastward out of Egypt and up along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.

Okay, so why didn’t God lead them via that route? It was because from His perspective there was a serious problem with the route. You see, since the Philistines controlled the territory beyond Egypt’s northern boundary and along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, the Israelites would have eventually encountered them had they attempted to enter Canaan that way. As the story tells us, God didn’t want those Israelites, who had been slaves their entire lives and knew nothing about warfare, to encounter the Philistines, get scared, and decide to go back to Egypt (Exodus 13:17).

So, rather than lead them along that route, God led them by way of the wilderness that surrounded the Red Sea. That meant that they traveled a long distance south, in the opposite direction of Canaan, before they ever started traveling north again. As we will learn in the next post, God had another reason for having the Israelites travel this route. For now, though, let’s just employ this part of the story to learn the lesson that God doesn’t always lead us in ways that make sense.

Actually, what I should say is that He doesn’t always lead us in ways that make sense to us. From His perspective, of course, He always has His reasons for what He does. We might not know why He is having us take some path, but He knows why He is doing it. We might not see the logic of His will, but He does. The fact was that God was doing the Israelites a favor. You see, He knew their weaknesses better than they did, and He led them along a route that kept those weaknesses from being exposed.

Please think back upon this story, Christian, the next time God leads you along a route that makes no sense to you. You are free to ask Him why He is doing what He is doing, but I can tell you from personal experience that He might not give you an answer that suits you. During such times the best you can do is boil everything down to the simple obedience of following the pillar. No, you won’t see a literal pillar in the sky like the Israelites did, but because you are a Christian, you have one major blessing they didn’t have. You have God the Holy Spirit dwelling inside you, and He is that still, small voice that tells you, “This is the way, walk in it” even when that way really doesn’t make much sense to you.

Posted in Adversity, Choices, Commitment, Courage, Decisions, Doubt, Dying To Self, Faith, God's Will, Leadership, Obedience, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Will God Make You Do His Will?

Posted on November 6, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #9)

God reigns as sovereign over all His creation. However, He does not exercise His sovereignty in a way that forces people to do what He wants them to do. Instead, He wants people to voluntarily do as He wishes. Unfortunately, this emphasis on volunteers as opposed to draftees or robots keeps the door flung wide open for rebellion on the part of individuals. The examples of such rebellion started with Eve and Adam in the Garden of Eden and have continued to pile up over the eons of history.

One famous rebel was the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. When Moses and Aaron first approached him and requested that he allow the Israelites to journey three days into the desert in order to have a time of offering sacrifices to God, he balked (Exodus 5:1-5). More than balk, he got downright ugly and severely punished the entire Israelite nation by adding the gathering of straw to their brick-making work (Exodus 5:6-19). What he didn’t know was that his boxing match with God was just beginning and he was infinitely overmatched.

For round two, God sent Moses and Aaron back to Pharaoh, and this time He instructed them to do a miracle in His name. He said to Moses, “When Pharaoh asks you to perform a miracle to authenticate yourselves, you tell Aaron to throw down his rod in front of Pharaoh. When He does, it will become a serpent (Exodus 7:8-9).”

Everything went as scheduled and Aaron’s rod did become a serpent (Exodus 7:10), but the miracle didn’t have the desired effect upon Pharaoh. Rather than be impressed, he called in Egypt’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians and to a man they all threw down their rods and somehow matched the miracle (Exodus 7:11-12). Since the Bible offers no indication that these men did this through some kind of deception or chicanery, evidently they did it through the occultic power of Satan. Even when Aaron’s serpent swallowed up all the other serpents Pharaoh didn’t waver in his defiance against God (Exodus 7:12). To the contrary, his heart grew even more hardened (Exodus 7:13).

