Day 19, or January the 19th. Follow God. You
know it makes sense. Our thought today is rooted
in Exodus chapter 3, verse 11. But Moses said
to God, Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh
and bring the Israelites out of Egypt? Now the
big picture surrounding this verse. After serving
as a shepherd for his father -in -law Jethro,
sometimes called Ruel, Moses is confronted by
God at the burning bush. It is likely that he's
seen burning bushes before, but every other time
they lasted only a few minutes. This one never
dimmed or showed signs of dying out. And then
he hears God's voice telling him to return to
Egypt, to lead them out of Egypt into freedom.
It seems a lifetime ago since Moses committed
murder and fled from Egypt, and he had been on
the run ever since. Moses is less than enthusiastic
and offers one excuse after another, including
not knowing what God's name is. No one will believe
me anyway. I don't speak very well. This debate
seems likely to go on forever until God shows
signs of getting angry. And he strongly suggests
Moses takes his brother Aaron with him, as he
is an eloquent speaker and can therefore be a
good spokesman. Moses finally gives in because
he was by now seeing the logic of following the
God of his fathers. And now our action step for
today. I have heard so many accounts of God calling
particular individuals into his service. A common
denominator all too often is the suspicion that
it's not a good deal, that God has an ulterior
motive. I'm sure you've heard missionaries say
things like, I told God I would go, but not to
a hot country. Then he sent me to Equatorial
Africa. It's as though God wants to trick us
into doing his will, which is far from the truth.
He always has our best at heart, and our part
is simply to follow his guiding. Once it dawns
on you, like it did for Moses, that God probably
has a better grip of the situation than you do,
following becomes a whole lot easier.