Working Together With God
For most of us, work occupies a majority of our waking hours each day. Other than the hours at our job, there is the work around the house, the care of the children, obligations with the extended family, church and school. For many of us, there just aren’t enough hours in the day to get everything done. When someone asks us for help, what that often means is that they want us to do something for them. Red lights go off and tempers rise as we feel we just cannot take on one more thing. We look at our agenda – no slots free. We evaluate our strength – exhausted! We analyze the task – not qualified.
What happens when God comes along and says He has something for us to do? The same red lights go off, as we try to hide behind the excuses of the little we have and are. Moses was like this. One day when he was at work on the mountain, God appeared to him in a burning bush. He was presented with a BIG task. God wanted Moses to return to Egypt and deliver Israel from slavery and bring them into their promised land. Moses had had a bad start. He had killed a man in Egypt and was a fugitive in the land of Midian. His excuses were valid ones: “I’m only one man”, “I’m not qualified”, “I stutter”, “I’m weak”, “because of my past, the people won’t listen to me,” His conclusions were also reasonable: “Find someone else.”
What Moses didn’t understand was that God was not asking him to do something for Him, but with Him. God responded to Moses by saying: “But I will be with you.” (Ex. 3:12) God never expects us to go, do or even live in our own strength. The task He has given us to do can only be done, because “greater is He that is in you, than he that is in the world.” (I John 4.4) No job is too hard, no enemy is too strong and no mountain is too tall. Paul said, “I can do all things through Him who strengthens me.” (Phil. 4:13).
The key is understanding that God is with us. You + God = majority. You + God = success. God with Moses made the impossible possible. With a simple staff the River Nile was turned to blood, the waters of the Red Sea were parted and the armies of Pharaoh were defeated. It wasn’t the greatness of Moses, but rather the power of God. Moses understood this well. When God was upset with Israel’s obstinacy and unbelief and wanted to send an angel with them into the Promise Land, rather than go Himself, Moses objected. He told God, that if He didn’t go with them, nobody would go. (Ex. 33:1-17)
It is easy to get “burned-out” when we rely on our own strength. We may have the best intention to serve God, but really how much of what we are doing is God’s doing? Did God initiate the task and empower us for it? If not, should we still carry on in our own strength?
Scriptures to meditate on:
Ex. 3; II Cor. 6:1; Rom. 8:17; John 3:2