It was at this point in the story that God began working through Moses and Aaron to inflict Egypt with a series of plagues, ten in all. We might classify each plague as another round between Pharaoh and God. Here is the list of those plagues:

  • Plague #1: God turned all the waters of Egypt into blood, and this caused all the fish to die. Interestingly, Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians were able to match this miracle to some degree. (Exodus 7:14-25)
  • Plague #2: God drove frogs up from the Nile river and the frogs covered the entire land of Egypt. Again Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians were able to match this miracle to some degree. Also, in the midst of this plague, Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go and have their time of sacrificing if Moses would pray to God and get Him to take away the frogs. Moses did so, but once the frogs were dead and disposed of Pharaoh reneged on the deal. (Exodus 8:1-15)
  • Plague #3: God caused the dust of the land to become lice that afflicted not only the Egyptians but also their livestock. Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians attempted to duplicate this miracle but were unable to do it. (Exodus 8:16-19)
  • Plague #4: God sent thick swarms of flies to inundate the entire land of Egypt except for the region of Goshen where the Israelites lived. In the midst of this plague, Pharaoh offered to let the Israelites have their time of sacrificing if they would agree to remain in Egypt to do it. Moses refused the offer, and so Pharaoh agreed to let the Israelites go three days into the desert to do the sacrificing if Moses would get God to take away the flies. Again, though, once Moses had done so Pharaoh reneged on the deal. (Exodus 8:20-32)
  • Plague #5: God struck Egypt’s livestock with a severe pestilence that caused each animal to die. The only animals that weren’t struck with the pestilence were the Israelites’ animals. (Exodus 9:1-7)
  • Plague #6: God caused boils to break out on the bodies of Egypt’s people and non-livestock animals. Even Pharaoh’s wise men/sorcerers/magicians became utterly afflicted with the boils. (Exodus 9:8-12)
  • Plague #7: God rained intense hail (mingled with fire) upon Egypt. The hail fell upon everyone and everything and damaged Egypt’s trees and crops. The only place the hail didn’t fall was in Goshen, the region where the Israelites lived. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron in the midst of the storm and begged them to ask God to make it stop. He said, “If you will do this I will let the Israelites go.” As was the pattern, though, Pharaoh reneged on the deal once Moses had prayed and God had made the hail stop. (Exodus 9:13-35)
  • Plague #8: God brought incredible swarms of locusts down upon Egypt. The locusts filled the houses of the Egyptians, got in the peoples’ eyes, and ate all the remaining crops and vegetation of the land. Pharaoh called for Moses and Aaron and begged them to get God to take away the locusts. God did take away the locusts, but Pharaoh still didn’t release the Israelites. (Exodus 10:1-20)
  • Plague #9: God settled an eerie darkness upon Egypt. The darkness lasted for three days, and the Bible says it was so thick that it could actually be felt. The only light in the entire land could be found in the dwellings of the Israelites. Pharaoh’s offer to Moses this time was: “Your people and their families can go and serve the Lord, but you must leave behind your flocks and herds.” Moses’ answer was, “No, we must also take our flocks and herds in order to be able to offer up the sacrifices and have livestock when we get to the place where God is taking us.” Pharaoh responded to that by becoming furious and telling Moses that if he ever saw him again he would kill him. To that Moses said, “You have spoken well. I will never see your face again.” (Exodus 10:21-29)
  • Plague #10: During one fateful night God struck dead all the firstborns in Egypt. The deaths even extended to the firstborns of the remaining livestock. The only firstborns who didn’t die were those of the Israelites and even they had to be safely protected behind homes upon which the shed blood of slain lambs was smeared over the doorframes. Pharaoh’s firstborn son died that night, and in the aftermath Pharaoh agreed to completely release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. (Exodus 11:1-10; 12:1-30)

The takeaway for us from these ten plagues is that even though God won’t force you to do His will, He will certainly make your life miserable enough to make you agreeable to doing it. Even though Pharaoh never did see the light and get saved, the circumstances God created in his life did get him to finally relent and do what God wanted him to do. I guess that’s about as much obedience as God ever gets from a lost person. Of course, He should get a whole lot more from us Christians, right? And what happens when He doesn’t get it? Well, that’s when He has to send some bad things our way to get us to relent. It took no less than ten utter catastrophes to get Pharaoh to finally yield. I wonder, how many will it take for us?

Posted in Disobedience, God's Chastening, God's Wrath, God's Judgment, God's Will, Obedience, Rebellion, Submission | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Harden Hearts?

