Verse
of the day: Exodus 14:15 And
the Lord said
to Moses, “Why do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.
Yesterday
I said there are two things we can observe from this verse. We observed that
Moses prayed a silent prayer that God heard and answered. Today, I would like
to focus on God’s answer. Oh how often we waste much precious time failing to
move forward. My brothers and sisters, we, as born again believers, must always
be praying and in constant communication with our God. However, there comes a
time when prayer becomes an excuse to avoid action. God sent Moses and Aaron to
the Israelites with a message of deliverance. In spite of Pharaoh’s rebellion,
and hardened heart, God made good on His promise to lead them out of Egypt.
Now, they find themselves at the edge of the Red Sea, with no apparent escape
route. God has already shown them that He was with them and that He will protect
them by appearing to them as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by
night (Exodus 13:21). Yet, they are here murmuring and complaining that it
would have been better to stay in Egypt and serve as slaves than to be in their
present predicament (v. 11-12). How quickly they forgot their suffering and
cruel treatment when they encountered a new challenge in the wilderness,
forgetting, and essentially ignoring, the fact that God was visibly with them.
How often we too have forgotten God’s promise that He will never leave us nor
forsake us, when we are facing new challenges in life (Hebrews 13:5-6). Moses’
response to them is to not be afraid, be still, and see the salvation of the
Lord (v. 13). Today, it would do us well, in some instances, to be still and
know that He is God (Psalm 16:10), when we find ourselves in situations that
overwhelm us. Nonetheless, God’s response to Moses’ silent prayer is this, “Why
do you cry to Me? Tell the children of Israel to go forward.” How often God
must have said that to each, and every, one of us. One of the greatest losses
of blessings is experienced by each of us when we delay moving forward, already
knowing that God is with us, and knowing what God’s will is, even before
praying for guidance. Here is what I mean…God has made His will for us, as His
children, known to us. It is written in God’s Word, in black and white. Wherever
God says, in His Word, “this is the will of God”, it means…this is the will of
God! When He gives a command in His Word, it means...this is the will of God!
When God tells us to do good (Hebrews 13:16), be kind and forgive (Ephesians
4:32), love one another and your enemies (John 13:34-35; Matthew 5:44), be pure
(1 Thessalonians 4:3), be at peace with other (Romans 12:18), be thankful in
all things (1 Thessalonians 5:18), and offer up the sacrifice of praise in all
situations (Hebrews 13:15), we need not have to wait for an affirmative
response from God to do these things. It is already plainly stated in God’s
Word that this is His will for each of us. When we read that we are to tell
others about Jesus, and share the Gospel with every creature (Mark 16:15), we
do not need to wait for an affirmative answer from God to do this. We certainly
should pray for guidance in how we can do these things, such as, “Lord what can
I do to show this person the love of Christ?” “Lord, how can I best present the
Gospel message to my neighbor?” “Lord, how can I show this person that I have
truly forgiven them for their offense against me?” Our prayers need not be, “Lord,
should I show this person the love of Christ?” “Lord, should I witness to this
person?” “Lord, should I forgive this person? What if they hurt my feelings or
offend me again?” I just cannot help thinking that there are far too many
instances in our lives when God is saying to us, “Why do cry to Me? Go forward!”
Sadly, I have seen too many Christians use prayer as an excuse to avoid serving
or giving. “I have to pray about whether or not God wants me to do this, or do
that.” “I have to pray about whether or not I should give to this need that God
has presented me with.” In the end, all we are doing is waiting for time to
pass, and the conviction to do something to fade away, so that we can continue
living life as usual without being inconvenienced, or having to sacrifice something.
Moses, although he had already assured the people that God was going to deliver
them, still silently prayed for guidance. This is good. However, too often we
stand for too long, using prayer as an excuse not to move forward. Oftentimes,
we use prayer to keep us from doing that which we are afraid to do, or to avoid
doing the things that have potential outcomes we cannot control. The time we
have here on earth is short (James 4:14). The return of Jesus is near (I
Thessalonians 5), and there are too many people dying and going into eternity
without Jesus (Luke 10:2). This means that we must be prayerful, but not waste
time using prayer as an excuse to go into action. We must pray, move, pray,
move, and be still only when God tells us to be still. How will we know when to
be still or move…pray, but do not delay.
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