A Note from DT
Many times the Christian walk seems to be a process of learning to trust the Lord for His direction which involves moving through the boundaries of one’s fear. Over the last few weeks at HoF the messages have looked at Moses’ growing relationship with God as he too was led past the limits of his fear and into the place of trust in God. Early on, God was telling Moses that He was going to use him to lead His people out from under the captivity of the most powerful nation in the world. One of the more humorous responses to Moses seeking assurance that God’s plan was going to work is found in Exodus 3:12:
…”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.”
It was a daunting task and the assurance God gave him was, “I’m not going to give you assurance, just do what I tell you to do and when it works that will be your sign…” There seems to be times when God is willing to give someone a sign that helps them to have the courage to follow through on His plans for them. But, there also seems to be times where He simply calls us to walk in faith, obediently moving forward without the certainty that we so often long for. This is maturity.
In Exodus 33 we see another example of Moses seeking assurance from God. It comes directly after the rest of the people had resorted to idol worship because of their fear and instability. I would imagine Moses felt completely alone. This was the team that he had around him and he couldn’t even be out of sight for 40 days without everybody going completely off the rails. Now he was left with the incredible task of leading this same group into the land of promise. Feeling the pressure he asks God to confirm, multiple times, that he would indeed bring the people to the promised land. God communicates that He will indeed do as He has said but then Moses asks for two things which are of utmost importance for us all to see. He asks to know the ‘ways’ of the Lord and asks to see His ‘glory’. This results in God revealing Himself in a profoundly new way to Moses. To know someone’s ‘way’ is much more than just casually knowing someone. This speaks of close personal relationship and that is what Moses was growing in with the Lord. God then granted Moses to see His glory. Moses had been seeking assurance that the Lord would be with him so that he could trust Him, but when Moses saw the glory of God it was a revelatory experience which revealed the goodness and love of God in such a profound way that it unlocked Moses’ heart to trust in Him. (I spoke on this thoroughly in this weeks’ message ‘Assurance and the Goodness of God’. on iTunes, Spotify etc.)
The point? Well, the point is that in this walk of faith fear comes and tries to keep people immobile by causing them not to move forward unless they feel that the conditions are perfect…or unless they have assurance that they will not experience pain. True faith in God rests in the assurance of His goodness and love, not of a desired outcome. When we realize the perfect love that God has for us we are able to cast aside our fear and in stead to trust Him as we move forward into what He has for us. We aren’t called to have it all figured out, we are called to hear His voice and follow Him. If we wait to find peace in certainty we will never move forward into His purposes. This life may be the only opportunity we have to live by faith, let us not waste our time by seeking to be comfortable. Our peace comes from the certainty of something that will never change…the love of God and His kindness and goodness. Onward.
-DT
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