Posted on November 4, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #8)

Scholars have long debated which of Egypt’s Pharaohs was the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. Some of the candidates are Amenhotep II, Raamses I, Sethi I, Rameses II, or Merenptah. What isn’t up for debate, though, is the fact that this Pharaoh had no desire whatsoever to release the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage.

Sometime shortly after Moses’ departure from Midian, God told him, “When you stand before Pharaoh, make sure that you perform the miracles (the signs, the wonders) that I have empowered you to do.” But then God foretold what was going to happen. He said, “But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go” (Exodus 4:21, N.K.J.V.). This marks the beginning of a fascinating theme in the Exodus storyline as time and time again mention is made of Pharaoh’s heart being hardened concerning releasing the Israelites.

Three different Hebrew words get translated as “harden” or “hardened” in these passages. One word means “to be strong,” which relates to rank stubbornness.” Another word means “to be heavy,” which relates to willful unresponsiveness. Another word means “to be hard or severe,” which relates to determined obstinance. Working together these three Hebrew words describe Pharaoh’s response to the request to set the Israelites free.

As for how Pharaoh’s heart actually became hard, the relevant passages break down into three categories:

  • Nine times the text says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart: 4:21; 7:3; 9:12; 10:1; 10:20; 10:27; 11:10; 14:4; 14:8.
  • Three times the text says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart: 8:15; 8:32; 9:34.
  • Six times the text simply reports that Pharaoh’s heart was hardened without specifically identifying which party did the hardening: 7:13; 7:14; 7:22; 8:19; 9:7; 9:35.

While some people recoil at the idea of God actually making a person’s heart harder (more committed) in regards to rebelliousness and sin, the book of Exodus isn’t the only place where the Bible teaches that God doesn’t always beg sinners to repent. For example, Romans 1:18-32 says of certain people, “God gave them up” and “God gave them over.” This giving up/over means that God basically said to these determined sinners, “All right, if you don’t want to worship Me and submit yourselves to Me, HAVE AT IT. Go indulge in your sins as much as you desire. Dive down to the deepest depths of what you want to do.”

Another example is 2 Thessalonians 2:6-12, where we learn that there is coming a day when God will send a certain group of people “strong delusion, that they should believe the lie” N.K.J.V.). In the context of that passage, the term “the lie” is used in reference to the Antichrist. But why would God send people strong delusion to get them to believe the great lie that will be the Antichrist and his agenda? The answer is that these people will be ones who have refused to “receive the love of the truth, that they might saved” (N.K.J.V.). Here again the point is that God will give these people a push to take them further down the road their attitudes and actions have already shown they want to travel. As in the Romans 1:18-32 passage, it’s not God who begins the process of rebellion. The people do that all by themselves.

This brings us to the Pharaoh of the Exodus story. Did God harden that man’s heart toward releasing the Israelites? Yes, He did. But it’s not like the man’s heart was initially soft toward the Israelites and God forced a pole reversal. God didn’t say, “Wait a minute, if this guy releases the Israelites of his own volition, I won’t get the glory for the deliverance. So, I’d better harden his heart so that I can ride in and save the day.” No, the fact that this Pharaoh had already ascended to the throne and had done absolutely nothing about changing the plight of the Israelites proved that he had no intentions of ever granting them their freedom. All God did was say (in essence), “Okay, since that is your attitude, I’m going to put it on steroids and use it to accomplish my sovereign work.”

Another verse that can help us understand what happened is Exodus 9:16. There God speaks through Moses and says to Pharaoh, “But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth” (N.K.J.V.). This verse is important enough to be quoted in the New Testament in Romans 9:17, and both verses match up perfectly with the Bible’s consistent teaching that God is the one who raises up rulers and places them in positions of authority (Daniel 2:21; 4:17; 4:25; 4:32; 5:21; Jeremiah 27:5-7; Romans 13:1).

