Day 346

Day 346

Pray (ACts)

Read - Exodus 5:15-21

Message - Alan Burke

Just incase you didn’t get it on Wednesday “If you have a problem, if no one else can help and if you can find them maybe you can hire… The A-Team” (thank you all of those who messaged me the answer). What happens if we have a problem, if no one else can help, where do we turn to? Well for the Israelites they had turned to God (2:23) and when that didn’t work out the way they wanted they turned to Pharaoh (15-18), and well that really didn't end well for them (19). As they leave knowing they are in trouble they give it to Moses and Aaron. Oh how fickle they were and we are, when things don’t work out we can so easily do the same, when God doesn’t meet our perceived needs we give up, stop praying, lie in on a Sunday. 

Here though, unlike the foremen, the dejected Moses who had just been given a mouthful turned to the one who could help. Moses the man of faith of the book of Hebrews, is here dejected and doubting. He can only see how he has made it worse of the people of God, he wonders why he was ever sent if this was it. But Moses had been told what to expect, there would be highs and there would be lows. 

I hope this is a comfort to us. In the midst of what ever we face, when we struggle, when we are discouraged, when we are dejected and doubt that this Moses is listed among the greats of the faith. He was a work in progress but God used him none the less. 

In the Gospel of Mark there is a father in Mark’s gospel, who cried out to Jesus “I believe, O Lord. Help my unbelief.” (Mk 9:24), as he confesses that he has some faith but also acknowledges his spiritual weakness and appeals to Jesus to create in him a heart that believes more firmly. 

Well Moses believed, be believed enough to cry out to God even though the whole thing had ended up in a right mess, he had faith but it was mingled with doubt. In the book of Jude we are told to have mercy on those who doubt (v22), but there is a difference between the doubt of Moses and the doubt that pharaoh had, pharaoh doubted that God existed his was disbelief, whereas Moses had went to God doubting not that God existed but what God was doing and would do. 

Maybe you have come before God and asked him why God, just as Moses did here, filled with disbelief, struggling at what you face, know that you are not alone, Moses cried out to God and many believers cried out to God in the midst of what they face, their doubts and inadequacies including me. Often when we face the harsh reality of living in a fallen broken world we in this life forget the promises of God. We wonder where God is in what we face but he has promised to never leave us or forsake those who are his, we might think this problem is to big for God to deal with but then remember we come before the God of the universe who tells us to cast our burdens on him for he cares for us. Satan will try to cause division between us and God, he will use the problems we face so that we doubt and struggle but remember in spite of it all, just as was the case for the people of God in Egypt that he is able and will do what he says he will do, Jesus our saviour reminds us that “my yoke is easy and my burden is light” (Matthew 11:30), he is not a cruel task master like pharaoh or sin, instead he offers us in life lived by faith is a much lighter yoke and a much easier burden to carry. 

Pray (acTS)

Sing

WSC
Q 2 What rule hath God given to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him?
The Word of God, which is contained in the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments, (2 Tim. 3:16, Eph. 2:20) is the only rule to direct us how we may glorify and enjoy him. (1 John 1:3–4)
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