What we must understand, though, is that God raising up each ruler does not mean that each ruler will be a godly person who will make godly decisions and do godly things. To the contrary, if a person is not submitted to God, and yet God still raises that person up to a position of ruling authority, that means that God has plans to use that ruler in a way other than the one we might expect. This was the case with the Pharaoh of the Exodus. God knew ahead of time that this wicked man saw no reason why the Israelites should be released, and yet God still raised him up to be Pharaoh. Why? It was because God planned all along to use the man’s inborn stubborn rebelliousness to create the backdrop for the ten plagues with which He would judge Egypt. Think of it this way: If God couldn’t receive glory from that Pharaoh’s life by way of submission and servitude, He would receive it by way of breaking that man before the audience of all Egypt.

Summing things up, the answer to the question, “Does God harden hearts?” is, “Yes, He sometimes does.” What He never does, though, is harden hearts that are soft. As for why He sometimes hardens hearts that are already trending hard, the only way that He can glean glory from such lives is to glean it by way of judgment. This makes the equation read as follows: the harder the heart = the greater the judgment = the greater the glory gleaned. You see, God has determined that He will receive glory from each person’s life. It’s just a matter of what brand of glory it will be and how He will go about receiving it.

Posted in Attitude, Disobedience, God's Wrath, God's Foreknowledge, God's Judgment, God's Work, Rebellion, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus" | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Does Doing God’s Will Sometimes Make Situations Harder?

Posted on November 2, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #7)

God got Moses to return to Egypt and lead the Israelites out of their Egyptian bondage, but getting Moses to step into that role took some doing. First, God had to answer all the excuses Moses offered as reasons why he wasn’t the man for the job (Exodus 3:11-22; 4:1-17). Second, since Moses’ two sons (Gershom and Eliezer) had never been circumcised and thus did not bear the mark of the covenant that God had made with Abraham’s descendants (Genesis 17:1-27), God had to convince Moses to circumcise them (Exodus 4:24-26). Those circumcisions, by the way, did not sit well with Moses’ wife, Zipporah, one bit! Third, God had to send Aaron, Moses’ brother, out to Mount Sinai to meet with him so that Moses could convey to Aaron everything that God had told him about Israel’s upcoming exodus (Exodus 4:27-28).

At long last, though, Moses arrived in Egypt, and he and Aaron met with the Israelite elders (Exodus 4:29). With Aaron doing the talking and Moses doing the miracle-working, the two brothers convinced the elders that God truly was coming to the rescue of the Israelites (Exodus 4:30-31). Once the support of the elders was in place, the next thing to do was pay Pharaoh a visit.

Moses and Aaron went to see Pharaoh and were allowed access to him. While that might seem a bit strange to us, it’s not like two unarmed men walking up to the front door of the royal residence would have been cause for alarm. Perhaps the Pharaoh had a policy of agreeing to talk with anyone who asked to talk with him, or perhaps he agreed to the visit simply out of curiosity. Whatever the exact details were it seems clear that this Pharaoh either didn’t recognize Moses from Moses’ previous time in Egypt or had never known him. The latter is more likely because God had told Moses back in Midian that all the Egyptians who had once sought to kill him were now dead (Exodus 4:19).

One thing that few people realize is that the opening request that Moses and Aaron put to Pharaoh did not call for the Israelites to permanently depart from Egypt. While the permanent departure was definitely God’s ultimate goal, the opening request was that the Israelites be allowed to journey three days into the desert, make sacrifices to God, and return to Egypt (Exodus 5:1-3). Presumably, the Israelites hadn’t been offering up any sacrifices to God for some 400 years. That explains why Moses and Aaron even mentioned to Pharaoh that by allowing the Israelites to do this it would prevent God from inflicting the Israelites with pestilence and death.

Despite the apparent validity of this request, however, Pharaoh was having none of it. He responded to Moses’ and Aaron’s “Thus says the Lord” talk by scornfully asking, “Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go?” (Exodus 5:2). Obviously he was dismissing the notion of an Israelite God rather than looking for an actual answer to the question. Then he added in, “I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go” and said to Moses and Aaron, “Why do you take the people from their work? Get back to your labor” (Exodus 5:2).

It was at this point that Pharaoh really showcased his evil character. Rather than just refuse the request that Moses and Aaron had made, he commanded his taskmasters to stop providing the Israelites with the necessary straw for brickmaking (Exodus 5:6-7). This meant that the Israelites would now have to gather their own straw in addition to keeping up the same quota of making bricks (Exodus 5:8-9). As could be expected, that assignment proved too difficult and the Israelites quickly started falling behind in production. The taskmasters responded to the drop off by beating the Israelites who were overseers of their fellow Israelite workers (Exodus 5:10-14). When those overseers questioned why the taskmasters were doing all this, the taskmasters sarcastically answered, “We’re doing it because you people have too much idle time on your hands. If you didn’t have so much free time, you wouldn’t be asking Pharaoh to let you go offer sacrifices” (Exodus 5:15-19).

Human nature being what it is, the entire sequence of events caused the Israelite overseers’ attitude toward Moses and Aaron to take a hard turn for the worse. As we read the words they spoke to the brothers, we can hear the anger: “Let the Lord look on you and judge, because you have made us abhorrent in the sight of Pharaoh and in the sight of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us” (Exodus 5:20-21, N.K.J.V.). And how did Moses react to that? He did exactly what I would have done if I had been in his position: he vented at God. Exodus 5:22-23 says:

So Moses returned to the Lord and said, “Lord, why have You brought trouble on this people? Why is it that You have sent me? For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all. (N.K.J.V.)

Doing God’s will is hard enough, especially when it cuts against what you want to do anyway. But doing it and then being forced to watch as your actions make the situation even harder than it already was? That’s brutal, just brutal. I, for one, have experienced this more than once, and you can believe me when I say that it is one of the hardest things you will ever have to endure in walking with the Lord. It simply contradicts everything that our human logic tells us should happen when we obey God and carry out His will.

Please understand, though, that I’m not saying this to get you to shun God’s will. I’m saying it to warn you that doing God’s will might make things tougher on you (and those with you) rather than easier. Moses didn’t see this type of thing coming, and I don’t want you to get blindsided by it like he did. The hard, cold truth is that sometimes doing God’s will must be followed by ducking Satan’s response. And sometimes even ducking doesn’t help! Always keep in mind, though, that the harsh response is itself confirmatory proof that you have successfully done God’s will. Think of it this way: You’ve poked the bee’s nest, and so you shouldn’t be surprised that you got stung. Satan doesn’t give up his ground without a fight, and he doesn’t care one bit to fight dirty.

Posted in Adversity, Criticism, Disappointment, Doing Good, Doubt, God's Will, Leadership, Ministry, Obedience, Persecution, Perseverance, Personal, Problems, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Spiritual Warfare, Suffering, Trials, Trusting In God | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Accept Excuses?

Posted on October 30, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #6)

Forty years had passed since Moses had killed an Egyptian taskmaster, fled from Egypt, and settled down in Midian. His Pharaoh grandfather, the one who had sought his death for killing that taskmaster, was now dead (Exodus 2:23). As for the Israelites, they were still crying out to God because of their bondage to the Egyptians (Exodus 2:23). God heard their cries, as He had heard all the ones that had risen up before those, and He set Himself to the task of getting Moses back to Egypt.

God accomplished that task by appearing to Moses in a burning bush at Mount Sinai, which was also known as Mount Horeb (Exodus 3:1-2). As Moses was shepherding his father’s flock in that area one day, he noticed that a certain bush wasn’t being consumed by the flames even though it was ablaze. This unnatural occurrence piqued his curiosity, and he went to investigate. As he stood there before the bush, suddenly a voice came from the midst of the bush. The voice said, “Moses, Moses!” Moses, in total astonishment, said, “Here I am.” Then the voice said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground” (Exodus 3:5, N.K.J.V.). How’s that for an attention getter?

The Bible says it was the Angel of the Lord who spoke from the bush (Exodus 3:2). Don’t miss the capital “A” on that word “Angel.” This Angel of the Lord was a character who showed up from time to time in the Old Testament era, and each time He did it was clear that He was none other God Himself. For example, the Angel of the Lord in the story of the burning bush went on to say to Moses, “I am the God of your father — the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob” (Exodus 3:6, N.K.J.V.).

Since the Bible always places God the Father in heaven, commentators interpret the Old Testament’s Angel of the Lord to be Jesus, God the Son, appearing in a preincarnate form. This interpretation makes logical sense, and it also explains why the Angel of the Lord never appears in the New Testament. Commentators call each appearance of the Angel of the Lord a “Christophany,” which simply means “an appearance of Christ.”

Moses’ reaction to hearing that he was having a conversation with the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob was to hide his face in fear (Exodus 3:6). Jesus, however, kept on talking:

And the Lord said, “I have surely seen the oppression of My people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows. So I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up from that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey, to the place of the Canaanites and the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites. Now therefore, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to Me, and I have also seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them. Come now, therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh that you may bring My people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt.” (Exodus 3:7-8, N.K.J.V.)

It is here that we would expect Moses to say: “Yes, Lord! I’ve been waiting on this opportunity for forty years. I was trying to lead your people all those years ago when I killed that Egyptian taskmaster, but things didn’t work out like I thought they would. But if You are ready for me to make another run at it, I’m all in. When do I leave for Egypt?” But that is decidedly not what Moses said. Rather than be quick to take the Lord up on His offer, Moses started dragging his feet and making excuses for why he wasn’t the man for the job. Here is a list of those excuses and God’s response to them:

  • (Exodus 3:11-12): Moses said, “Who am I that I should do this job? I’m nobody.” God responded by saying, “I’ll be with you. I’ll even give you a sign that I truly have chosen you for this assignment. That sign will be: When the whole exodus is said and done, you and the people of Israel will serve Me right here at this same mountain.”
  • (Exodus 3:13-14): Moses said, “I don’t even know Your name. When I go to the people of Israel and they ask me the name of the God who has sent me, what shall I say to them?” God’s answer was, “My name is I AM WHO I AM. Tell them, ‘I AM has sent you.'”
  • (Exodus 4:1-9): Moses said, “But what if they won’t believe that You have sent me or that You have appeared to me?” In response to that, God first told him to throw his rod down on the ground. As the rod was lying there, it became a serpent. When Moses picked it back up, it became a rod again. Second, God told him to stick his hand in his bosom. Moses did, and when he pulled the hand back out it was white with leprosy. Third, God told him to stick his hand in his bosom a second time. Moses did, and when he pulled the hand back out the leprosy was healed. Fourth, God said to him, “And if the people won’t believe these signs, you will take water from the river and that water will become blood on dry land.” All of these miracles would be God’s way of verifying that Moses truly was His handpicked leader.
  • (Exodus 4:10-12): Moses said, “Lord, I have never been an eloquent speaker.” (By the way, that’s an interesting claim considering that Acts 7:22 indicates that Moses was mighty in words and deeds during his first forty years in Egypt. Was Moses lying to God about not being a good speaker?) But God’s response was, “I am the one who makes everyone’s mouth, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you should say.”
  • (Exodus 4:13-6): Moses said, “Lord, please send somebody else!” God responded to that by getting angry and agreeing to let Aaron, Moses’ older brother, serve as Moses’ spokesman. God would tell Moses what to say, and Moses would in turn pass those words along to Aaron.

Excuses, excuses. But before we come down too hard on Moses, let’s admit that we oftentimes don’t respond much better than he did to God’s commands. God, of course, doesn’t buy our excuses anymore than He bought those Moses tried to use That’s why I encourage you to stop making yours and just go ahead and bite the bullet by obeying God. I won’t tell you that obedience is always easy, but I will tell you that it is always right. Thankfully for Israel (and the world at large) Moses finally did what God was calling Him to do. Here’s hoping that you do the same in accepting your calling.

Posted in Choices, Courage, Decisions, Discipleship, Dying To Self, Faithfulness, God's Will, God's Work, Leadership, Ministry, Obedience, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Submission | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Does God Call the Qualified or Qualify the Called?

Posted on October 28, 2020 by russellmckinney

(“Questions From Israel’s Exodus” series: post #5)

In a very real sense, Moses was uniquely qualified to be the man through whom God would deliver the Israelites from their Egyptian bondage. For one thing, he was an Egyptian by upbringing but an Israelite by birth. For another, even though he knew all the worldly wisdom of the Egyptians (Acts 7:22), he also knew Israel’s God intimately enough to choose to suffer affliction with the Israelites rather than continue to enjoy a life of ease with the Egyptians (Hebrews 11:24-26). Needless to say, guys like that didn’t come a dime a dozen. Therefore, it was only logical that God would call Moses to the role of deliverer. It was a classic case of God calling the qualified.

On the other hand, little if anything in Moses’ training could have prepared him to lead over two million people on a long trek through the wilderness wasteland of the Sinai Peninsula. That would require experience with such terrain, to say nothing of experience in shepherding a flock in the midst of sparse surroundings. Moses’ Egyptian wisdom had given him a knowledge of how to harness the Nile river to provide drinking water and rich farmland for millions of Egyptians, but the Sinai Peninsula was a long way from the Nile. Therefore, it was only logical that God would qualify Moses for the role of deliverer. It was a classic case of God qualifying the called.

This qualifying wouldn’t take place during Moses’ forty years in Egypt. Instead, it would take place in the region of Midian during his forty years shepherding his father-in-law’s flock. Let’s not think that is was merely a coincidence that God appeared to Moses in a burning bush at Mount Sinai (also called Mount Horeb, Exodus 3:1) rather than along the banks of the Nile. It would be that mountain, not any mountain in Egypt, that would come to be known as “the mountain of God” (Exodus 3:1). As part of Moses’ experience at the burning bush, God told him, “When you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain” (Exodus 3:12). God said that because He knew that before He would bring Moses and the Israelites to the brink of the promised land of Canaan, He would bring them to Mount Sinai. There they would remain encamped for over a year, receive His law, and build the movable Tabernacle complex called for by the law.

For forty years in Midian, God taught Moses humility. He taught him patience. He taught him the work ethic of a shepherd. He taught him how to function successfully in the desolate region surrounding Mount Sinai. He taught him how to walk in step-by-step obedience to God rather than racing ahead in his own wisdom the way he had done in killing that Egyptian taskmaster. This was Moses’ post-Egyptian training. This was his post-graduate work. This was his qualifying.

Does God call the qualified? Yes, He does. Does He qualify the called? Yes, He does. The truth is that He uses everything about a person — the person’s nationality, upbringing, scholastic education, family situation, life experiences, etc. — in His molding and shaping of that person for service.

Take Saul of Tarsus for example. He was certainly qualified to become Paul, the apostle who would preach the gospel to both Jews and Gentiles alike. Not only was he born a Jew (Philippians 3:5), he was also born an official citizen of the Gentile Roman empire (Acts 22:22-29). Not only did he receive his training in Judaism under Gamaliel, the most famous rabbi of that day (Acts 22:3), he was also a tentmaker by profession (Acts 18:1-3). All of these things, in a worldly sense, made Saul highly qualified to become an apostle of Christ. However, he didn’t even know Christ as his Savior until the resurrected, glorified Jesus encountered him on the road between Jerusalem and Damascus (Acts 9:1-19). That encounter was a case of Jesus qualifying the called.

Perhaps you are feeling called by God to perform some specific type of service for Him, but you are wondering if you are qualified for the job. My answer is this: If you aren’t qualified God will see to it that you get qualified, and if you are qualified He will see to it that you get even more qualifying to fill in the gaps of whatever you are missing. Listen, God will never ask you to do something that you can’t do. Even if you can do it, He won’t leave you to do it by yourself. He knows how to use what you’ve got, and He knows how to give you what you need so that He can use you even more. All He asks from you is simple obedience in taking each step with Him. He doesn’t need you to be another Moses or another Paul. He just needs you to be yourself. That is, after all, the role you were born to play, and it’s the role you’ve been training for your whole life.

Posted in Deacons, Discipleship, God's Provision, God's Work, Individuality, Ministry, Obedience, Preaching, Series: "Questions From Israel's Exodus", Service, Spiritual Gifts, Talents | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment